Reconstructive memory theory

Reconstructive memory theory

1. Memories are not actually played back like a film

   • Parts of the memories are remembered the rest is filled in with schemas
     • Schemas are organised packages of information based of past events and stereotypes

2. Some people lie when recalling a traumatic event because of confabulation or leading questions

   • Confabulation is also known as honest lying this is when the person is telling a lie but they believe that it is real
   • Leading question are when someone askes you a question whilst prompting a certain answer

3. What are the criticisms of this theory?

   • It is not scientific enough.
     • It told us that we used confabulation but there was no scientific proof to back up his claims
   • Braun's study had no structor
     • Braun's study was done of his students of they were asked to recall the story when ever he also had no real scoring system and made it up as he went along
   • There was no ecological validity
     • One of the studies done to help prove this had groups of people look at adverts the problem with this is the participants had to look at the adverts for an abnormal amount of time

4. What was the experiment done?

   • Week 1: In the first week they had 107 participants fill out a questionnaire on theme parks rating statements on 1-100 scale
     • The participants were American collage students
   • The were then put in groups one looked at a Disney advert the other a non-Disney advert
     • They had to rate the advert based on how it made them feel, colour and style
   • They were seen again about two days later to redo the first questionnaire based on the false premise that the original ones were not coding in the computers
     • The results were compared
     • Whilst filling them out the participants were asked questions about their experiences at Disney land and meeting characters
     • The results showed that most of the people in the Disney condition increased their score on meeting a character more then the participants in the non Disney condition