The Classic Wanderer

What Is Source Amnesia In Psychology?

• Sabrina Sarro
• 05.05.2023
• 0
• 21

Source Amnesia is the inability to recall where, when, or how one has learned knowledge that has been acquired and retained.

What is source amnesia?

Source amnesia is the inability to remember where, when or how previously learned information has been acquired, while retaining the factual knowledge. This branch of amnesia is associated with the malfunctioning of one’s explicit memory, It is likely that the disconnect between having the knowledge and remembering the context in which the knowledge was acquired is due to a dissociation between semantic and episodic memory – an individual retains the semantic knowledge (the fact), but lacks the episodic knowledge to indicate the context in which the knowledge was gained.

Memory representations reflect the encoding processes during acquisition. Different types of acquisition processes (e.g.: reading, thinking, listening) and different types of events (e.g.: newspaper, thoughts, conversation) will produce mental depictions that perceptually differ from one another in the brain, making it harder to retrieve where information was learned when placed in a different context of retrieval.

Source monitoring involves a systematic process of slow and deliberate thought of where information was originally learned. Source monitoring can be improved by using more retrieval cues, discovering and noting relations and extended reasoning.

What is an example of source memory?

What is an example of source memory? A source memory is the origin of a memory or knowledge. Source memories can be word of mouth, such as remembering when a friend recited a certain fact, remembering hearing something on the news, or remembering seeing something on the internet.

Why is source amnesia important in psychology?

Because our brain’s frontal lobe is responsible for our ability to make meaning of things and put memories in order, ongoing source amnesia could suggest that a person has experienced some kind of frontal lobe damage that is interfering with his or her explicit memory.

What is source memory in psychology?

Discussion – Our objectives in this study were to determine whether attention to an object during encoding would correlate with later recognition of the object and retrieval of its source location, and to determine whether attention to the correct source location at test occurs even when verbal expression of that source location is incorrect or has failed.

Consistent with prior studies, our participants were able to recognize previously seen objects and indicate the screen location where the objects originally occurred. However, the subjects also made errors in failure to indicate the original source locations of objects, in indicating incorrect locations, or in failure to recognize previously seen objects.

Regarding whether visual attention to objects during the encoding session is related to later recognition of those objects and later retrieval of source information about the objects, analysis of gaze direction revealed that response accuracy was not determined by how much an item was initially attended to during the encoding phase.

1. There were no statistically reliable overall differences between how often targets and distractors were looked at during encoding, and no dependency was found of response accuracy on the amount of time spent looking at particular quadrants during encoding.
2. Other studies have demonstrated an effect of attention on source encoding by dividing attention during the encoding session or by using emotionally valenced items,

Also, the fact that source memory is sensitive to frontal cortical lesions may be evidence that attention during encoding is important for memory, as frontal cortical dysfunction impairs attention, One possible reason for the discrepancy in the literature is variation across studies in amount of time the participants are afforded to encode the items.

In our study the subjects could scan the objects for three seconds, which may have been sufficient to encode both objects. Therefore, during encoding, subjects divided the time similarly between the two objects in each slide. Given all objects were similarly attended to, it is not surprising that attention was not found to be a critical factor in which objects were later remembered.

Regarding the evidence that we collected from eye movements during the source memory test, it clearly shows attention to the original source location on those trials where the subjects provided incorrect explicit location responses or provided a response indicating they didn’t remember the location.

During trials in which the object was recognized but an incorrect source location was indicated, the most time was spent looking at the quadrant the subjects would incorrectly select. However, significantly more time was spent looking at the correct source location than at incorrect, non-selected locations.

In fact, the distribution of looking across the different quadrants and the dynamics of the eye movements during the retrieval phase suggests competition between the correct location and a wrong alternative (see Fig 4 ). In these cases, the target quadrant may have attracted eye movements either because it was explicitly considered an alternative to the quadrant eventually chosen or because, despite a decision to report another quadrant, it was recognized as a possible source.

We collected further evidence from eye movements which shows attention to the original source location on trials where the participants failed to explicitly indicate any source location. On trials in which the object was recognized but participants responded with “I don’t remember” or similar when asked to point to the original location of the object, significantly more time was spent looking at the correct source location than at incorrect competitor locations starting 2000 ms after slide onset.

