Reconstructive memory theory - Bartlett

Question 1

What is this theory concerned with?

Answer 1

what happens to info when it is stored and retrieved from memory

Question 2

What was Bartlett’s experiment?

Answer 2

War of The Ghosts - ppts recalled folk tale at increasing time intervals ranging from minutes to 6.5 years - found that over time, the story became shortened and reflected modern society more - memory was reconstructed each time it is recalled - simplified, distorted and rationalised

Question 4

Why was “War of The Ghosts” used?

Answer 4

it was a culturally unfamiliar story that lacked rational order

Question 5

On what basis do we reconstruct memory?

Answer 5

what usually happens, what probably happened and what must have happened
- when we retrieve information, memories are reconstructed

Question 6

What is a schema?

Answer 6

made up of all previous experiences and expectations about an event - fill in gaps in the memory when we struggle to remember it fully (confabulation)

Question 7

What information do schemas hold?

Answer 7

fixed information - e.g going out for a meal would be ordering a meal

variable information - e.g what ordering off menu

Question 8

Strengths

Answer 8

• Reliability - B conducted his experiment with 8 different stories on different ppts each time and found consistent results of the story being changed and reconstructed
• Usefulness - EWT - prone to memory being distorted if long time passes between crime and trial - shouldn’t be relied on heavily in court - real life applications

Question 9

Weaknesses

Answer 9

• Eco val - doesn’t reflect how we use memory in every day life - not usual story - lacks validity
• Validity - Yuille and Cutshall - conducted an experiment on accuracy of EWT in a real shooting in Canada and found that time and leading questions didn’t impact their memory - weakens validity of RMT