Let’s recap some key word definitions! Encoding Retrieval Storage Episodic memory Procedural memory Semantic memory Coding Capacity Duration Primacy effect Recency effect Serial position effect Multi-store model of memory Sensory store Short term store Long term store

Person 1: Read through the “War of the Ghosts” story twice 15 minutes later person 1 will tell the story to person 2 (from memory) 15 minutes later person 2 will tell the story to person 3 (from memory) Needs to be done out of the room! Remind me about timings… During this lesson we’re going to try and reconstruct Bartlett’s “War of the Ghosts” study

Reconstructive Memory Frederic Bartlett University of Cambridge “War of the Ghosts” study 1932 Bartlett thought memory is not just a stored copy of facts but that we change our memories to fit in with what we know – this is known as reconstructive memory Bartlett believed that as you try to recall information your mind fills in gaps with details that make sense to you

Effort after meaning Bartlett says memory is an active process involving effort after meaning. This means that we make sense of something unfamiliar after it has happened. We try to fit what we remember in with what we already know and understand about the world, i.e. we remember the meaning of something and then make and effort to interpret the meaning Example: Brewer and Treyens 1981 study “Memory in the Office”

Brewer and Treyens (1981) Participants were told to wait in this office for 35 seconds and then they were asked to go into a second room and recall everything they had just seen. The participants correctly remembered typical office-like items such as the desk and chair but didn’t remember non-office like items like the skill and picnic basket. They also falsely remembered papers and books on the desk even though there was none in the room

Social and Cultural Influences Allport and Postman (1947) study Drawing of a black man and a white man arguing on a subway train Participants later asked who was holding the open razor (mugging weapon at the time) Participants tended to say it was the black man

Case Study https://www.innocenceproject.org/causes/eyewitness- misidentification/

Let’s go back to the War of The Ghosts story

One night two young men from Egulac went down to the river to hunt seals and while they were there it became foggy and calm. Then they heard war-cries, and they thought: "Maybe this is a war-party". They escaped to the shore, and hid behind a log. Now canoes came up, and they heard the noise of paddles, and saw one canoe coming up to them. There were five men in the canoe, and they said: "What do you think? We wish to take you along. We are going up the river to make war on the people." One of the young men said, "I have no arrows." "Arrows are in the canoe," they said. "I will not go along. I might be killed. My relatives do not know where I have gone. But you," he said, turning to the other, "may go with them." So one of the young men went, but the other returned home. And the warriors went on up the river to a town on the other side of Kalama. The people came down to the water and they began to fight, and many were killed. But presently the young man heard one of the warriors say, "Quick, let us go home: that Indian has been hit." Now he thought: "Oh, they are ghosts." He did not feel sick, but they said he had been shot. So the canoes went back to Egulac and the young man went ashore to his house and made a fire. And he told everybody and said: "Behold I accompanied the ghosts, and we went to fight. Many of our fellows were killed, and many of those who attacked us were killed. They said I was hit, and I did not feel sick." He told it all, and then he became quiet. When the sun rose he fell down. Something black came out of his mouth. His face became contorted. The people jumped up and cried. He was dead.

What detail has been missed out? What detail has been changed? One night two young men from Egulac went down to the river to hunt seals and while they were there it became foggy and calm. Then they heard war-cries, and they thought: "Maybe this is a war-party". They escaped to the shore, and hid behind a log. Now canoes came up, and they heard the noise of paddles, and saw one canoe coming up to them. There were five men in the canoe, and they said: "What do you think? We wish to take you along. We are going up the river to make war on the people." One of the young men said, "I have no arrows." "Arrows are in the canoe," they said. "I will not go along. I might be killed. My relatives do not know where I have gone. But you," he said, turning to the other, "may go with them." So one of the young men went, but the other returned home. And the warriors went on up the river to a town on the other side of Kalama. The people came down to the water and they began to fight, and many were killed. But presently the young man heard one of the warriors say, "Quick, let us go home: that Indian has been hit." Now he thought: "Oh, they are ghosts." He did not feel sick, but they said he had been shot. So the canoes went back to Egulac and the young man went ashore to his house and made a fire. And he told everybody and said: "Behold I accompanied the ghosts, and we went to fight. Many of our fellows were killed, and many of those who attacked us were killed. They said I was hit, and I did not feel sick." He told it all, and then he became quiet. When the sun rose he fell down. Something black came out of his mouth. His face became contorted. The people jumped up and cried. He was dead. What detail has been missed out? What detail has been changed?

Evaluate his study – what was good and bad about it? Bartlett did our same experiment with chains of 10 students from Uni. Cambridge. Results: passages became shorter, lots of omissions, changes to detail, order of events changed. Ghosts disappeared, names changed to English ones, canoes changes to boats, paddling changed to rowing Evaluate his study – what was good and bad about it? Frederic Bartlett University of Cambridge “War of the Ghosts” study 1932

Evaluation of the theory of reconstructive memory Positives  Limitations 

Evaluation of the theory of reconstructive memory Positives  Limitations  Applications to real life – eye witness testimony needs careful review. People who recall stories are not being dishonest Bartlett’s study is representative of how we use memory in real life. Prior to this study, research had been done using list of words Some memories are accurate – it would be wrong to assume memory can’t be relied on at all