Reconstructive Memory Flashcards
What does the theory state?
-Memory is an active reconstruction.
-Memory is not an accurate account but a reconstruction of what has occured.
What is a schema?
-A mental representation of an object, person or event that influences how we remember experiences.
What is omission?
Leaving out unfamiliar/unpleasant details when remembering something )schemas can simplify events).
What is confabulation?
When we cannot remember parts of an event so our schemas fill it in based on previous experiences.
What is accomidation?
When you change info to fit you schemas.
What is familiarisation?
When unfamiliar details are changed to align with out current schemas.
What is rationalisation?
Adding more details to our recalled memories to give a reason for something that does not fit with our schemas.
What is a cognitive interview?
A police interview designed to ensure a witness to a crime does not reconstruct their memory and lead to errrors.
What was Barrlet’s study and how does it support the theory?
Method:
-Ppts read a story called ‘the war of ghosts’ based on native American culture.
-Were asked to recall story after 15mins the over days, weeks and months.
-Findings:
-Ppts changed details to make it more familiar (e.g: canoes to boats showing familiarisation and leaving out supernatural details showing omission).
How can Barrlet’s study conflict reconstructive memory?
-War of ghosts today has little relevance and so lowers temporal validity.
-Barrlet suggested all reconstructive memories are inaccurate but that is not always the case.
What other theories can explain memory and why might they be better?
Multistore model:
-Has SR, STM and LTM.
-Explains how info moves from store to store.
-Describes encoding, capacity and duration of each store.
Why might reconstructive memory be better than MSM?
-Can describe recall and retrieval of information.
What was Loftus and Palmers study and how can it support the theory?
-Showed all ppts a video of a car crash.
-Asked all ppts to answer two questions.
-When asking how fast were the cars going one said ‘bumped’ and the other ‘smashed’ into each other and whether there was any broken glass.
Findings:
-Those who had ‘bumped’ said a lower speed and no broken glass.
-Those who has ‘smashed’ said a higher speed and there was broken glass.
How is reconstructive memory useful?
-Can understand eye witness testimony (each person recalling the same event can add in, miss out or change details).
-So eye witness testimonies may not be very trustworthy.
What are the issues with Barlett’s study and the testability of the theory?
-Low temporal validity so cannot be applied to modern behaviour.
-Study is very standardised so very reliable and easy to repeat for reliability.
