Reconstructive memory refers to a class of memory theories that claim that the experience of remembering an event involves processes that make use of partial fragmentary information as well as a set of rules for combining that information into a coherent view of the past event. These theories provide a powerful way of understanding how witnesses remember crimes, how reliable recovered memories of abuse are, and how jurors remember testimony. According to reconstructive theories of memory, ordinary memory is prone to error. Errors in remembering can be broken down into errors of omission, in which information is left out of a memory report, and errors of commission, in which inaccurate information is added to a memory report. Errors of commission are more typically referred to as false memories or memory illusions. Reconstructive theories of memory generally hold that errors of omission and errors of commission are related to one another. In fact, according to reconstructive theories of memory, errors of commission occur because reconstructive processes are used to fill in gaps in our memory reports.
重建记忆概念的历史
Pioneering work on the development of reconstructive theories of memory was conducted by Bartlett and described in his classic volume entitled Remembering. According to Bartlett, remembering involves an active attempt to make sense out of the historical past—what Bartlett referred to as an “effort after meaning.” Bartlett studied the memories of English participants by asking them to repeatedly attempt to recall an unfamiliar folktale called The War of the Ghosts. Bartlett found that as participants attempted to recall the event, their recall was systematically distorted by their world knowledge. In particular, with repeated recall attempts, the unfamiliar folktale was recalled in an increasingly conventional manner. Details that were difficult to integrate with the participants’ world knowledge tended to drop out. Details consistent with world knowledge tended to be added. Unfamiliar words were replaced with more familiar words. Bartlett concluded that memory does not simply passively record or retrieve facts. Instead, memory combines fact and interpretation in a reconstructive way such that the two become indistinguishable.
Neisser在他的开创性文本认知心理学中提供了一个古生物学家的类比,以重建恐龙一定的外观。根据Neisser的类比,古生物学家根据化石记录中发现的骨骼碎片开始重建。基于这些部分零碎的信息,古生物学家利用他或她在其他地点的发现,目前动物的解剖学和生理学等知识,等等,以最好地猜测动物必须的外观,必须如何已经生活了,它可能吃的东西等等。这种最好的猜测可以看作是过去的重建。同样,记忆的重建理论认为,人们利用部分碎片信息,世界知识,推论过程等,以重建对过去事件的记忆。
内存重建过程
事件详细信息
根据大多数记忆的重建理论,重建内存的过程基于各种不同类型的信息。首先,重建依赖于事件本身的零碎信息。如果有人目睹银行抢劫,则该活动的细节将存储在情节记忆中。随着时间的流逝,在Hermann Ebbinghaus首先描述的指数遗忘曲线之后,这些细节将变得越来越少。一段时间后,证人将接受有关银行抢劫的采访。尽管许多细节是无法访问的,但证人可能能够检索一些对他或她给他特别印象的关键信息。
模式和脚本
事件的存储细节提供了部分证据,证明了证人可以基于记忆重建。但是,该事件的详细信息可能是不完整的。为了帮助重建记忆,证人也可能会依靠他们对银行抢劫的先验知识。记忆心理学家提出,这种类型的先验知识以模式和脚本的形式存储在长期记忆中。模式是我们对代表类别典型实例的知识结构的一般术语。脚本是代表典型事件展开的典型序列的知识结构。例如,银行抢劫的证人可能有一个模式代表典型银行的布局。他们知道,银行通常有办公室或隔间,贷款官,新客户经理等工作。他们知道银行通常有警卫。他们知道,银行通常会有出纳员在柜台后面工作。 They know that banks typically have safes. This organized body of knowledge is thought to be stored in a “bank schema” that resides in memory. A witness to a bank robbery also likely has a bank robbery script, which includes information about the typical sequence of actions in a bank robbery. For example, a bank robbery script may include information like the robbers take out weapons, they disarm the guards, they demand money, the tellers provide them with money, the robbers make their escape, and so forth.
架构和脚本被认为是为了指导我们对事件展开时的理解,并指导我们对事件的回忆。记忆的重建理论表明,模式和脚本对我们记住事件的能力有两种影响。他们做出与模式不一致的动作特别容易记住,因为这些动作需要在研究时进行额外的处理才能使它们与模式调和。模式也可以导致错误的记忆,因为它们用于填补我们的事件记忆中的空白。如果您不记得事件中发生的事情,则该模式提供了您应该期望的默认值。
In one classic study of the role of scripts on memory, participants were presented with a story about a young woman. Some of the participants were told that the story was about Helen Keller. Other participants were told that the story was about someone else. Participants who heard that the story was about Helen Keller falsely remembered facts from the story that were consistent with their world knowledge about Helen Keller (e.g., a book was written about her life). Other research has shown that participants are especially likely to correctly recall information that violates their expectations. For instance, when reading a story about a restaurant, one may remember unexpected events—such as the waiter spilling water—especially well.
