Cognitive: Key concept 3 Flashcards
Confabulation
When details are added to a memory to fill in ‘gaps’, to make recall meaningful.
Rationalisation
When parts of a memory are distorted to fit your schema, to make the memory meaningful.
Reconstructive memory
Pieces of stored information are reassembled during recall. The process is guided by our schema so that we produce a ‘memory’ that makes sense.
Schema
Mental frameworks of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing. They are developed from experience.
Shortening
When part of a memory is left out, so what remains is shorter.
Rationalisation
Parts of the memory is recalled but in a distorted way to fit the schema. So the memory of an event changed because it didn’t match relevant schema. This happens so that strange or unfamiliar memories make more sense.
Practical applications evaluation
Strength is that reconstructive memory can help explain problems with eyewitnesses testimony (EWT). For example, the witness may have seen a person with a gun and expected it be a man. This means that in court is never based on EWT alone as it can be inaccurate - a very important application of the research.
Research support evaluation
Strength is evidence for reconstructive memory from Bartlett’s research. For example, participants did not remember too many details but tried to make more sense of what they heard from the unfamiliar story. This shows that we reconstruct memories from elements that are influenced by our schema.
Some memories are inaccurate evaluation
Weakness of reconstructive memory is that not all memories are affected by schema. For example, in situations that are personally important or distinctive or unusual, we can remember them in a lot more detail. This shows that people may not always reconstruct memories, and some memories can be relatively unaffected by schema.
