Investigate how information changes with each
reproduction and to find out why the infromation
changes
Procedure
Serial Reproduction
First participant to read the tale twice, at normal reading speed. Then waited 15 - 30 minutes
before teliing the story to the second participant, each told the story to the next particpipant,
until all 10 had heard it
Repeated reproduction
Each particpaint was tested separately - read the story to themseleves twice - after 15
minutes had to give their first reproduction; then after 20 hours, 8 days, 6 months and 10
years
Findings
Form, details, simplification and addition
Evaluation
Strengths
Both the repeated and serial reproduction tasks were done many times. This
helped to show that the changes to the story followed the same patterns
Other stories used in serial reproduction.
This showed that the changes werent special
to the 'war of the ghosts'
Weaknesses
Choosing unfamilar material, Bartlett could not be
sure that the changes he found would happen with
familiar information
Bartlett did not always test the repeated reproduction participants after the same time intervals,
so the changes over time cannot be compared fairly
Conclusion
Unfamilar material changes when it is recalled. It
becomes shorter, simplier, and sterotyped
Carmicheal et al (1932)
Aim
Find out whether words shown with pictures would
affect the way the pictures were remembered
Procedure
This was a laboratory experiement - 95
participants - Split into three groups, and
shown 12 pictures, a control group was
used also
Independent Variable
Experiemental design was independent groups
Dependent Variable
The participants were asked to draw the prictures they had
seen; these were compared to the orginal
Findings
Drawings produced by by people who heard list 1 were very
diferrent to lsit 2 - drawings looked like the words
Conclusion
Memory for pictures is
reconstructed - verbal context
affects recall
Evaluation
Strengths
Using a control group who did not hear any worrds at all - can be
sure that peoples drawings weren't always distorted
Using two different lists they showed clearly
that the verbal labels affected peoples
drawings
Findings supported by recent study - Lupyan (2008)
Using 12 pictures, and having lots of participants gave lots
of evidence
Weaknesses
Palmer (1975)
Aim
Whether context affects perception
Procedure
laboratory experiment
64 students
shown scenes, and provided a context
independent variable
appropriate
inappropriate (similar)
inappropriate (different)
no context
results
correctly identified the most objects after seeing an appropriate context
conclusion
Expectations affect perception
evaluation
strengths
controlled length of time
participants saw context, and
objects
had instructions
didn't use two sets of results because
participants forgot glasses - poor vision
could have affected results
weaknesses
told what they were doing, meas participants could
have been trying harder