How people recall memories

How people recall memories In 1932 British psychologist Frederick Bartlet put forward a theory of how people organise and recall memory. His idea was that memory is not like a video recorder that can be played back, but that in fact there are a number of factors that lead to distortion and reconstruction of information. His theory is known as reconstructive memory and his ideas are still in use in current psychological research, such as eyewitness testimony, false memory syndrome, and even in the field of artificial intelligence This essay will explain Bartletts theory, its strengths and weaknesses, its implications in the understanding of how the mind organises, stores and recalls information, and how Bartletts ideas have been incorporated and expanded. Bartlett asserted that peoples recall of events is often inaccurate as reconstruction and distortion of information takes place, internally within the mind. The initial stimulus is taken in but as one can only give a certain amount of attention to a stimulus; previous experience, and knowledge, which he referred to as schemas, are used to construct a fuller picture internally. For example, if one was walking down a dark alley one might feel on edge, one suddenly notices a person approaching. An existing schema for this situation would exist and will probably result in the construction of a sinister character approaching, despite having no previous knowledge of the person. A schema is organised previous knowledge, an internal representation of how one perceives the world. Bartlett considered schemas to be maps or structures of knowledge stored in long-term memory. (May 07th 2008) www.wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Schemas In 1932 Bartlett composed a short fable which he named war of the ghosts. The fable was an old Native American folk story which would have been unfamiliar to the western participants. Generally it presented as a logical representation of events but within it was held more subtly illogical or irrational content. The story was recited to the participants who were asked to recall it after twenty hours, and again at varying intervals afterwards. He discovered that most people found it extremely difficult to recall the story exactly, even when the fable was read repeatedly. Bartlet hypothesised that, elements of the story which failed to fit into the schemata of the participant were omitted from their recollection, or reconstructed into more familiar forms. He remarked that people make an effort after meaning to make sense of information; any information which did not correspond with their cultural experiences, norms, or values, or that were unfamiliar, tended to be excluded from the reco llection of the participants. This resulted in a reduced, direct version of the story. Bartlett remarked that in the end, no trace of an odd or supernatural element [was] left: we [had] a perfectly straight forward story of a fight and a death. (2010) www.docstoc.com Bartletts ideas were revolutionary and drew many responses, positive, and negative. Bartletts research into practical aspects of memory, with an approach that set out to study how the human memory system is applied in every day, real life situations, is seen as a fundamental strength of the reconstructive memory model. However, his experiment was criticised for the methods employed. Bartlett was stopping students on their journeys around the Cambridge campus and reciting the war of the ghosts. He would often have to wait until he met them again before he could ask them to recall their version of the story. His methods were considered as being unscientific and his work was rejected by some as a result. Bartletts idea of schemas was rejected as being too vague, and hard to back up with empirical evidence. Also it was argued that Bartletts idea of reading participants an unfamiliar story could have actually been a factor in why participants reconstructed parts of the story when they rec alled it. Despite the criticism, Bartletts ideas regarding schemas, and reconstructive memories, are still in use, and are still prevalent in various fields of current psychological research. The reconstructive memory model was an important breakthrough which is still very much relevant in todays modern world. For example, a fundamental tactic employed by the police to catch and convict criminals is eye witness testimony. But how reliable is this method if memory really works as Bartlett suggested. With the emergence of new technologies such as CCTV, in some cases, it has now been possible to explore the reliability of eye witness testimonies. One example of false eye witness testimony was the case concerning Charles Mendes, a Brazilian man who was shot by police in a case of mistaken identity after the terrorist bombings in London. Witnesses recalled Mr Mendes jumping over the ticket barrier and running away from the police before he was shot dead by the police. Later CCTV footage of the event that emerged clearly showed that this was false information and in fact Charles Mendes actually bought a ticket and only ran to avoid missing the train. Recent tests concerning reconstructive memory have also raised doubt over the reliability of eye witness testimony. In 1974 Elizabeth Loftus conducted a series of experiments to explore the reliability of eye witness testimony. In 1974, Loftus and Palmer conducted experiments in which participants were used in an independent measures design. They were shown footage of a car crash and then separated into three groups of fifty. The first group was asked, how fast were the cars going when they hit each other? The second group was asked the question but the word hit was changed to smashed. The independent variable being the changed word. The third group was not asked the question; this group was used as a control group. The findings showed that the wording of the question directly affected the