Many Stimuli in Our Lives Are Ambiguous, Having More Than

question 72

Essay

Many stimuli in our lives are ambiguous, having more than one memory associated with them. Each memory's retrieval depends on other cues to set the occasion for the current meaning. Based on what you know about occasion setting, how might anxiety elicited by a cue mysteriously appear? For example, how might a person who had some bad interactions with dogs be confused by the fact that sometimes dogs make him very nervous, and sometimes they do not?

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Definitions:

Long-term Memory

A phase of memory responsible for the storage of information for an extended period, ranging from a few minutes to a lifetime.

Material Interference

In psychology, the effect that the presence of one set of learning material has on the ability to recall or learn another set.

Childhood Amnesia

The phenomenon where early childhood memories, typically before the age of 3 to 4, are not retained into adulthood.

Recall Events

The process of retrieving information about past events or experiences from one's memory.