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Reconstructive memory (Schemas (Our memory is grouped into categories…
Reconstructive memory
Schemas
- Our memory is grouped into categories called "schemas"
- Sometimes we assimilate new information, changing our schemas to fit what we have learned
- Sometimes we accommodate new information, changing our memories to keep our schemas intact and unchanged (levelling and sharpening)
Memory makes use of schemas to organise things. When we recall an event, our schemas tell us what is supposed to happen, and they might fill in gaps of our memory and may put pressure on our mind to remember things in a way that fits in with the schema.
War of the Ghosts
- Bartlett showed 20 students a Native American ghost story which had unusual features
- Asked them to read and recall it on several occasions after hours, days, weeks or years (serial reproduction, and a Repeated Measures Design)
- Compared the recalled versions to the original version
- The story was shortened (330 words to 180 words)
- Unfamiliar parts were changed to familiar ideas in line with their schemas (canoes and paddles became boats and oars)
- Came up with explanations for unusual parts (rationalised)
Evaluation
Strengths
- Loftus carried out a range of lab experiments into reconstructive memory, which all had good experimental controls, standardised procedures and collected quantitative data -> objective and reliable
- Links to Tulving's theories about semantic memory
(our memory has semantic stores where we keep our understanding of relationships and rules, similar to schemas). If reconstructive memory is true, Tulving's ideas are more plausible. Semantic memory may have more influence over episodic memory as schemas dictate how we reconstruct our memories.
- Helps us understand patients with memory loss (Clive Wearing) or dementia sufferers. They might still remember important schemas which can calm them, for example Clive Wearing still loved his wife and music. Validation Therapy involves "going along" with delusional ideas to not cause stress when a patient's schemas clash with the real world.
Weaknesses
- Bartlett's study was not scientific and did not follow standardised procedures, no scoring system for measuring changes in recall other than counting the number of words -> research conclusions were subjective
- His research was particularly unrealistic, meaning the task lacks ecological validity, but Bartlett claimed the task had to be strange to prompt the participants to level and sharpen details in their memories.
Memory is not like a tape recorder, it changes or "reconstructs" our experiences imaginatively.
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