Cognitive Approach: Reconstructive Memory Theory

Question 1

What is reconstructive memory theory?

Answer 1

• based on the idea that memories are not saved as complete, coherent wholes
• retrieval of memory is influenced by our perception, beliefs, past experience, cultural factors, and the context in which we are recalling information
• schema can influence what we encode and retrieve from memory

Question 2

Loftus and Palmer (1974) can be used for…

Answer 2

reconstructive memory

Question 3

Loftus and Palmer (1974) - aim

Answer 3

• to investigate whether the use of leading questions would affect an eyewitness’s estimation of speed when shown a video of a traffic accident

Question 4

Loftus and Palmer (1974) - procedure

Answer 4

• students were divided into groups and shown short films from driver’s education films of traffic accidents
• students were asked to give an account of the accident and answered a questionnaire
• one critical question asked the participant to estimate the speed of the cars involved in the accident
• participants were asked the same question but the critical question included different verbs
• the critical word “hit” was replaced by ‘collided’, ‘bumped’ ‘smashed’ or’ contacted’
• researchers predicted that using the word ‘smashed’ would result in higher estimations of speed than using the word ‘hit’

Question 5

Loftus and Palmer (1974) - findings

Answer 5

• mean estimates of speed were highest in the ‘smashed’ condition and lowest in the ‘contacted’ group
• findings were that the more intense the verb that was used, the higher the average estimate

Question 6

Loftus and Palmer (1974) - conclusion

Answer 6

• Loftus argues that when different verbs are used, they activate schemas that have a different sense of meaning
• When the question is asked using smashed, the connotation of the verb influences how the memory is formed