Bransford and Johnson (1972)

Theory related to the study

Schema theory

The behaviour

Memory encoding

Aim

To investigate the effect of context on comprehension and memory of passages

To study the role of relevant contextual knowledge in comprehending of prose passages

Sample

52 high school students (male and female volunteers) split into 5 groups

Method

Independent measures design -> 5 different groups

Procedure

5 groups:

1) no context1 -> passage is played once

2) no context2 -> passage is played twice

3) context before -> context image is given before hearing the passage

4) context after -> context image is given after hearing the passage

5) partial context -> given a picture before that contained all elements of the passage without seeing how they all work together

Results

each group remembered:

1) no context1 -> 3.6 memory units

2) no context2 -> 3.8 memory units

3) context before -> 8.0 memory units

4) context after -> 3.8 memory units

5) partial context -> 4.0 memory units

Conclusion

As showing the participants context before was the most effective, this study provides evidence that context creates a mental representation influences the way information is encoded.