These two results indicate that accurate source information can be expressed through gaze direction even when verbal expression of that information is incorrect or has failed. These findings related to eye movements during source memory retrieval are consistent with models suggesting that even though the verbal response associated with retrieval of source memory may be dichotomized as correct or incorrect, underlying processes of source memory are graded.

1. It is possible our subjects were experiencing explicit and conscious partial source recollections and then screening them out in verbal reports or providing incorrect responses depending on their confidence (see ).
2. Eye gaze cannot then be assumed to reflect memory processes wholly outside awareness in those trials, but only memory processes (whether conscious or not) that the subject withholds from verbal responding.

If participants were basing responses on as sense of familiarity with a particular source location then that also would be graded. Source memory has been defined as the retrieval of contextual details that were incidentally acquired during the prior observation of a remembered item, and is contrasted with item memory which reflects recognition of the item itself,

• Item recognition and source memory have been widely thought of as separate processes that involve different brain systems and degrade at different rates across ageing,
• The neural processes underlying recognition of items has been proposed as continuous and underlying weak to strong familiarity, while neural processes underlying source memory have been thought to operate in a threshold manner in which subjects either recall or fail to recall a past event,

However, a growing body of behavioral evidence indicates that source memory retrieval can be revealed as a continuous process if participants are allowed to make responses along a graded scale of memory strength, In a typical study, participants initially heard a male or a female voice saying words, and then during the test phase saw words printed.

When the participants made a seven-point confidence rating from “very sure female” to “very sure male” as a source memory measure, the results fit a model that suggests source memory as a continuous process rather than a thresholded process. Other studies have used similar procedures to show that hippocampal BOLD activation likewise best fits a continuous rather than thresholded model for source memory,

Nevertheless, no consensus on a wholly continuous model for source memory retrieval has been reached. Studies with similar procedures have resulted in data consistent with a threshold model for source retrieval, but also showed that, when successful, it can have varying levels of precision or accuracy,

• Continuous models for source memory retrieval are also supported by studies that show the source judgments at test can be based on either familiarity or recall in certain conditions,
• In particular, familiarity, a graded process, can be used to support memory for the source of the cues when the test is a recognition test, as in this study when there can be recognition of the correct quadrant.

Our data support graded or continuous models for source memory by showing that even when verbal report of object source has failed, source information can be revealed by study of gaze direction. It is not clear from the current data that the graded source memory retrieval processes revealed by our gaze direction data are outside the awareness of the subjects.

It is entirely possible it is outside awareness, particularly considering recent data showing subjects are unable to recognize or report on their own eye movements, However, there are also studies showing that people withhold responses about their explicit recollections depending on their confidence levels or other criteria,

Thus, eye gazes towards the correct target area when source responses are inaccurate or when participants say they have no location memory could be due to attention related to explicit partial or false source information retrieval as well as to source information processing that occurs outside conscious awareness.

What is source amnesia examples?

For example, you probably know that the capital of California is Sacramento, but you probably donVt remember how you learned it. This phenomenon, known as source amnesia, can also lead people to forget whether a statement is true.

What is source amnesia and examples?

Source Amnesia refers to an inability to remember from where existing knowledge was acquired. For a basic example, most of us remember learning how to read and write, but we don’t remember learning to walk. This is believed to be caused by a sort of disconnect between semantic memory (verbal memory) and episodic memory (event memory). Add flashcard Cite Random

What is source amnesia and how can it create false memories?

Psychology: Memory How Things Get Remembered Long-Term Memory System Memory Organization Encoding and LTM Remembering and Forgetting Searching for Memory > Emotional Memory > Source Amnesia > More on Memory Organization > More on Remembering & ForgettingSource Amnesia, Fantasy blends Reality:

