Reconstructive memory (Unfinished)

Question 1

Who created the theory of reconstructive memory?

Answer 1

Frederick Bartlett (1932)

Question 2

What is the key study for reconstructive memory?

Answer 2

Braun (2002)

Question 3

What is a schema?

Answer 3

A mental representation of an object or situation based on past experiences.

Question 4

What is reconstructive memory?

Answer 4

A theory that suggests that our memory is influenced by our prior experiences and schemas.

Question 5

What is a problem with schemas?

Answer 5

They are not an exact representation of what actually happened.

Question 6

What could be a problem with schemas not being an exact representation of what actually happened?

Answer 6

• Someone could be wrongly convicted of a crime due to an incorrect eyewitness.

Question 7

What happens to our schemas when we see new information about a specific thing?

Answer 7

They are updated to include the new information

Question 8

How did Bartlett test his theory?

Answer 8

• He told some British people, who would have schemas based around British culture, a north American story called “The war of the ghosts”
• He asked the British people to recall the story

Question 9

What were the results of Bartlett’s experiment?

Answer 9

• The British people replaced the culturally unfamiliar parts of the story, such as hunting for seals, with more culturally familiar things, like fishing.
• They changed culturally unfamiliar parts of the story to fit their existing schemas.

Question 10

What effect does experience have on memory? (what does this explain)

Answer 10

Memories are affected by past experiences, such as one memory containing aspects of 2 separate events. This explains why people have different memories of the same event.

Question 11

What effect does memory have on expectations?

Answer 11

Our schemas are designed to influence what we expect to happen in certain situations, meaning if something has happened to us in the past, we may expect it again if we see the same things as before. (EG: a person who looks mean will cause us to expect them to be mean)

Question 12

What is it called when we make things up unintentionally?

Answer 12

Confabulation

Question 13

How does confabulation occur?

Answer 13

When people make things up to fill gaps in their schemas, creating a more consistent reconstruction of memory

Question 14

What are leading questions?

Answer 14

Questions which suggest a certain answer or type of answer. (EG: “speed when they smashed?” rather than “speed when they contacted?”)

Question 15

What is distortion?

Answer 15

When a memory differs from the event that took place

Question 16

How can memories be deliberately distorted?

Answer 16

Asking leading questions

Question 17

Why are leading questions important for the police?

Answer 17

Leading questions could be used to alter the memories of witnesses, influencing their testimony.

Question 18

What are the criticisms of the theory?

Answer 18

• Reductionist.
• Doesn’t actually explain how memories are processed.
• The concept of a schema is too vague and hypothetical to be useful.
• The evidence used was not conducted in a systematic way, so many extraneous variables could’ve affected the results.
• The reconstructive model of memory is very complicated.

Question 19

How is the theory reductionist?

Answer 19

It focuses on how we create schemas and reconstruct our memories but fails to explain how these processes actually happen in the brain.

Question 20

How does the theory not actually explain how memories are processed?

Answer 20

Bartlett describes memory as being an active process not doesn’t explain how this actually happens.

Question 21

How is the concept of a schema too vague and hypothetical to be useful?

Answer 21

Schemas cannot be observed: scans only show brain activity, not what an individual is processing.

Question 22

How was the evidence not conducted in a systematic way?

Answer 22

Bartlett used his ‘War of the ghosts’ research as evidence to support his theory, however he didn’t use standardised instructions and his research wasn’t tightly controlled.

Question 23

How is the reconstructive model of memory is very complicated?

Answer 23

It is hard to determine which aspects of memory will be recalled and which won’t. This makes it very hard to test, and therefore very hard to predict.