Reconstructive memory is a theory of elaborate memory recall proposed within the field of Cognitive Psychology, in which the act of remembering is influenced by and dependent on various other cognitive processes including Perception, Imagination, Semantic memory and Beliefs, amongst others. Often a person views their memories as being subjective and largely true accounts of previously experienced Episodic memory, however the reconstructive process of memory recall is subject to distortion by other intervening cognitive functions such as individual perceptions, social influences, and world knowledge, all of which can lead to errors during reconstruction.
Reconstructive Process
Reconstructive Memory is a theory of elaborate memory recall proposed within the field of Cognitive Psychology, in which the act of remembering is influenced by and dependent on various other cognitive processes including Perception, Imagination, Semantic memory and Beliefs, amongst others. One of the basic assumptions of this theory was summarized by Sir Frederick Bartlett [1], who suggested that memory is encoded and organized according to the specific historical and cultural contexts present at Encoding. These frameworks are referred to by Bartlett as Schema. In essence, Recontructive Memory refers to the subconscious and unconscious manipulations of Episodic memory in such a way that the retrieval of information is consistent with knowledge that the individual has already acquired[2].
Characteristics
Schema
Schema are generally defined as mental information networks that represent some aspect of world knowledge. Frederick Bartlett was one of the first psychologists to propose Schematic theory, suggesting that the individual's understanding of the world is influenced by elaborate neural networks that organize abstract information and concepts[1]. Schema are fairly consistent and become strongly internalized on the individual level through Socialization and the acquisition of personal perceptual experience.
Frederick Bartlett's Experiments
Bartlett originally tested his idea of the individually constructed nature of recall by presenting a group of participants with foreign folk tales (his most famous being "War of the Ghosts"[3]) with which they had no previous experience with. After presentation of the story, he tested their ability to recall and summarize the stories at various points after presentation to newer generations of participants. His findings showed that the participants could provide a simple summary but had difficulty recalling the story accurately, with the participants' own account generally being shorter and manipulated in such a way that aspects of the original story that were unfamiliar or conflicting to the participants' own schematic knowledge were removed or altered in a way to fit into more personally relevant versions[4]. For instance, allusions made to magic and Native American mysticism that were in the original version were omitted as they failed to fit into the average Westerner schematic network. In addition, after several recounts of the story had been made by successive generations of participants, there had been embellished aspects of the recalled tale that were more consistent with the participants' cultures than the original text (e.g. Emphasis placed on one of the characters desire to return to care for his dependent elderly mother). These findings lead Bartlett to conclude that recall is predominately a reconstructive rather than reproductive process.
Jean Piaget's Theory of Schema
Jean Piaget proposed an alternative theory of Schema based on the two concepts: Assimilation and Accommodation. Piaget defined assimilation as the process that humans employ to internalize novel and unfamiliar information by using previously learned information to make sense of it. In order to assimilate, Piaget defined a second cognitive process that served to integrate new information into memory by altering pre-existing schematic networks to fit novel concepts, what he referred to as Accommodation [5]. For Piaget, these two processes, accommodation and assimilation, are mutually reliant on one another and are vital requirements for people to form basic conceptual networks around world knowledge and to add onto these structures by utilizing preexisting learning to understand new information, respectively.
Applications
Eye Witness Testimony
Eyewitness Testimony is a legal term used to describe firsthand accounts given by individuals of an event they have witnessed. Eyewitness testimony is used to acquire details about the event and often to identify the perpetrators of the event.
Negative Effects
Historical Views
Related Articles
Papers to Cite
"Frederick Bartlett", Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology, February 21, 2011
'War of the Ghosts', Bartlett (1932)
Loftus & Palmer (1974) – Car accident recall
Dooling & Christiaansen (1977) – story recall
Expectancy effects in reconstructive memory: When the past is just what we expected. Truth in memory. (pp. 62-89)New York, NY, US: Guilford PressLynn, Steven Jay (Ed); McConkey, Kevin M. (Ed), (1998). Xix, 508 pp.
Stereotype biases: A reconstructive analysis of their role in reconstructive memory. Clark, Leslie F.; Woll, Stanley B. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 41(6), Dec 1981, 1064-1072.
When expectancy meets desire: Motivational effects in reconstructive memory. McDonald, Hugh E.; Hirt, Edward R. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 72(1), Jan 1997, 5-23.
Baddeley, A.D., Anderson, M. C., & Eysenck, M.W. (2010). Retrieval. Memory (Reprinted. Ed., pp. 180-181). Hove, East Sussex: Psychology Press.
Brignull, H. (2010, March 16). The reconstructive nature of human memory (and what this means for research documentation). User Experience Design, Research and Usability. Retrieved January 27, 2012, from http://www.90percentofeverything.com/2010/03/16/the-reconstructive-nature-of-human-memory-and-what-this-means-for-research-documentation/
Gerrig, R.J., & Zimbardo, P.G. (2007). Psychology & Life (18th Ed.). Boston, Mass.: Allyn and Bacon.
Mcleod, S. (2009, September 15). Simply Psychology. Eye Witness Testimony. Retrieved January 27, 2012, from http://www.simplypsychology.org/eyewitness-testimony.html
References
- ^ a b "Frederick Bartlett", Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology, February 21, 2011
- ^ "NEUROPHILOSOPHY", Reconstructive memory: Confabulating the past, simulating the future, January 9, 2007
- ^ "War of the Ghosts", March 5, 2012
- ^ "Frederick Bartlett", Some Experiments on the Reproduction of Folk-Stories, March 30, 1920
- ^ [http://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~broberts/Block,%201982.pdf "Jack Block", Assimilation, Accommodation, and the Dynamics of Personality Development, 1982]