最近,研究人员表明,在法医相关的环境中发生了类似的影响。在最近的一项研究中,向参与者展示了银行抢劫的录像带。该视频包括一致且不一致的模式以及无关紧要的动作。与先前关于重建记忆的研究一致,参与者错误地回顾了许多与抢劫模式一致的细节。此外,研究人员发现,参与者使用其银行抢劫模式来解释视频中的模棱两可的信息。
事后信息
记忆的重建理论还声称,人们依靠事件后获得的信息来重建自己的过去。事件后获得的信息称为事后信息。例如,如果一个人目睹银行抢劫,然后后来看到了有关抢劫的新闻报道,新闻报道的详细信息可能会纳入一个人的记忆中。Loftus在1970年代进行了有关事后信息角色的经典工作。在一项研究中,参与者观看了一场汽车事故的录像带。一些参与者被要求估计汽车“碰撞”时的速度有多快。其他参与者被要求估计汽车“撞到”彼此时的速度。一周后进行测试时,被问到该问题的“砸碎”版本的参与者更有可能记得看到玻璃碎片,而实际上,影片中没有显示碎玻璃。
事后信息影响记忆的机制成为1980年代辩论的主题。Loftus提出了一个理论,即事后信息覆盖存储器以获取存储中的原始信息。其他研究人员认为,事后信息不会覆盖原始事件的内存,而是会干扰原始事件的检索。还有其他研究人员认为,事后信息仅影响那些不记得细节的参与者中的记忆报告。后来尝试理解事后信息的影响,将其概念化为源内存中的错误。换句话说,参与者还记得这些信息,但很难确定该信息是来自原始事件还是事后信息(例如,是来自银行抢劫还是报纸帐户?)。
Work on postevent information has been extended in a wide variety of forensically important settings. Some research has examined the role of the interviewer in moderating the effects of postevent information. Social psychologists have shown that witnesses tend to discount postevent information when it is presented by a noncredible witness and to accept postevent information when it is presented by a credible witness. Also, in the 1980s, considerable research began to examine the role of postevent information in children. After some initial controversy, researchers reached a consensus that preschool-age children are more likely to be influenced by postevent information than are older children or adults. During this same time period, researchers came up with a number of clever research designs to examine children’s false memories in contexts with considerable ecological validity. For instance, researchers conducted a number of studies of children’s memories for stressful events by embedding postevent information experiments into children’s visits to their pediatrician.
进一步扩展了事后信息范式,以检查针对建议植入的儿童事件的成人记忆。这些研究中的第一项涉及植入童年的记忆,即在大学生的购物中心迷失了一生。后来的研究人员使用称为家族线人虚假叙事程序的结果扩展了这些发现。在此程序中,家庭成员首先填写有关参与者童年事件的问卷。后来,对参与者进行了访谈,以了解从合作的家庭成员和一项发明的童年活动获得的实际童年事件(例如,在家庭婚礼上向新娘的父母洒拳)。要求参与者反复考虑或想象这些发明的事件。研究表明,使用此技术,可以在20%至40%的参与者中创建童年事件的虚假记忆。
Self-Serving Memories
In addition to fragmentary information from the event itself, prior knowledge in the form of scripts and schemas, and postevent information, some theories of reconstructive memory also assume that self-concept can influence how events are reconstructed. According to these theories, one’s self-concept can distort how events are remembered. One intriguing case study compared John Dean’s testimony at the House Watergate Hearings with taped transcripts of White House meetings involving Dean, Richard Nixon, H. R. Haldeman, and other White House officials. The study revealed that Dean’s memory appeared to show systematic distortions that tended to exaggerate his own role in those meetings. Thus, Dean’s memory showed a kind of self-serving bias. Later research on autobiographical memory showed that people’s memories could be distorted by their current self-concept.
当前的趋势和法医意义
长期记忆的重建理论提供了一种强大的理解重要方形问题的方法,例如证人如何记住犯罪和事故,成年人如何记住童年的经历,孩子们如何记住事件,甚至陪审员如何记住证据。这些理论与记忆的生殖理论形成鲜明对比,后者将记忆视为录像带。对重建记忆的研究目前强调了由重建过程产生的记忆的主观经验,是否可以区分真实和虚假记忆,如何避免佣金错误以及影响重建过程使用的个人差异。
参考:
- Bartlett,F。(1932)。英国剑桥:剑桥大学出版社。
- Graesser,A。C.,Woll,S。B.,Kowalski,D.J。,&Smith,D。A.(1980)。脚本活动中典型和非典型动作的记忆。实验心理学杂志:人类学习与记忆,6,503-515。
- Hyman,I。E.,丈夫,T。F。,&Billings,J。F.(1995)。对童年经历的错误记忆。应用认知心理学,9,181-197。
- Loftus,E。F.(1979)。人类记忆的延展性:我们查看事件后引入的信息可以改变内存。美国科学家,67,312-320。
- Neisser, U. (1967). Cognitive psychology. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
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