Reconstructive memory and Braun's Disney study

Overview

Schemas, expectation, confabulation and distortion, leading questions and Loftus and Palmer, and Braun's study of adverts creating false memories of meeting Bugs Bunny.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does the theory of reconstructive memory claim?

   Model answer

   Bartlett (1932) argued that memory is not an exact copy of events. People rebuild a memory each time they recall it, using what they already know.

2. 2

   What is a schema in the theory of reconstructive memory?

   Model answer

   A schema is a package of knowledge about a type of event or situation, built up from experience. People use schemas to fill gaps when they recall an event.

3. 3

   How do experience and expectation affect memory?

   Model answer

   Past experience builds schemas, which make people expect certain things in a situation. People tend to remember what they expected to see rather than what actually happened.

4. 4

   What did Brewer and Treyens (1981) find about expectation and memory?

   Model answer

   Participants waited briefly in an office and were then asked to recall what was in it. Many recalled items that fit an office schema, such as books, which were not there.

5. 5

   What did Bartlett's War of the Ghosts study show?

   Model answer

   English participants retold an unfamiliar Native American folk tale several times. The story became shorter and more familiar, for example canoes became boats.

6. 6

   What is confabulation?

   Model answer

   Confabulation is filling gaps in memory with invented details that seem plausible. The person believes the details are true and is not deliberately lying.

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