LTM - tulving and reconstructive - bartletts

what did tulving argue

1972 - that the LTM in the MSM was too simplistic and inflexible

what can declarative memory be split into

semantic memory and episodic memory

what is semantic memory referred to

refers to the conscious recall of facts and knowledge

what is episodic memory referred to

refers to personal memories

what is the nature of semantic memory

semantic memory represents a mental encyclopaedia, memories are associated with other facts an concepts are linked together

what is the nature of episodic memory

episodic memory represents a mental diary, memories are linked to a time and context

what is the time referencing in the semantic memory

memories are detached from any time reference as the factual information can be recalled without linking it to when it was learned

what is the time referencing in the episodic memory

memories are dependent and linked to the time they happened

what is the retrieval like in the semantic memory

retrieval doesn’t depend on the context it was learned in and is based on inferences, generalisation, rational, logical thought

what is the retrieval like in the episodic memory

retrieval depends on the context the event experienced as we mentally re-experience a moment in the past to retrieve information

what is the independence of the semantic memory

semantic memory can operate independently of episodic memory

what is the independence of the episodic memory

episodic memory is unlikely to operate without semantic memory

what is forgetting like in the semantic memory

information is less susceptible change as the memory trace is more robust

what is forgetting like in the episodic memory

information can be changed as the memory trace can be transformed

what is evidence for tulvings LTM

supporting evidence from brain scans which showed that different parts of the brain are involved in episodic and semantic memory, case studies - K.C’s motorcycle accident that damaged episodic memory, H.M’s severely impaired episodic memory as he couldn’t remember owning a dog but still understood the concept of what a dog is

what is evidence against tulving LTM

research has shown that LTM may include more than semantic and episodic memories as H.M still remembered how to perform tasks and could learn new skills

what are strengths in the methodology for tulvings LTM

use of brain scanning techniques increases the scientific credibility of the theory

what are weaknesses in the methodology for tulvings LTM

methods to test semantic an episodic memory may lack validity as they cannot be studies in isolation from one another, case studies used to explain the theory lack a control of variables

what are strengths in the applications of tulvings LTM

practical applications in aiding memory recall as strong episodic memories are easy to retrieve so semantic knowledge can be encoded as episodic memories using a mnemonic to attach the semantic knowledge into an imaginary story

what did bartlett say about memory

1932 - memory was not like a tape recorder and can be changed and transformed

why did bartlett show his british participants the war of the ghosts (4)

as it was culturally unfamiliar to participants, lacked rational order, **dramatic nature of the story would encourage visual imaging** and conclusion was supernatural

when the participants were asked to reproduce the story what happened (5)

story became much shorter, used phrases from modern life, story had more of an order, people changed many words to more familiar words, many people left out the part about ghosts as they didn’t understand the role of them in the story - they rationalised their presence in some way

why is memory rarely accurate and what is it prone to (3)

omissions (distortion and simplification) - leaving out parts that didn’t make sense, rationalisation - make the story more logical to the participant, transformation - putting part of the story in a different order or changing words to more familiar words

what does it mean that memory is reconstructive

we use previous knowledge to interpret information so that it can be stored and recalled

what is schema theory

using schemas which are simplified, generalised representations of everything that we know about something to help us store new information

what are schemas

mental constructs that form the structural or hardware components of the human memory systems and they are parcels of stored knowledge or a mental representation of information about a specific event or object

how do schemas influence what you encode and store

if new information conflicts with your pre-existing schema of the subject it might fail to encode it in the first place or manipulate how its encoded based on previous experiences and memories

how do schemas influence what you retrieve

when you later try to recall information you might recall only the elements that fit in with the relevant schema and other elements are distorted or forgotten

what is evidence for bartletts reconstructive memory

brewer and treyens (1981), loftus and palmer (1974), allport and postman (1947)

describe brewer and treyens (1981) study

had participants wait in an office and asked them to recall items they’d seen, recalled expected items like a desk, stapler etc but not unexpected items like a pair of plyers, they also recalled expected items like a telephone that wasn’t there

describe loftus and palmers (1974) study

participants memories could be altered through leading questions

describe allport and postmans (1947) study

showed participants a drawing of an argument on a subway and asked to describe it to another participant, in the drawing the black character was better dressed and more respectable than the white character but after serial reproduction the white participants tended to reverse the appearances and some described the black character as holding a knife

what were strengths of the methodology of bartletts study

bartletts research is similar to real life use of memory

what were weaknesses of the methodology of bartletts study

bartletts experiments lacked control and standardisation, finding were qualitative so his experiments may be open to subjective interpretation and lack validity, war of the ghosts story criticised for not being relevant to everyday memory

what were strengths in the applicability of bartletts study (2)

practical application as it can explain why eyewitness testimony can be unreliable, understanding schemas help supporting dementia sufferers as carers may use familiar music, old activities or reminiscing about events from the past to activate schemas that they are comfortable with

what are weaknesses in the applicability of bartletts study

not all memories are inaccurate/affected by schemas as people often remembered “something black came out of his mouth” in the war of the ghosts story as it was unusual