Bahrick Harry P, Hall Lynda K, Da Costa Laura A
Department of Psychology, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH 43015, USA.
Emotion. 2008 Feb;8(1):13-22. doi: 10.1037/1528-3542.8.1.13.
One to 54 years after graduating, 276 alumni correctly recalled 3,025 of 3,967 college grades. Omission errors increased with the retention interval, and better students made fewer errors. Accuracy of recall increased with confidence in recall. Eighty-one percent of commission errors inflated the actual grade. Distortions occur soon after graduation, remain constant during the retention interval, and are greater for better students and for courses students enjoyed most. Confidence in recall is unrelated to distortion. Courses that were not freely recalled, but had to be cued, were recalled less accurately and with less distortion. The data support a supplementary theory of memory distortion. The theory assumes that forgetting and distorting memory content are relatively independent processes, that relevant generic memories are used to fill in gaps after episodic memory fails, that systematic distortions affect autobiographical content that is emotionally and motivationally valenced, and that most individuals supplement with content that is emotionally more gratifying than the veridical content. The data conflict with dynamic displacement theories according to which screen memories actively block access to unpleasant veridical content.
毕业1至54年后，276名校友正确回忆起了3967个大学成绩中的3025个。遗漏错误随记忆间隔增加，成绩较好的学生错误较少。回忆的准确性随回忆信心增加。81%的误记错误夸大了实际成绩。扭曲在毕业后不久就出现，在记忆间隔期间保持不变，成绩较好的学生以及学生最喜欢的课程的扭曲情况更严重。回忆信心与扭曲无关。那些不是自由回忆而是需要提示才能回忆起来的课程，回忆的准确性较低且扭曲较少。这些数据支持了记忆扭曲的补充理论。该理论假设，遗忘和扭曲记忆内容是相对独立的过程，情景记忆失效后，相关的一般记忆被用来填补空白，系统性扭曲会影响具有情感和动机价值的自传内容，并且大多数人补充的内容比真实内容在情感上更令人满意。这些数据与动态置换理论相冲突，根据该理论，屏蔽记忆会积极阻止对不愉快真实内容的访问。
