Bartlett reconstructive memory and schema

• • memory shouldn’t be divided up into constituent parts and treated as independent from other functioning. Memory should be studied in a way to capture the relationship between memory and other cognitive processes 
• • Memory is not just an act of reproduction - memories are reconstructions
• Memory is an active process
• Memory is influenced by various other cognitive processes
• • Memory is not an exact copy of the experience it is often altered with elements going missing or being distorted 
• War of ghosts aim:To investigate how memory of a story is affected by previous knowledge 
• war of ghosts sample: 20 British participants
• Two conditions: independent groups

  Group A - heard story and reproduced it after a short time again repeatedly over days weeks months and years (longest lapse to recall 6years)

  Group B - heard the story and were asked to reproduce it, this was shown to another person. Who was also asked to reproduce it (serial reproduction several times)
• Finding 

  • store was transformed over time
  • Unfamiliar details left out, new information added in, phrases altered to match persons culture
  • No significant difference between groups 

  There patterns of distortion took place rationalisation, confabulation and levelling 
• Rationalisation - 

  The story became more consistent with the participants’ own cultural expectations - that is, details were unconsciously changed to fit the norms of British culture. E.g., Swapping canoe for boat. Ignoring details about ghosts and retelling the story as a battle. Someone dying at sun set when the story explains the person dying at ‘sun rose’.
• Confabulation -

  New information was added in to fill in a memory so that it makes sense (to help fill gaps) e.g. adding emotion
• Levelling -

   The story also became shorter with each retelling as participants omitted information which was seen as not important. (330 words to 180 words)
• Conclusion

  Memory is reconstructed each time it is recalled It is rarely accurate and prone to distortion, rationalisation, and simplification The participants’ reconstructions were not random – they made the story more conventional, coherent and meaningful to the participant. The process of remembering is constructive in nature and influenced by inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) made by an individual. Bartlett explained reconstructive memory using his schema theory
• Schema is a mental framework of beliefs and expectations that influence cognitive processing

  Schemas change overtime, they develop in complexity with experience of the world until adults eventually develop a mental representation for everything  
• Schemas is used to help organise and interpret information 

  Schemas prevent us from becoming overwhelmed when processing a lot of information 

  They can alter information so that it becomes consistent with our previous experience and beliefs enabling us to process information quickly 
• Bransford & Johnson (1972)

  • One third knew it was about doing the laundry and it made sense;
  • One third read it and were then told it was about doing the laundry, upon rereading they could make sense of it;
  • the final third read it without knowing what it was about and could not make sense of it.
  • Conclusion: Schemas play an important role in our understanding and recall of information
• Wynn and Logie (1998)

  Some researchers have criticised Bartlett for using a story that was so unfamiliar to the participants. 

  • Researchers believe this exaggerated Bartlett’s findings, therefore being critical of the validity of his findings and application to real life.
  • It was the unusualness of the folk tale that caused participants to change the story, not the process of reconstructing the memory – this reduces the validity of Bartlett’s study
• Wynn and Logie (1998) tested if our memory of familiar stories

  changed as much as they did with unfamiliar ones. They asked a number of undergraduate students to describe their first week at university. They did this every few weeks. Wynn and Logie found that no matter how many times the students’ repeated

  their description, the details remained the same.
• Strength of schema Loftus and palmer 1974

  • showed clips of car crashes and asked questions about what they could recall. Participants were then asked “how fast were the cars going when they _ each other”  where the verb was changed to see how words affected results. despite all the videos showing the car crashing at the same speed the answers varied depending on word choice Smashed 40.8,Collided 39.3,Bumped 38.1,m Hit 34, contacted 31.8. Supports theory which says that our memory is not an exact copy of our experience and is in line with our scheme  
• Weakness of schema

  Loftus and palmer 1974

  • this researcher was conducted in an unnatural lab setting which would have caused low ecological validity 
  • This is because unnatural lab setting could lead to unnatural behaviour of participants leading to low ecological validity of the research 
• Strength general reconstructive 

  Bartlett war of the ghosts (1932)

  • participants read a native American folk tale then had to reproduce it
  • The findings showed that the participants transformed the story by leaving out unfamiliar details adding new information and changing phrases to match their own culture
  • Demonstrates the three types of distortion: levelling, confabulation, and rationalisation respectively