> More on Encoding & LTM Sometimes, people forget when, where and how they obtained information. This is known as source amnesia. You are able to recall events, however, not sure how you learned about them. The failure to remember the correct source of information causes us great confusion. It is often the cause for false re-collections and confabulation/distortion of memory. For example, your friend told you about his bike trip to Wisconsin. A year later, you recall details about the trip, however, you are not sure about how you learned about the details. You may falsely conclude that you have traveled to Wisconsin. You may reason that you recall things so clearly, you must have been there yourself. The source of the information – your friend – is forgotten, and the second-hand information is integrated in your memory. Or maybe your friend told you that apples are bad for you because they are high in fat. You may later recall the fact, and wonder how you learned about it. You conclude that you learned it from TV or the news paper article. You may avoid eating apples believing that they are high in fat. (In reality, apples contain no fat). You give the knowledge more weight if you believe you learned about it from credible media instead of an unreliable friend. If source amnesia is carried too far, you may recall fictional information as your own memory. For example, if your mom decided to tell you a story when you were a young child. She made up a character – your imaginary uncle – owner of a bakery – and told you many stories about the shop and watching him make cakes. Later, you may recall having him, and you might add fictional details to the episodes you remember from your mother’s stories. For you, the imaginary uncle is as real as any of your real relatives. You assimilated the information to be your own recollection. Or you just imagined having a friend when your were young. You thought of many things you did with your friend. Later, you may recall these imaginary episodes as real. Visualization of events often leads to false recollections. Because the same brain regions are involved in both visual imagery and visual perception, you are susceptible to perceive visual images as real recollections. In any case, you’ve forgotten you’ve just imagined them. Your source is lost, so your ability to tell the imaginary from the real. Your own recollection of the imaginary character in your childhood may add to your happiness and to the quality of your childhood. There will be no harm for you to believe they were real. However, source amnesia can be great obstacles in legal cases where it is absolutely essential to separate facts from imagined or falsely remembered. Children’s are exceptionally susceptible to source amnesia. They are easily influenced by suggestive interrogations, and known to give false recollections easily. They are ready to tell the stories they just heard from adults as their own. Also, taken to it’s extreme, source amnesia leads to a loss of reality. What if you believe you were abducted and raped s a child? In reality, you saw a documentary about a child who was abducted and raped on TV? What if you believe you were adopted. In reality, you just wanted to escape from your family and wanted to have your real loving family somewhere else waiting and looking for you? Are you about to go into a search for a phantom (your imaginary) family you created in your mind? Our minds are powerful enough to re-write our pasts. The truth, is beyond reach when you live in your self-serving make-believe fantasies. You hold the truth, however, you fabricated it for yourself. Source(s): Daniel L. Schacter, “Searching for memory: the brain, the mind, and the past”, (New York, 1996). :

What type of memory is source memory?

Interaction Between Item Memory and Source Memory – For intrinsic source features, item memory is positively correlated with source memory. This is because the intrinsic source features share an attention system with the item. Therefore, the enhancement of item memory is positively related to the enhancement of intrinsic source memory, which is deeply reflected in emotional items ( Mather, 2007 ).

1. The important trade-off between the item and extrinsic source is very important for connection formation.
2. Attention to the item enhances the connections associated with “this item,” such as the temporal and color, rather than extrinsic sources (e.g., other items) that are beyond the item.
3. Attention to “source” transfers the “source” to “item” and facilitates connections for the “new item.” The new connections increase the denominator of the probability formula, thus reducing the ratio of the item to the extrinsic source.

Therefore, there is a negative relationship between item memory and source memory. Such phenomena are more deeply reflected in the memory related to emotion. Source memory can be divided into two types: intrinsic source memory, which is the features of the item itself, and extrinsic source memory, which is the associated features outside the item, including the context and objects that are associated with the item.

1. Numerous studies support two opposite phenomena: compared with neutral items, emotional items always facilitate intrinsic source memory; however, emotional items always interfere with extrinsic source memory.
2. The trade-off between emotional items and emotional source memory validates our theory.
3. The first evidence comes from the relative importance of the item.

Compared with positive emotional stimuli, the extrinsic source memory of negative emotional stimuli is worse ( Madan et al., 2019 ). Compared with low-arousal emotional stimuli, the extrinsic source memory of higher arousal stimuli is worse ( Mather et al., 2006 ; Kensinger et al., 2007 ; Mather, 2007 ).

The second evidence comes from the relative importance of the source. Compared with a neutral context, an emotional context is always remembered better at the cost of neutral items ( Maratos et al., 2001 ; Maratos and Rugg, 2011 ; Chiu et al., 2013 ). We are always attracted by the emotional context even when asked to keep the attention on items, especially in an extremely important environment, such as the source memory of cheaters ( Kroneisen and Bell, 2013 ) and goal-inconsistency phenomena ( Bell et al., 2012 ).

The third evidence comes from a relative comparison between items and sources. When an item is emotional, item memory is better at the cost of neutral context ( Kensinger et al., 2007 ), and researchers ask participants to remember words in the emotional context and find the impaired word memory influenced by the emotional context ( Zhang et al., 2015 ).

What are the types of source memory?

