Read the following information.

A police officer is reading the statements of two eyewitnesses. Both statements describe the same robbery committed by one person in a local shop.

The first eyewitness described the robber as being a male, in his late teens, wearing a red hoodie and not carrying a weapon.

The second eyewitness described the robber as being a male with a facial scar, in his late-twenties, wearing a red T-shirt and carrying a knife.

Use your knowledge of the theory of reconstructive memory to explain why each eyewitness gave different descriptions of the same robber.

The theory of reconstructive memory, proposed by Bartlett, can explain the differences in the eyewitness statements. This theory suggests that memory is not a perfect recording of events but is an active reconstruction influenced by our schemas. Schemas are mental frameworks of beliefs and expectations developed from experience. Each eyewitness will have different schemas, which could lead to different interpretations and recall of the event. For example, the second eyewitness might have a schema for 'robber' that includes features like scars and weapons. When recalling the event, their memory may have filled in these details to fit their schema, even if they weren't actually present. This is called confabulation. The first eyewitness might have a different schema, or their attention might have been focused elsewhere. Their description of a 'red hoodie' versus a 'red T-shirt' could be an example of rationalisation, where the memory is altered to make more sense to the individual. Perhaps they associate young men in hoodies with crime. Furthermore, the stress of the event could have affected their perception and memory. The second eyewitness's mention of a knife could be due to 'weapon focus', where the presence of a weapon draws attention away from other details like the robber's face or exact age, leading to less accurate recall of those features. The first witness may not have seen a weapon, allowing them to focus more on clothing and age, although their recall is still subject to schema-based errors.