Reconstructive memory

• • Reconstructive memory suggests that when information is absent we fill in the gaps.
• • Schemas are packets of knowledge about a person/object that could be personally experienced or acquired from other sources.
• Memory is not like a video recorder as memories are reconstructions of events and usually contain errors.
• Reconstructive errors of people’s recent experiences can be influenced by past experiences of an event/object/person that was similar.
• • Memories may be subject to confabulation where information is removed or changed to fit with an existing schema.
• • People hold stereotypes that can also affect the accuracy of a memory as they fill in blanks with preconceived ideas they have.
• The process of assimilation is when people adapt and change an existing schema with new information to fit with what they have newly learned.
• Reconstructive memory is an individual’s perception of an event is affected by their experiences and their interpretation of the memory happens through schema which store an individual’s expectations
• Strength

  Loftus and Palmer (1974) found that changing a word in a question, such as smash, bump, collide, led participants into making higher speed estimates of a car accident, therefore a leading word can distort memory. / in another variation, participants stated the existence of glass after watching a video of a car crash, when in reality there was no broken glass.
• strength

  The War of the Ghosts study (1932) found that participants filled in gaps in recall with their own schema for example, boats became a substitute for canoes, which can explain why recall was inaccurate.
• strength

  •  Allport & Postman (1947) found participants inaccurately recalled from an image that a black man was holding a razor despite this being held by the white man in the image, reflecting preconceived ideas at that time.
• strength

  Inaccuracies can be explained through schema, with Brewer and Treyens (1981) finding that an ‘office schema’ affected the accuracy of participant recall who added objects usually found in an office that were not present
• weakness

  Bartlett’s research had minimal standardised controls when recalling was taking place, therefore the evidence underpinning the reconstructive memory theory lacks scientific rigour.
• weakness

  • Reconstructive memory simply describes how we encode memory traces at the time of an event so it may only partially explain inaccuracies in memory as there could be other factors involved at the recall stage.
• weakness

  •  Godden and Baddeley (1975) found that divers were able to recall better underwater when this was the context in which they had learned the information, so context may explain inaccuracy more than schema.
• weakness

  • It is difficult to measure whether the reconstruction of memories takes place at the point of learning or the point of recall, therefore concepts such as assimilation may not be plausible explanations of how memory adapts.