Memory is the ability to store and retrieve information when people need it. The four general types of memories are sensory memory, short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory. Long-term memory can be further categorized as either implicit (unconscious) or explicit (conscious).

How does source amnesia affect memory?

Abstract – We investigated the ability of amnesic patients to learn new facts (e.g., Angel Falls is located in Venezuela) and also to remember where and when the facts were learned (i.e., source memory). To assess the susceptibility of fact and source memory to retrograde amnesia, patients prescribed electroconvulsive therapy were presented facts prior to the first treatment and were tested after their second treatment.

All amnesic patients exhibited marked fact memory impairment. In addition, some amnesic patients exhibited source amnesia (i.e., they recalled a few facts but then could not remember where or when those facts had been learned). Source amnesia was unrelated to the severity of the memory deficit itself, because patients who exhibited source amnesia recalled as many facts as the patients who did not.

These results show that the deficit in amnesia includes an impairment in acquiring and retaining new facts. Source amnesia can also occur, but it is dissociable from impaired recall and recognition and appears to reflect difficulty in remembering the specific context in which information is acquired.

Is déjà vu source amnesia?

Deja vu: It’s all about perspective Déjà vu directly translates to “already seen” in French. The concept of déjà vu is widely known as the feeling of familiarity in a moment that has seeminging happened for the first time. This phenomenon is also known as source amnesia or source misattribution.

According to David G. Myers in Myers’ Psychology for the AP course, the frailest part of a memory is its source, and when certain parts of the brain are out of sync, we can experience feelings of familiarity without actually remembering the memory. Psychology teacher, Mr. Orton, has labeled this feeling as unsettling and he explains this phenomenon by describing how the brain functions.

“So as humans, we like to always be in control and we like to be able to make sense of our surroundings, right,” Orton said. “The situation that you’re entering into that’s triggering that déjà vu feeling is a result of something in your mind, that as your mind is kind of cataloging your memories, it could be that, you know, your mind is trying to make sense of a situation and pulls a memory that is very, very, very similar to what we might expect to happen in that moment.” “And so, it’s kind of a phenomenon in which our recall from our memory is kind of coming to the surface and we’re immediately kind of comparing and contrasting something that we’ve been through before, based with our current reality, and that feeling is almost kind of like our mind trying to make sense of what’s happening.” Junior, Kyla Aubertin, has a more spiritual perspective when describing déjà vu.

• I think that when I get déjà vu it just helps me, I think that the intention is to appreciate the moment more, to be like this is a moment that you should remember which is funny because I don’t remember anytime I really get déjà vu,” Aubertin said.
• But I feel like that’s more the goal instead of some sort of premonition warning thing.

” For Aubertin, these déjà vu feelings are more of a wake up call than anything else. “When you get déjà vu you’re like, ‘oh my god, what just happened?’ And it’s like, you’re kind of living life almost on autopilot,” Aubertin said. “I can find myself going through the day or doing something where I will be like, ‘What just happened in the past, like, six hours?’ And déjà vu can sort of wake you up from that and be like, ‘you’re here.

What is source memory failure?

Definition – Can be thought of as a form of incidental memory and involves memory misattribution. Source memory refers to recalling the source of learned information, such as knowledge of when or where something was learned. Often, memories are triggered by contextual information (i.e., time and place).

1. Source memory failure may be associated with old age, stress, distractibility, or intoxication and is a phenomenon in which a person retrieves fragments of a memory without remembering how or when the fragment was acquired.
2. Source memory impairments have been shown to be disproportionately impaired in patients with frontal lobe lesions.

For instance, when asked to learn two separate lists of items, frontal lobe patients are impaired at determining if a word was on the first or second list (i.e., source), and not on the actual recall or recognition of the items. In contrast, medial temporal amnesics are impaired in recall of the actual items but not its source.

What is the difference between source memory and episodic memory?

Abstract – On the basis of an interesting structural equation analysis, K.L. Siedlecki, T.A. Salthouse, and D.E. Berish argued that “it may not be meaningful to refer to source memory as a construct distinct from episodic memory” (p.31). This commentary highlights that this same point could also be made on conceptual grounds.

1. To suggest that source and episodic memory are distinct concepts would confound tasks with theoretical constructs.
2. All episodic tasks involve making attributions about the origin of mental experiences (source monitoring).
3. Conversely, source memory tasks are designed to investigate episodic memory.
4. No task is special, but each may be useful, depending on the focus of interest.

