Reconstructive Memory
Reconstructive memory
Real World
In Bartlett's 'War of the Ghosts' study, British participants recalled a Native American folk tale by changing unfamiliar details — canoes became boats and supernatural elements were omitted — because their existing cultural schemas reshaped the memory each time they retold it.
Exam Focus
When evaluating reconstructive memory, always link distortion explicitly to schemas — examiners expect the mechanism, not just the outcome.
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