With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive process reliable | ib psych notes

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With reference to relevant research studies, to what extent is one cognitive process reliable? (22)

To What Extent (22) – Consider the merits or otherwise of an argument or concept. Opinions and conclusions should be presented clearly and supported with appropriate evidence and sound argument.

Reliability of Reconstructive Memory

Schema and Cultural influences in Reconstructive Memory

Mental representation of knowledge created over time from previous experiences.
Childhood experiences
Repetitive exposure
Reinforcement
Helps us organize information, guides our action and make predictions of the world.
Encoding -> Storage -> Retrieval

Frederic Bartlett – War Of The Ghosts study (Schema)
[A]	Prove that memory is reconstructive and schemas influence recall. Demonstrate role of culture in schema processing.
[P]	Participants were European Americans and Native Americans. Bartlett ask participants to read a Native American folk story twice. Then asked them to recite reproduce the story 15 minutes after reading. No participants knew the aim and purpose of the task.
[F]	Native American participants found it easier to reproduce the story. European American version of the story left out or replaced details related to Native American Culture e.g. Canoe -> Boat. European Americans filled in the gaps in their memory with their own cultural schema.
[C]	People reconstruct the past by trying to fit it into existing schemas. More complex the information, the more likely elements are forgotten/distorted. People try to find a familiar pattern in experiences, past or new. People uses existing schemas to fill in the gaps of their memory, subconsciously. Memory, according to Bartlett, is an imaginative reconstruction of experience.
[E]	Methodology not sophisticated. No IV, DV or Control. Making it difficult to measure or compare outcome. Emic approach: Result specific to European American and Native American culture. Low potential generalising ability.

False memory influences in Reconstructive Memory

Loftus – Lost in the Mall experiment (False Memory)
[A]	Attempt to implant false memory.
[P]	Loftus told participants 4 stories of their own childhood that supposedly were all from members for the family. In the 4 stories, one of which is false. The false story describes the participants being lost in a mall at a young age for an extended period of time. The mall was based upon participant’s actual trips to the mall.
[F]	25% of participants remembered that no such event happened. Many other participants were able to provide details for the false events.
[C]	Loftus concluded that the act of imagining the event created false memory.
[E]	Getting lost in a mall is common. Prove that false memory can be induced. Confounding variable: Did not take into account that the participant actually had a similar event happened to them. Low in ecological validity, lab experiment Cultural factors. LTM store is triggered meaning that emotion must be involved. Different culture might express different level of emotional arousal. Can affect the strength of the imagined event turning into a false memory. Ethical considerations Might cause ethical issues regarding therapy retrieving repressed memory. Unreliable because therapist can induce false memory into clients.

Two factor theory influences in Reconstructive Memory

We first watch what we do and feel and then deduce our nature from this.
1st factor – Experience physiological arousal, then try to find a label to explain our feelings (looking at what we are doing and what is happening at the time of arousal).
2nd factor – We decide what we make of the feelings we have.

Schachter &amp Singer – Injection study (Two Factor Theory of Emotion)
[A]	Show that both cognition and biological factors interact with emotion.
[P]	184 male college students participated in the experiment. They were taken to a private room. The experimenter told them the aim of the experiment was to see “the effect of vitamin injection on visual skills”. Deception: In actual fact the aim of the experiment was to test the Two Factor Theory of Emotion. The participants were given either a placebo shot (with no side effects) or an adrenalin shot. The effects was increased heart rates, blood pressure, blood sugar level and respiration. The effects started showing at 3 minutes and lasted for 10 minutes to an hour. Participants were put into one of the 4 experimental conditions. 1. Adrenalin ignorant – participants with adrenalin were not told of the effects. 2. Adrenalin informed – participants were informed with the side effects so they were prepared. 3. Adrenalin misinformed – participants were not informed with the true side effects. 4. Control – placebo injection without being told what side effects to expect. Participants were then assigned either Euphoria (feeling of happy) condition – Assistant in the waiting room carried out silly actions to entertain participants. Anger condition – Assistant in the waiting room annoyed the participant. Researchers observed through one-way mirror. Participants filled in a self appraisal form.
[F]	Euphoria condition Misinformed participants were feeling happier than all other groups. Ignorant participants were the second happiest. Anger condition Ignorant participants felt the angriest. Placebo participants felt the second angriest.
[C]	Participants were more influenced by the assistant because they had no explanation for the emotion high. Leads to a wrong labeling of the physiological responses. Supports the Two Factor Theory of Emotion. Physiological arousal in different emotion is entirely the same. We label our arousal according to cognition. Cannot fully evaluate the feeling of emotional arousal. Leading to misattribution Influenced by surrounding situation.
[E]	Observations and self appraisal of emotion was subjective. Measurements were rudimentary, only pulse was measured. Low in ecologically validity Lab experiment, unlikely to have a sudden emotional arousal. Emotion arousal might be caused by external stimuli (i.e. the other way around). Unethical: Induced anger and aggression in participants.