Reconstructive Memory

Question 1

Who proposed this theory and when was it proposed

Answer 1

Bartlett - 1932

Question 2

What is schemas

Answer 2

A mental structure in the memory, a package containing all our stored knowledge of aspects of the world

Question 3

What does assimilate new information mean

Answer 3

Changing our schemas to fit what we have learned

Question 4

What does accommodate new information mean

Answer 4

Changing our memories to keep our schema intact and unchanged

Question 5

2 ways we accommodate

Answer 5

• levelling
• sharpening

Question 6

What is levelling

Answer 6

Removing / downplaying details from the memory e.g. refusing to watch an LGBTQ+ film

Question 7

What is sharpening

Answer 7

Adding/ exaggerating details e.g will watch something that will fit the stereotypes they believe in

Question 8

What is confabulation

Answer 8

When the schema fills in gaps in our memory / tells us what is supposed to happen

Question 9

What is Rationalisation

Answer 9

The coming up with explanations for baffling and confusing information to make sense of a situation

Question 10

Results of the war of the ghosts study

Answer 10

• participants shortened the story
• participants confabulated details
• participants rationalised the story

Question 11

AO3- Hogeway dementia village

Answer 11

• residents choose to live and spend time in areas of the village themed around their schemas
• idea to go along with dementia sufferers schemas is central to Validation Theory

Question 12

AO3 - Loftus

Answer 12

• carried out a range of lab experiments into reconstructive memory
• had experimental controls, standardised procedures which makes it reliable and improves validity

Question 13

AO3 - John Charles De Mendes (2005)

Answer 13

• John was mistaken for a terrorist and shot by the police
• eyewitnesses often exaggerated what they saw
• supports the idea of sharpened and levelling

Question 14

AO3 - Bartlett’s war of Ghost study

Answer 14

• lacks ecological validly
• unreliable

Question 15

AO3 - link to Tulvings theories

Answer 15

• links to Tulving theory of semantic memory
• semantic stores and schemas are very similar
• increases validity

Question 16

AO3 - opposing view

Answer 16

• doesn’t explain how memory is constructed
• other cognitive theories of memory describe the processed and links to the brain but reconstructive is more vague.