Bartlett reconstructive memory (1932)

• how did Bartlett explain memory?

  Memory was not like a tape recorder and can be changed/transformed.

  • previous/current experiences affect the way info is perceived.
• What story did Bartlett use ?


  War of the Ghosts (BRIEF OVERVIEW BELOW).

  • 2 men went to a river and saw canoes coming up to them, with 5 warriors asking them to go to war. One man went, other went home as he didn't want to die. Fight began, many killed and man heard warrior ran away as they said he got hit. Man got back home and told story but he became contorted and died.
• why did Bartlett use the story he picked?

  • culturally unfamiliar
  • lacked any rational order
  • dramatic nature would introduce visual imaging
  • conclusion was supernatural and Bartlett wanted to see how Ps would perceive this.

  Bartlett found the story transformed over time, so concluded memory is rarely accurate and prone to omissions (leaving out unfamiliar parts), rationalisation (making story more logical), transformation (putting part of story in different order)
• what did Bartlett use to explain reconstructive memory?

  schemas- previous knowledge is used to interpret info and schemas are mental constructs that form hardware component of memory system, giving stored knowledge about a specific event (would recall a schema to fill in gap of a story)
• evidence for?

  • Brewer and Treyens (81) had Ps wait in office and ask to recall items seen, most recalled expected items: desk/stapler but nothing unexpected: set of plyers. Some also recalled expected items not in the room: telephone.
  • Loftus and Palmer (74) Ps memories could be altered through leading Qs
  • Albert and Postman (47) showed drawing of fight on a subway train and asked to desc to other Ps via serial reproduction (chinese whispers). Black character is originally better dressed than white character but white Ps reversed appearances, even stating black character was holding a knife.
• methodology?

  • research is more similar to real life (eg doesn't use trigrams) not artificial!
  • experiments lack control and standardisation and findings are also qualitative so answers are open to subjective interpretation (validity !)
  • war of ghosts story is criticised for not being relevant to every day life as it is unfamiliar to Ps (validity !)
• applications?

  • can explain why eyewitness testimony can be unreliable as they may miss out vital info or add irrelevant info (implications for courts/justice systems).
  • not all memories inaccurate/affected by schemas. Eg War of ghosts stories people remembers the 'something black came out of his mouth' as it was unusual
• alternative theory for bartlett?

  tulvings model of LTM