CHAPTER SUMMARY
First Clementine, played by Kate Winslet, has her memory for her ex-boyfriend, Joel,
played by Jim Carrey, erased. When Joel discovers she has done this, he decides to
undergo the same procedure to have Clementine erased from his memory. The after-
math of this procedure is both thought provoking and entertaining!
The movie 50 First Dates (2004) is an example of a memory movie based on a
condition that exists only in the imagination of the fi lmmaker. Lucy, played by Drew
Barrymore, remembers what is happening to her on a given day (so her short-term and
long-term memory are fi ne during the day), but every morning she contracts a case
of retrograde amnesia, which has wiped out her memory for what happened the day
before. The fact that her memory “resets” every morning seems not to bother Henry,
played by Adam Sandler, who falls in love with her. Strangely enough, even though
Lucy wakes up every morning with no memory for the previous day, and therefore
shouldn’t remember Henry, she develops a fondness for him. This behavior—respond-
ing positively to Henry without remembering him—is an example of implicit memory.
All of the movies we have described are fi ctional and so can take liberties with the
facts for the purposes of entertainment. However, knowing about how memory actu-
ally works can help us sort out what might be at least somewhat plausible from what
is wildly fi ctional.- How are episodic and semantic memory distinguished from each other?
- Describe the following evidence for the idea that semantic and episodic memo-
ries involve different mechanisms: (a) neuropsychological evidence; (b) brain
imaging evidence. - What are the connections between episodic and semantic memory?
- What is priming, and why is it called a type of implicit memory? What pre-
cautions are taken to be sure episodic memory is not accessed in an implicit
memory experiment? What is repetition priming? Conceptual priming? - Describe the Graf and the Warrington and Weiskrantz priming experiments.
How do these experiments demonstrate that their participants are not aware of
the initial priming stimuli? - What is the propaganda effect, and why could it be considered a form of
priming? - What is procedural memory? Describe the mirror drawing experiment and
other examples from the chapter. Why is procedural memory considered a
form of implicit memory? - What is classical conditioning? Why is it a form of implicit memory?
- Describe how memory loss is depicted in movies. How accurate are these
depictions?
CHAPTER SUMMARY
TEST YOURSELF 6.2
- Long-term memory is an “archive” of information
about past experiences in our lives and knowledge
we have learned, but it is important to consider the
dynamic qualities as well, such as how LTM coordi-
nates with working memory to help create our ongoing
experience. - The primacy and recency effects that occur in the serial
position curve have been linked to long-term memory
and short-term memory, respectively.
3. The following evidence supports the idea that STM and
LTM are two separate processes: (a) differences in the
primary mode of coding, with LTM more likely than
STM to be coded semantically; (b) neuropsychological
studies that demonstrate dissociations between STM and
LTM; and (c) brain imaging studies that demonstrate dif-
ferent patterns of activity for STM and LTM.
4. Explicit memory is our conscious recollection of events
we have experienced or facts we have learned. There are
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