estimation of the cars speed. When the question was asked using the word hit, the lowest estimation was given. When the question was asked using the word smashed, participants responded with the highest estimation of the cars speed. After seven days, the participants were asked if they had seen broken glass after the accident; Loftus and Palmer found that participants who had been asked the question with the word smashed had been consistently more likely to answer yes (wrongly). The findings of Loftus and Palmers 1974 car crash experiments reinforced and continued the reconstructive memory theory. It has raised questions concerning the reliability of eye witness testimony; as a result of this work, juries are no longer allowed to convict a defendant on the basis of eye witness testimony alone. Their work has also led to the police revising the way they interview witnesses; to avoid misleading questions which could contaminate the original recollection of events, and in order to aid a witness to recall as much of a situation or event as possible, the police now conduct cognitive interviews. The understanding of how the mind stores and retrieves information has aided the police, whose modified interview techniques are now thought to be more successful in drawing often vital details held in the memory of witnesses. These can be used to solve crimes, help to bring dangerous criminals to justice, and are more accurate, hopefully leading to less cases of wrongful convictions due to false information or mistaken identity. There are criticisms that can be directed towards Loftus and Palmer for their experimental methods in 1974; it has been argued that due to a lack of participant variety, the findings of the experiment cannot be viewed as universally applicable as the participants were all students. Another point that has been made is that the results could have been affected by demand characteristics; the participants could have given answers according to what they thought the researchers wanted to hear. It has also been argued that the experiments were artificial; real life situations could have different results. In a real situation there are potentially severe legal and moral consequences involved with distorted recollections of events in a court of law; this is not the case in a laboratory experiment. These concerns have now been addressed by more recent research that has based experiments in a more realistic, every day context. This new research, such as the Open University and BBC project, appears to confirm much of what Loftus and Palmer asserted. Participants witnessed a stabbing and were taken to the station by the police for cognitive interviews. They were unaware that the situation had been staged. Dr Pike, a psychologist involved with the project echoed comments remarked by Elizabeth Loftus when he commented on the findings; speaking of how the mind is malleable, not fixed, he remarked that its not like imputing data into a computer, the mind does not store facts absolutely the way they are and it does not recall them absolutely accurately either. Winterman, D (2010) www.news.bbc.co.uk Further research by Loftus has led to greater understanding of how the mind reacts differently in stressful situations such as at the scene of a crime taking place. It is now understood that when a weapon is involved, ones attention tends to focus on the threatening object. As a consequence, ones recall of peripheral details diminishes. Loftus asserted that weapon anxiety can be responsible for ones inability to recall the perpetrator, and or crucial details or events of a crime. It is now understood that age, and ones emotional state, are factors to be considered concerning accurate recall. It is also widely accepted that people are more likely to misinterpret a situation, make errors, or make crucial mistakes when they are scared or in shock. Although in some instances, an extreme situation can lead to a state of heightened awareness, which can in turn lead to flashbulb memories; potentially extremely accurate detailed memories of an event or situation. Having explored Bartletts theory of reconstructive memory, and later research by Loftus and Palmer that continued it, one can see that these theories have facilitated a much greater understanding of the complexities of human memory. Bartlett put forward an explanation of aspects of human memory that other models of memory do not account for. Most, if not all people would have experience with memories that are vague, or unclear. How many times have you recalled an event, only for the person next to you, who shared the experience with you, to contradict you, with a completely different account of the events? Reconstructive memory puts forward an explanation for why this can happen; of how memory does not always reflect an accurate account of an event or situation. Loftus and Palmers continued research into reconstructive memory has further supported the theory. Their work has had important repercussions in areas such as law and police procedure. The reconstructive memory theory continu es to exert a significant influence in todays modern world. Cardwell M, Clark L, Meldrum C. (2003) Psychology for A Level, Harper Collins. Gross R. (2009) Psychology. The Science of Mind and Behaviour 5th Edition, Hodder Arnold. Gross R, Rolls G. (2003) Essential AS Psychology, Hodder Stoughton. www.google.com/http://www.bookrags.com/wiki/Frederic_Bartlett (accessed 26th April 2010) (May 7th 2008) www.google.com/http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Schemas (accessed 26 April 2010) (2010) www.google.com/http://www.docstoc.com/docs/33510508/The-War-of-the-Ghosts/ (accessed 26th April 2010) www.google.com/http://www.s-cool.co.uk/alevel/psychology/human-memory/criti (accessed 26th April 2010) Winterman, D. (2010) BBC Magazine available at www.google.com/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8617945.stm (accessed 28th April)

