reconstructive memory

Question 1

who proposed the theory of reconstructive memory?

Answer 1

Bartlett

Question 2

what is effort after meaning?

Answer 2

the theory that people do not passively record memories as exact copies of new information they receive but actively try to make sense of it in terms of what they already know

Question 3

what is retrieval of memory influenced by?

Answer 3

our perception, our beliefs, past experience, cultural factors and the context in which we are recalling the information.

Question 4

due to what factors can memory change during storage, processing and retrieval?

Answer 4

schema processing

Question 5

who was the first person to research the reliability of eyewitness testimonies?

Answer 5

Elizabeth Loftus

Question 6

what are two things that can influence ones recollection of events in a courtroom?

Answer 6

leading question
post-event information

Question 7

what are leading questions?

Answer 7

suggestive question that aim to get a specific answer

Question 8

what are post event information?

Answer 8

information given after the formation of the initial formation of the memory

Question 9

what are two limitations of the theory of reconstructive memory?

Answer 9

schema theory does not explain how memory is reconstructed
high internal validity and low ecological validity

Question 10

what are two strengths of the theory of reconstructive memory?

Answer 10

applied to eyewitness testimonies
it allows us to predict the future, update our beliefs and be creative

Question 11

what are two studies investigating reconstructive memory?

Answer 11

Loftus and Palmer (1974)
Yuille and Cutshall (1986)

Question 12

what was the aim of Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 12

investigate whether the use of leading questions would affect the estimation of speed

Question 12

what were the five different words in Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 12

hit
collided
bumped
smashed
contacted

Question 13

what were the results of Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 13

highest condition was smashed with around 40 mph
the lowest was contacted with around 21 mph

Question 14

what was the aim of the follow up study to Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 14

investigate whether memory can be influenced by post-event information

Question 15

what were the two conditions on the follow up study of Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 15

smashed
hit

Question 16

what were the results of the the follow up study of Loftus and Palmer?

Answer 16

Participants who were asked the ‘smashed’ question were more likely to report having seen broken glass.

Question 17

what are four strengths of Loftus and Palmer and their follow up study?

Answer 17

confounding variables are controlled
establishes cause and effect
easily replicated
cross cultural

Question 18

what are four limitations of Loftus and Palmer and their follow up study?

Answer 18

lab experiment- low ecological validity
lacks population validity - hard to generalize
watching a video of a car crash doesn’t take into account of the emotion of actually seeing a car crash

Question 19

what was the aim of Yuille and Cutshall?

Answer 19

The aim of the study was to determine whether leading questions would affect the memory of eyewitnesses at a real crime scene

Question 20

what were the two leading questions in Yuille and Cutshall?

Answer 20

Half the group was asked if they saw a broken headlight on the getaway car.
In fact, there was no broken headlight.
The other half of the group was asked if they saw a yellow panel on the car (the panel was actually blue).

Question 21

what were the results of Yuille and Cutshall?

Answer 21

they found eyewitness were actually very reliable
10 out of 13 of them said there was no broken headlight or yellow quarter panel, or that they had not noticed those particular details.

The researchers found that the accuracy of the witnesses compared to the original police reports was approximately 80%.

Question 22

what is one strength of Yuille and Cutshall?

Answer 22

they used the police reports and the original eyewitness testimonies to confirm the accuracy of the memories

Question 23

what were three limitations of Yuille and Cutshall?

Answer 23

not replicable and not able to be generalize
no control of variables
deception
participants could have been highly motivated