Cognitive - Reconstructive memory and schemas

What is reconstructive memory?

The process whereby memories of an event become distorted by information encountered after the event occurred

Who came up with reconstructive memory?

Bartlett (1932)

What experiment did Bartlett do?

War of the Ghosts study.

Describe the War of the Ghosts study.

Bartlett made pp read an unfamiliar native american folk tale and reproduce it 15 minutes later. This version was shown to the next pp who reproduced it and so forth.

Describe the findings of the War of the Ghosts study.

Bartlett found that pp would leave out finer details and alter phrases to match their cultural understanding e.g. canoe became boat

What theory did Bartlett come up with after his study?

Schema theory

Describe schemas.

Mental structures which contain stored knowledge that influences reconstructive memory

Define the term schema.

A mental package of knowledge e.g. people, situations, objects, actions, events etc

How can schemas change?

New knowledge and experiences develop and change schemas

Describe how information may be encoded and retrieved in schemas.

- New knowledge that conflicts with an existing schema might not be encoded because it doesn't fit what you expect
- Information may be encoded to fit with the schema the information is associated with even though this is not true
- Later on you might retrieve only elements of memory that fit the relevant schema. Items that do not fit are forgotten or distorted

Describe a strength of RMM.

Bartlett's research is realistic (remembering story rather than random letter)

Describe weaknesses of RMM.

- Bartlett did not control variables (no standardised instructions) making it poorly reliable and difficult to repeat
- Poor generalisability due to using only 20 pp
- Not all memories are impacted by schemas (some people have very good memories and in high stress situations we can have very detailed accurate memories)
- Memory is also quite accurate for unusual information showing how we do not convert everything to out schemas

Describe how RMM helps explain eyewitness testimony.

It can explain how people modify details to fit better with their understanding of what they have seen. This is why EWT is not always very reliable and convictions are not based on it alone