evolution Essay -- essays research papers

The majority of people in this world believe that a spiritual being created earth. In fact, "most religions and cultures believe the universe was created by a 'creative hand,' either a sky god or some other physical object" (Encarta 1). Think of it, as a trial to see which will win, creation or evolution. It has been the most argued debate in all of history, but creationism is more logical than evolution. To first understand what creation is about, we have to know what creation is. The Bible defines creation as the action by God that brought the universe and all its contents into being. The Bible also states, "God created great whales and every living creature that moveth, and so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Genesis 1:21, 27). To Doug LaPointe, the author of Top Evidences against the Theory of Evolution, there are nine articles of evidence pointing weaknesses in evolution, or strong points in creation. The first evidence is that there are no links between the fossil record and present times; therefore, there is nothing to show that evolution actually happened. Second, that natural selection cannot advance an organism to a higher order. The third being that although evolutionists believe life just came about, matter resulted from nothing, and humans evolved from animals, all of these are against scient ific and natural understandings. Fourth, even though evolutionists present them a...

Green Computing Research Project Essay

Introduction: Currently many organizations are depending upon the computing environment to manage the process within the work place and become stabilized across different market group. Although most of them are not aware how far the computing environment is impacting the outer area but still to fulfill the requirements it is very much essential for them to go for it. Keeping these things in mind, we have come up with a new project called â€Å"Green Computing Research Project† that mainly aims to improve the computing technology by guiding the organization through better approaches (Deepak, 2005). This project mainly aims to enhance the work functionality by providing many new opportunities in the current market. By getting into this project, the organization will look into more software solutions to reduce energy, improving the performance and efficiency of data centers and focused towards green technology. Requirements: The project will drive each organization towards success path, but the only thing required is cooperation which will ensure a strong motivation for the project development team. As long as the teams support the development team, it will be easy for the organization to get more ideas and gain more techniques to create long term scenario for â€Å"Green Computing Research Project†. Secondly budget is needed timely to avoid any kind of discrepancy in the project development, in fact I will say if the project development has to be mother, it is necessary for all sponsors to look at the situation on regular basis (Stevens, 2002). Apart from that resourcing also plays vital role in deciding the play strategy for the project; a strong resource will take the best approach to make the project success at all possible points and draw the attention of each sponsors. As per the previous discussion, Ben is one of the sponsors for this project and the organization has selected Peter as the p roject manager. Looking at the previous experience of Peter, it is quite obvious to say that Peter could take the opportunity and the five member team led by Peter will have the better scope to manage the vision of this project. It is responsibility of Peter to ensure the correct strategy is made for each resource and they are capable enough to take up the challenges ahead. Here under is official documentation of the project requirements: Stakeholders : Ben ( Sponsor), Peter James (Project Manager), Steve Arnold ( IT support), Kelly Adams ( Researcher ), Sherry Michaels ( Researcher), Antony Gabbot (Researcher), Mohamed (Publisher and researcher) , Amr ( Expert Editor). Project Description: The Main output is to produce are a serious of research reports –one of each green computing technologies listed earlier plus one final report including all data. Also formal project proposal will be demonstrated for the best four recommendations for implementing some of these technologies. Challenges: Working in virtual environment where the whole team works together from different locations. Since different stakeholders will have different views of the requirements, so it is a good idea to create a requirements traceability matrix to trace each developed feature back to the person, group or entity that requested it during the requirements gathering . Test cases and previous project references are used in this RTM. ET is abbreviation to Environmental Technologies program , and GP is abbreviation to Green Computing projects . Questions for Sponsor: For every development activities, sponsors play vital role because they have to provide complete support to take the project ahead and create better opportunities for all major stake holders. It may not be correct to say that sponsors always look for the success because their investment does not allow them to look for failure situation; based on that they try to find out the resources to lead the project activity. For â€Å"Green