Bartlett War of the Ghosts

• Aim

  To investigate how memory is reconstructed based on prior knowledge.
• Procedure

  Participants read a Native American story and recalled it at different time intervals.
• Findings

  Story became shorter and changed to fit participants’ cultural backgrounds (e.g., “canoe” changed to “boat”).
• Strengths

  • Realistic memory task: Supports the idea that memory is reconstructed.
  • Useful application: Helps understand eyewitness memory reliability.
• Weaknesses

  • Lack of control: Unclear which factors influenced recall.
  • Difficult to replicate: Memory distortions vary among individuals.