Michael Frank3/21/07

memory

Today

• Quiz

• Review

• More memory!

Have you seen these men before?

Droodles

• Need two volunteers

Droodles

Droodles

Quiz

• Is memory more like a camera or a punchbowl?

• H.M. is the most famous amnesic. Describe his amnesia.

• What part of the brain was he missing?

Who is this man?

Interference

What are these memories?

• Kennedy assassination• Challenger Disaster• OJ Simpson verdict• 9/11 attack

• What are these memories called?• What properties do they have relative to

regular memories?

Testimony• Did another car pass

the red Datsun while it was stopped at the yield sign? (consistent)

• Did another car pass the red Datsun while it was stopped at the stop sign? (inconsistent)

• Did another car pass the red Datsun while it was stopped? (neutral)

Loftus data

What explains this effect?

Task has to do with this

What are these called?

Semantic memory

MASTER NORMAL

MASTER RANDOM

Making remembering easier

• Need a volunteer

Making remembering easier

• 7 6 1 8 4 2 5 9 0

Making remembering easier

• 1 - (6 1 7) 4 5 2 - 2 4 7 4

More strange memory stuff

• Listen to story

Fill in the blank

• Car________• Met___• pro____• Per____• Thi____• Pot___• _ha_r_ _n• A_ _ a _ _ in• M_ _ n _ t _ c • _ec_ _ r _ s

Implicit memory

• The chairman of the committee usually opens the meeting with one of his boring and sometimes even perverse lectures. Today he started with some stupid proverb: I can’t even remember it – something about not planting thistle seeds. Then he went on a pointless tangent about how to guard a political leader from a potential assasination in a crowded place such as a carnival. Is there any method behind the madness of his talks?

• What is this specific phenomenon called?

Have you seen these men before?

Kaavya Viswanathan

• Harvard undergraduate

• Published “How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life”

• Later, similarities between her work and two books by Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings

Viswanathan admitted she accidentally borrowed some passages from Megan McCafferty's novels. She said:

"When I was in high school, I read and loved two wonderful novels by Megan McCafferty, Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings, which spoke to me in a way few other books did. Recently, I was very surprised and upset to learn that there are similarities between some passages in my novel ... and passages in these books. While the central stories of my book and hers are completely different, I wasn't aware of how much I may have internalized Ms. McCafferty's words. I am a huge fan of her work and can honestly say that any phrasing similarities between her works and mine were completely unintentional and unconscious. When I was writing, I genuinely believed each word was my own…"

Sample passages

• McCafferty's book, page 7: "Bridget is my age and lives across the street. For the first twelve years of my life, these qualifications were all I needed in a best friend. But that was before Bridget's braces came off and her boyfriend Burke got on, before Hope and I met in our seventh grade Honors classes."

• Viswanathan's novel, page 14: "Priscilla was my age and lived two blocks away. For the first fifteen years of my life, those were the only qualifications I needed in a best friend. We had bonded over our mutual fascination with the abacus in a playgroup for gifted kids. But that was before freshman year, when Priscilla's glasses came off, and the first in a long string of boyfriends got on."

• McCafferty's novel, page 23: "Though I used to see him sometimes at Hope's house, Marcus and I had never, ever acknowledged each other's existence before. So I froze, not knowing whether I should (a) laugh (b) say something (c) ignore him and keep on walking."

• Viswanathan's novel, page 49: "Though I had been to school with him for the last three years, Sean Whalen and I had never acknowledged each other's existence before. I froze, unsure of (a) what he was talking about and (b) what I was supposed to do about it."

In response, Random House issued a statement:"We find both the responses of Little Brown and their author Kaavva Viswanathan deeply troubling and disingenuous. Ms. Viswanathan's claim that similarities in her phrasing were 'unconscious' or 'unintentional' is suspect. We have documented more than forty passages from Kaavya Viswanathan's recent publication 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life' that contain identical language and/or common scene or dialogue structure from Megan McCafferty's first two books, 'Sloppy Firsts' and 'Second Helpings.' This extensive taking from Ms. McCafferty's books is nothing less than an act of literary identity theft. Based on the scope and character of the similarities, it is inconceivable that this was a display of youthful innocence or an unconscious or unintentional act."

Have you seen these men before?

Droodles

Droodles