1. Bartlett’s theory of Reconstructive Memory
Input
Sensory information
Encoding
turning sensory info into chemicals
Capacity
(how much info)
Duration
(how long for)
Type of encoding
Type of forgetting
Acoustic encoding (sound)
Short-term memory
Around 7 bits of info
Around 18 seconds
Acoustic
Displacement
Visual encoding (images)
Long-term memory
Limitless
Few mins to a lifetime
Mainly semantic
Interference
Semantic encoding
(meaning of words)
Displacement=when the short term memory becomes full so new info pushes older info out
Interference=when new info overwrites old info
Output
Behavioural response
Amnesia
“Memory loss, often through brain damage”
Anterograde=New long term memories cannot be made. Patient can access old long term memories. Can make short term memories
Retrograde=Old long term memories cannot be accessed. Patients can make new long term memories. Can make short term memories
Memory
Bartlett’s theory of Reconstructive Memory
We store memories as schemas.
We use active reconstruction to remember things.
Schemas are formed through our life experiences.
Schemas influence memories in 4 ways:
“A packet of knowledge about an event, person or place that influences how we remember.”
1. Omissions: Leaving out unfamiliar, irrelevant or
unpleasant details.
2. Transformations: Details are changed to make
them more rational.
3. Familiarisation: Changing unfamiliar details to
match our schema.
4. Rationalisation: Adding details..
“Memory is not an exact copy of what we experienced. Instead its an interpretation based on our schema.”
Reductionism: The idea that any human behaviour can be explained by simple and basic components.
Holism: The idea that any human behaviour is explained by a variety of factors so should not be split up into simple parts.
This theory has real-world applications e.g Cognitive Interview.
High ecological validity-as
Bartlett used stories.
Bartlett developed his theory by reading and interpreting stories from his participants. This may mean his results are subjective and biased and this is considered unscientific.
Bartlett did not use standardised procedures therefore his theory lacks control and again is unscientific.
Reductionist
Multi-store model
Peterson and Peterson Study
+Easy to test reductionist theories (scientific)
-Oversimplifies complex behaviour
Holistic
Bartletts theory of reconstructive memory
Qualitative analysis
-Hard to test holistic
theories (unscientific)
“can be generalised to different situations”

2. Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) Multi-store Model of Memory
Sensory Memory
Short-term Memory
Long-term Memory
Input
Attention
Encoding
Retrieval
Unattended info is lost
Unrehearsed info is lost
Some info may be lost
Rehearsal
Cases of Amnesia show support for different stores as usually only one type of memory is impacted.
Murdock (1962):
Primacy Effect: Recalling words at beginning of the list because words have been transferred into long term memory
Recency Effect: Recalling words at end of the list because words are still in short term memory.
Overstates the role of rehearsal.
Unlikely that we only have one type of long term memory e.g Clive Wearing-could not remember personal events but could play the piano
Bartlett (1932) War of the Ghosts
Background: Wanted to use an unfamiliar story on Cambridge students to ensure that it was only their schemas that impacted their recall.
Aim: To test the nature of reconstructive memory using an unfamiliar story, looking at whether schemas influence the recall.
Method: Participants read War of the Ghosts and were asked to either recall it themselves after days, weeks, months or years OR were asked to retell the story to another person and then another and then another and so on.
Results: Participants tried to make sense of the story by giving it meaning (made additions or changes). Also left out unfamiliar or unpleasant parts of story.
Conclusion: Participants did not recall story fully or accurately, instead got rid of details that did not fit their schema.
HFP
DMT
SND
JMD
Peterson and Peterson (1959)
Background: Most other memory studies did not test the true duration of the short-term memory as participants could always rehearse, therefore they wanted to test the true duration by preventing rehearsal.
Aim: To test the true duration of short-term memory.
Method: Student had to repeat a trigram, then count backwards in either 3’s or 4’s for a set amount of time. When signalled by a red light, the student had to recall the trigram..
Results: The longer each student had to count backwards, the less able they were to recall the trigram. When they only had to count backwards for 3 seconds, they remembered over 80% of the trigrams, but when they had to count backwards for 18 seconds, they could only remember 10% of the trigrams.
Conclusion: Without rehearsal, our short-term fades rapidly.
The researchers used fixed timings and got rid of all noise. Therefore the study had good control and is scientific.
It has practical applications-we now know that you should get rid of all verbal distractions when we are revising.
The research used nonsense trigrams and we do not use our memory in everyday life to remember these, therefore the study is not realistic to everyday life and lacks mundane realism.
Using stories means the study as high ecological validity.
Study was repeated using a variety of stories so it is reliable.
Used a qualitative analysis so results could have been biased and subjective.
Participants did not always do the same thing as each other so the study lacks control.