Reconstructive memory Flashcards
Who insisted on reconstructive memory?
Barlett (1932)
What is perception?
To understand perception as a precursor to what is remembered, devising a series of experiments to test memory for shapes and objects. He found that ppts often assigned verbal labels or names to each shape or object that they saw and that there names often shaped the representation of the object that is drawn afterwards.
He concluded the perception of the shape or object determined how it was remembered
What is imaging?
Conducted a series of tests on imagining as what is remembered is what is first imaged. Using ink blots he asked ppts to describe what they imaged in the pattern they saw. He noticed ppts often “rummaged about” their own stored images to find one that best suited the ink blot pattern they saw.
Suggests that the descriptions given were largely determined by the individuals own interests and experiences and even the mood they were in at the time
What is remembering?
Asked ppts to read and recall a Native American folk tale called “The War of the Ghosts”.
Each ppts read the story twice and repeated reproduction was used to test the effect of time lapse on recall. He found that the story became shortened, phrases reflected modern concepts and the story became more coherent in form. A number of transformations were reported, particularly in objects within the story were made more familiar.
He concluded that memory each time is recalled, it is rarely accurate and prone to distortion, rationalisation, transformation and simplification.
Why did Barlett chose the War of The Ghosts?
- It was culturally unfamiliar to ppts so he could examine the transformation that the story may make when produced by ppts
- It lacked any rational story order
- The dramatic nature of the story would encourage visual imaging
- The conclusion was supernatural and Barlett wanted to see how ppts would perceive and image this.
What is the theory of memory?
Proposed reconstructive memory as being constructive in nature. Previous knowledge was used to interpret information to be stored and to actively reconstruct memories to be recalled. When it comes to recalling an events we actively draw on past experiences to reinterpret the notes, fill in the gaps and transform it into a coherent story
What is schema theory?
Are a mental representation about a specific events or objects. Every schema has fixed information to be stored and variable information. Barlett argued that we do not remember all that we perceive, we therefore draw on our schema when we recall an event to fill in the gaps. This means that recall is an active reconstruction of an event influenced by previously stored knowledge, expectations and beliefs.
Barlett conducted his repeated reproduction experiments using 8 stores on different ppts and found the same overall general shortening, transformation, familiarisation and omission….
He also found similar effects on repeated and serial reproduction of pictures. Therefore, it can be argued that memory for any type of story or object is subject to the same memory errors.
It is based on research that is more realistic than a lot of memory research…
Before Barlett’s work, psychologists investigated memory using artificial materials to be learned. These are “artificial” because we are rarely use our own memories to deal with nonsense syllables. This means that the social origins of memory are obscured in such artificial research. But Barletts findings and the theory based on them are more relevant to real life memory processes
It can be used to explain problems with eyewitness testimony…
EWT is often used in court trials to give an accurate picture of what actually happened when a crime was committed. Barlett’s research showed that memory can be affected by our own schemas, which include expectations of what “should” happen. Research on EWT has subsequently shown that people do not always recall what they see or hear accurately. The consequence is that no convictions are now based on EWT alone is not trustworthy - an important application of research.
A criticism is the overstatement of memory as inaccurate and flawed.
Steyvers and Hammer (2012) argue that the experimental conditions of such research deliberately induce errors in recall; leading to the view that memory is unreliable. Their research demonstrates that in a real context without manipulated material, schematic recall can be very accurate. Therefore we should be cautious when assuming eyewitness testimony is completely unreliable.
Barlett’s research did not use rigorously controlled methods and lacked objectivity.
For example, instructions were not standardised, so the ppts experiences of the procedure were inconsistent, making it hard to compare reproductions. This means that evidence underlying reconstructive memory lacks reliability and validity
A criticism of Reconstructive memory compared with other theories is that it doesn’t explain how memory is reconstructed.
The other cognitive theories of memory describe the processes at work in rehearsing and recalling. These processes have been linked to specific part of the brain thanks to brain scanning on patients with lesions in specific parts of the brain.
Reconstructive memory is much more vague about how schemas work and where they are located.
