Question

What best explains this discrepancy?

a) seeing the poster implanted a false memory of reading one of daniel winston's books, which led to the conclusion that he must be a famous writer.
b) when you saw the newspaper headline, you were at home; whereas when you saw the poster, you were at the train station. the different environments led to fewer context cues available to aid in memory retrieval, which is why you misremembered the identity of daniel winston.
c) as you only saw the poster in passing, you encoded its information at a shallow level of processing. memory performance tends to be better if information is encoded at a deeper level of processing, which is why you misremembered the identity of daniel winston.
d) seeing the poster gave you increased processing fluency for the name daniel winston; later, after forgetting the source of the name, you misattributed the increased fluency by assuming the name belonged to somebody famous.

Answer 1

The discrepancy in recalling Daniel Winston's identity likely stems from a false memory or misattribution due to shallow processing and the misinformation effect. Memory can be affected by the level of processing, environmental context cues, and the familiarity of information, which can lead to misremembering and assumption of fame.

Step-by-step explanation:

The discrepancy in recalling Daniel Winston's identity can be attributed to how memory processes and potential errors affect our ability to recall information correctly. When presented with a poster and later having to recall the name, it is possible that the individuals created a false memory or misattributed the perceived familiarity of the name due to misattribution. These memory errors are influenced by the depth of processing, context cues, and the misinformation effect.

According to the levels of processing theory by Craik and Tulving, memory is more reliable when information is encoded deeply (semantic processing) rather than at a shallow level (visual or acoustic processing). Contextual cues also play a significant role in retrieval, as seen in the difference between recognizing something in one's home versus a train station environment. Moreover, encountering a name in passing and then seeing a poster may increase processing fluency, later causing one to misremember the source of that fluency and conclude that the person must be famous due to the vague sense of familiarity.

This phenomenon can be influenced by the strength of semantic networks and associations within one's long-term memory, as described in spreading activation theory. Exposure to additional information, as explored by Elizabeth Loftus, can also lead to the creation of false memories or changes in the recall of events through the misinformation effect.

Overall, this underscores the complexities and potential frailties of the human memory system, including the susceptibility to memory enhancement strategies and the pitfalls of forgetting and misattribution.