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KEY TERMS

1. To recreate the context of the original incident2. To report every detail

3. To recall the event in different orders4. To change perspectives

- RECONSTRUCTIVE MEMORY: a term usually associated with Bartlett, which refers to a memory distorted by the individuals prior knowledge and expectations

- EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY: an area of memory research that investigates the accuracy of memory following an accident, crime or other significant event, and the types of errors that are commonly made in such situations

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Reconstructive Memory( (Bartlett, 1932)

We do not record memories passively, as we would if we were taking a photo. We need to make an effort after meaning in order to make more sense of the event. So, instead of storing an exact replica of the initial stimulus, we weave it with elements of our existing knowledge and experience to form a reconstructed memory

Schemas

We store memories in terms of our past experience or schemas, which are knowledge or packages, built up through experience of the world and can aid the interpretation of new information (restaurant schema).

Cohen (1993) suggested 5 ways in which schemas might lead to reconstructive memory

1. We tend to ignore aspects of a scene that do not fit the currently activated schema

2. We can store the central features of an event without having to store the exact details(c)

3. We can make sense of what we have seen by filling in missing information (running)

4. We distort memories for events to fit in with prior expectations (bank robber)

5. We may use schemas to provide the basis for a correct guess (breakfast-cereal)

Leading questions. Hit, smashed, collided, bumped or contacted

Anxiety of the witness. Weapon focus, the witness concentrates on the weapon and this distracts attention from the appearance of the perpetrator

Consequences. Participants in experiments are less accurate than genuine witnesses because they know inaccuracies will not lead to serious consequences

Method of testing witnesses. Witness accuracy can increase if test do not rely on forced-choice format, if witnesses are able to give no answer if they fell unsure and if given the appropriate cues

Witnessing real life situations. People are good at remembering highly stressful events if they occur in real life rather than in the artificial surroundings of a laboratory

Blatantly incorrect misinformation. People can ignore new information under certain circumstances and so maintain their original memory representation intact (red purse)

Misleading post-event information( (Loftus, 1975)

Effects on memory of information provided after the event. Memory for events can be changed or supplemented by later information (Eyewitness testimony study)

Other factors that affect eyewitness testimony

What happens to the original memory? Loftus believes that, in the light of misleading information, the original memory is deleted and replaced by the new, false memory. Other researchers have disputed this and claim that the original memory trace is still available, even though it has been obscured by new information.

Evaluation of Loftus research. Important contribution but criticized for artificiality and her method of testing recall.

THE COGNITIVE INTERVIEW

Evaluation of Bartletts research

Serenade (Bransford and Johnson, 1972)

There seems little doubt that we do use stored knowledge and past experience to make sense of new information, and that memories for events can be distorted because of this. However the concept of schema is rather vague and its theory offers no explanation as to how schemas are acquired

Research findings on schemas

Effects of schemas on visual memory (office, 35 seconds, skull). People can sometimes falsely remember objects that did not exist. (Brewer and Trevens, 1982)