Our reconstructive memory Learning Outcome: With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive process reliable?

A lost memory Elizabeth was only 14 years old when her mother drowned. Although Elizabeth remembered many things about visiting her Uncle Joe’s home in Pennsylvania that summer, her memory of the details surrounding her mother’s death had always been hazy. As she explained: ” In my mind I’ve returned to that scene many times, and each time the memory gains weight and substance. I can see the cool pine trees, smell their fresh tarry breath, feel the lake’s algae-green water on my skin, taste Uncle Joe’s iced tea with fresh-squeezed lemon. But the death itself was always vague and unfocused. I never saw my mother’s body, and I could not imagine her dead. The last memory I have of my mother was her tiptoed visit the evening before her death, the uick hug, the whispered ”I love you”. ”

Some 30 years later, Elizabeth began to remember the details of her mother’s death. While at her Uncle Joe’s 90th birthday party, Elizabeth learned from a relative that she had been the one to discover her mother’s body in Uncle Joe’s swimming pool. With this realization, memories that had eluded Elizabeth for decades began to come back. ”The memories began to drift back, slow and unpredictable, like the crisp piney smoke from the evening campfires. I could see myself, a thin, darkhaired girl, looking into the flickering blue-and-white pool. My mother, dressed in her nightgown, is floating face down. ”Mom? Mom?” I ask the question serval times, my voice rising in terror. I start screaming. I remember the police cars, their lights flashing, and the stretcher with the clean, white blanket tucked in around the edges of the body. The memory had been there all along, but I just couldn’t reach it.

As the memory crystallized, it suddenly made sense to Elizabeth why she had always felt haunted by her vague memories of the circomstances surrounding her mother’s death. And it also seemed to explain, in part, why she had always been so fascinated by the topic of memory. However, several days later, Elizabeth learned that the relative had been wrong – it was not Elizabeth who discovered her morhter’s body, but her Aunt Pearl. Other relatives confirmed that Aunt Pearl had beenthe one who fund Elizabeth’s mother in the swimming pool. Yet Elizabeth’s memory had seemed so real. The Elizabeth in this true story is Elizabeth Loftus, a psychologist who is recognized world wide as the leading expert on the distortion that can occur in the memories of eyewitnesses.

Therapy, interviews (especially with leading questions) and hypnosis can also be said to produce: The False Memory Syndrome Investigate the False memory syndrom page on i-net + the innocence project’s home page: www.innocenceproject.org

”Memories – can they be forgotten, not ever to be recovered” ”Are they there always, but hidden or not accessible for other reasons?” Discuss! Link to Tsai (MIT) research on Alzheimer, recovered memories etc. (Mice and memory)

On Reconstructive Memory

The study Done by Allport and Postman, 1945 This is a classic study of rumor transmission. One participant saw the slide, then told the next, who told the next… after 6 or seven participants the knife had migrated from the white man to the black man. The white man was also reported to be better dressed than the black man – stereotypes affecting memory.

Bartlett and Our Reconstructive Memory Here using his method ”serial reproduction”

The War of the Ghosts 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 m 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. Thepeople 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.

Serial Reproduction 10 Two Indians were out fishing for seals in the Bay of Manpapan, whenalong came five other Indians in a war-canoe. They were going fighting. "Come with us," said the five to the two, "and fight." "I cannot come," was the answer of the one, "for I have an old mother at home who is dependent upon me." The other also said he could not come, because he had no arms. "That is no difficulty" the others replied, "for we have plenty in the canoe with us"; so he got into the canoe and went with them.In a fight soon afterwards this Indian received a mortal wound. Finding that his hour was come, he cried out that he was about to die. " Nonsense," said one of the others, "you will not die." But he did.

The War of the Ghost study Method: Using serial reproduction to observe and content analyse over time what differences are seen. Aimed for a naturalistic study. Procedure: Each participant read the story (a native… ) twice. Then they were to recall the story. Characteristic changes: The story became shorter But was still coherent The store became more conventional and ”westernized”. Odd things were left out. Form and and items become stereotyped and then do not change Conclusion: People reconstruct the past by trying to fit it into existing schemas. ”Efforts after meaning” Bartlett said.

Focus on Elizabeth Loftus An american psychologist and expert on human memory. Especially interested in false memories, our reconstructive memory (including schemas). Prime research: reconstruction of an automobile destruction study on misinformation effect. Loftus and Palmer (1974) – About how fast were the cars going when they hit each other (smashed, bumped…) The role of leading questions in recall (did you see broken glas/the broken glas) Lost in a shopping mall - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQr_IJvYzbA

Read about Loftus and Palmer’s research (1974) on p. 84 State the hypothesis What is the independent variable What is the dependent variable Describe the procedure What was the result. Implication and analysis of the result

Create your own youtube news report Your task will be to create a news report on the topic of memory. It is up to you how to approach this but your report: Should be filmed and added to youtube. Should be 3-5 minutes long. Also, in the report you should at least refer to two relevant research studies and bring up a fabricated case. Important note: It is important that you make clear, in the beginning of your youtube clip, that this is a school assignment and the case is based on research but not real.