Computing Research Project† Ben has taken the major sponsors role, in that case peter has to approach with certain questions that will clarify all confusions between development team as well as the sponsors. And also Peter must take few steps to go ahead with some proposal from the users because it will be benefitted for all those people who are fully dependent upon computing environment. The questions for sponsors are described below: What is expectation level from â€Å"Green Computing Research Project† Will you provide a complete support during any of the major disaster period Provide a complete description of your availability for this project What kind of priority you have for this project How will you accept the project result and make it use for other stake holders Will you facilitate proper problem solving skills Scope Statement: The project â€Å"Green Computing Research Project† will bear all necessary terms and conditions before being released to deliverable stage. We as in development expect the users will be facilitated with necessary information  to take the project in right way so that there won’t be any kind of miss understanding (Kousholt, 2007). After the entire project aims to provide opportunities to all stake holders who are dependent upon the computing environment. A. Deliverables: A complete structured wise computing environment to stabilize the computing activities and provide better opportunities to grab new opportunities A fine technology where the organization can create the base to run the process Highly efficiency and compatible devices to take up the major load activities across all units Technical guidance along with other support to ensure the safe installation B. Milestones: Project approved—Jan 1st Foundation poured—Jan 2nd QC and other parallel activities- Jan15th-Jun16th Final Inspection- May 16th-June 4th C. Technical Requirements: All stake holders must have complete knowledge about the project surrounding Technical experts must be available for any emergency Complete R&D support Additional Training programs for the developer Solid computing platform for conducting frequent test D. Limits and Exclusions: Team will be strict to the design as per the prior decision Continuous support must be needed during any of the emergency Measuring device will not be placed in the project Development team reserves all rights to ask if anything goes beyond contract Project manager is responsible for entire quality measure Working hours is limited From Mon-Fri 8.30 AM to 5.30 PM E. Final Review: CIO and Ben Organization will review four recommendations out of 20 projects. Proposal for recommended project Included documented researches, test cases, and Business case for each project. References: Khazanchi, Deepak (2005). Patterns of Effective Project Management in Virtual Projects: An Exploratory Study. Project Management Institute. ISBN 9781930699830, Retrieved from: http://www.pmi.org/en/Knowledge-Center/Research-Completed-Research/Patterns-of-Effective-Project-Management-in-Virtual-Projects.aspx Martin,Stevens (2002). Project Management Pathways: Association for Project Management. APM Publishing Limited, 2002 ISBN 1-903494-01-X, Retrieved from: http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Project_Management_Pathways.html?id=UaIuQpPM4yMC&redir_esc=y Bjarne, Kousholt (2007): Project Management: Theory and practice. Nyt Teknisk Forlag. ISBN 87-571-2603-8, Retrieved from: http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Bjarne-Kousholt/1780174067

The World System Theory Created By Immanuel Wallerstein

The world system theory created by Immanuel Wallerstein suggests that wealthy countries benefit from other countries and exploit their resources and citizens. This model recognizes the minimal benefits that are enjoyed by citizens of low status, as well as the maximal benefits enjoyed by citizens of high status. This suggests that a country’s economic development is based off the capitalist world system. Wallerstein believes the capitalist world-economy is based on the creation of surplus appropriation through the expansion of productivity. As a result, this benefits the elite by increasing profits. â€Å"The capitalist world-system is based on a two-fold division of labor in which different classes and status groups are given differential access to resources within nation states; and the different nation states are given differential access to goods and services on the world market.† (Elwell 2013) Both of these markets are distorted by power. Wallerstein divides the capitalist world-economy into three main areas: peripheral, semi-peripheral, and core states. The periphery states are the least developed and are exploited by the core nations. They provide cheap labour, raw materials, and agricultural production for core nations. To gain easy and cheap labour, landlords forced rural workers into a second serfdom on their estates. The semi-periphery is located between the periphery and the core, and they represent either core regions in decline, or periphery regions attempting toShow MoreRelatedMarxism Of The Cold War And The Triumph Of Capitalism1528 Words   |  7 PagesMarxism has found great appeal as a political thought for several class-based revolution and have been the theoretical basis for the policies and politics of several regimes across the world. 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