memory: reconstructive Flashcards
who proposed reconstructive memory theory?
Bartlett
what is schemata?
ideas and scripts about world. provides people with expectations and rules about what to do.
what process is reconstruction and why?
active process, this is because there are gaps in our memories but we do not realise the gaps are there
how do we fill in memory gaps? what does this produce
we automatically and unconsciously fill in memory gaps. we do this using stereotypes and expectations from our mental schemas. this produces distorted memories which we accept as real
what do memory of events involve?
it involves specific traces encoded at the time of the event and the ideas the person has from knowledge, expectations, beliefs and attitudes
what did Bartlett move away from? and why? what did he used instead?
he moved away from artificial lab experiments because he thought research into memory should not just capture reactions, they should capture human beings. he instead used stories
what was the folk tale Bartlett used called?
The War of the Ghosts
why did Bartlett use the specific folk tale?
because it was culturally unfamiliar to ppts, it lacked any rational story order, encouraged visual imaging and conclusion was somewhat supernatural. Bartlett wanted to see how ppts would perceive and image this
how many times did the ppts have to read the story?
twice. repeat reproduction was used to test the effect of time lapse on recall
what was Bartlett interested in?
in the form that reproduced story would take, particularly after repeat reproductions
how many ppts recalled the story and what was the longest time lapse?
20 ppts. they recalled the story after several minutes, weeks, months and years.
the longest time lapse was six and a half years
what did Bartlett find?
- that the story became shortened because of omissions (when things are left out or excluded), the phrases used reflected modern concepts and the story became more coherent in form
- objects within the story were made more familiar e.g. canoe was changed to boat and hunting seals changed to fishing. many ppts did not grasp role of ghosts in story so simply omitted to mention them or rationalised their presence in some way
what were the conclusions of Bartlett’s study?
- memory is a reconstruction each time it is recalled
- it is rarely accurate and prone to rationalisation (shortening story for it to make sense) and confabulation (making up bits and filling gaps when retelling story for it to make sense).
- even recall after couple of minutes contain errors and they tend to be repeated
- process of remembering is constructive in nature and influenced by inferences made by individual
based on Bartlett’s experiment, what did he propose?
- theory of Reconstructive Memory
- rather than viewing memory as passive and accurate record of what was experienced, he viewed memory as constructive in nature
- said that previous knowledge was used to interpret information to be stored and to actively reconstruct memories to be recalled
- when recalling event, we actively draw on past experiences, fill in gaps and transfer event into understandable story.
- imaginative reconstruction of events
- drew the concept of schema to explain this
what is schema theory?
- parcels of stored knowledge or mental representation of info about specific object or event
- Bartlett argued that we don’t remember all that we perceive.
- we draw on existing schema when recalling event to fill in gaps
- this means recalling is an active reconstruction of event strongly influenced by previous knowledge, expectations and beliefs
- schemas also used in recognition and interpretation of unfamiliar objects and events. e.g. using existing schema when interpreting ink blots or using cinemas schema when going to theatre for first time