Copyright (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved.

Does source memory decline with age?

Abstract – Source memory decline has been identified as one of the types of memory most seriously affected during older age. It refers to our capacity to recollect the contextual information in which our experiences take place. Although most elderly adults will be affected by progressive source memory decline, a subset of individuals will not follow this average pattern; instead, their source memory capabilities will remain functional.

Likewise, a minority of individuals will manifest an extreme decay of their source memory abilities. The objective of the present study was to identify among 120 potential predictors that significantly contributed to these two extreme source memory outcomes. Spatial source memory was measured in a sample of 519 healthy individuals between 61 and 80 years old.

Individuals who performed below the 20th and above the 80th percentiles in the source memory task were defined as individuals whose episodic memory failed and succeeded, respectively. Logistic models identified five and six significant predictors of source memory success and failure in older age, respectively.

1. High source memory performance was mainly predicted by healthy cardiovascular markers and psychological traits, whereas low source memory performance was primarily predicted by consumption habits and by less engagement in mental activities.
2. The models identified relevant biological and life experiences that underlie these unusual source memory outcomes in older age.

Keywords: episodic memory, source memory, recollection, aging, logistic regression

How does source amnesia help explain déjà vu?

When we reassemble a memory during retrieval, we may attribute it to the wrong source (source amnesia). Source amnesia may help explain déjà vu. False memories feel like real memories and can be persistent but are usually limited to the main gist of the event.

What is the most common amnesia?

– Several different conditions involve amnesia, and there are many types of amnesia. Some features of different types of amnesia can overlap, and a person can have more than one type. Amnesia can be temporary or long lasting. The most common types of amnesia are:

Anterograde amnesia: A person with anterograde amnesia cannot remember new information. This usually results from brain trauma, such as a blow to the head that causes brain damage. The person will have their full memory from the time before the injury. Retrograde amnesia: In some ways the opposite of anterograde amnesia, retrograde amnesia is when a person cannot remember events that occurred before their trauma, but they can remember what happened after it. In rare cases, both retrograde and anterograde amnesia can occur together. Transient global amnesia: This is a temporary loss of all memory and, in severe cases, difficulty forming new memories. This is very rare and more likely in older adults with vascular (blood vessel) disease, Traumatic amnesia: This refers to memory loss resulting from a hard blow to the head, for instance, in a car accident. The person may experience a brief loss of consciousness or coma, This type of amnesia is usually temporary, but its duration often depends on the severity of the injury. Amnesia can be an important indicator of concussion, Fugue or dissociative amnesia: Rarely, a person can forget both their past and their identity. They may wake up and suddenly have no sense of who they are. The trigger is usually a traumatic event. The ability to remember commonly returns within minutes, hours, or days, but the memory of the triggering event may never come back completely. Posthypnotic amnesia: A person cannot recall what occurred while they experienced hypnosis. Source amnesia: A person can remember certain information but not how or where they got it. Alcohol-induced amnesia: Also called a blackout, this is when a bout of heavy drinking leaves a person with memory gaps. Prosopamnesia: The person cannot remember faces. People can either acquire it or be born with it.

Another type of amnesia is childhood amnesia, or infantile amnesia. However, this is not an actual disorder. A young child’s language and memory are still developing. As a result, most adults cannot recall events from early childhood.

What is the difference between source amnesia and misinformation effect?

Source amnesia makes it difficult to keep track of where information came from. Where did I find those tickets again? And the misinformation effect can make us remember a shattered glass even if we only spilled a little water.

What is Cryptomnesia vs source amnesia?

Source amnesia is similar to cryptomnesia in that information concerning the ‘context’ in which the fact was first experienced has been forgotten. However, with cryptomnesia the recalled informa- tion is perceived as original, whereas with source amnesia it is not.

How does source amnesia help explain déjà vu?

When we reassemble a memory during retrieval, we may attribute it to the wrong source (source amnesia). Source amnesia may help explain déjà vu. False memories feel like real memories and can be persistent but are usually limited to the main gist of the event.

What triggers selective amnesia?

What causes dissociative amnesia? – Dissociative amnesia has been linked to overwhelming stress, which may be caused by traumatic events such as war, abuse, accidents or disasters. A person with dissociative amnesia may have experienced the trauma or witnessed it. There may be a genetic (inherited) connection in dissociative amnesia, as close relatives often have the tendency to develop amnesia.