Chapter 8 Cognitive Processes: Schemas, Scripts, and Memory

Schemas

Schemas are organized knowledge structures or mental frameworks that represent our understanding of events, situations, people, and other concepts. They provide a meaningful structure for these concepts.

Schemas Explanation

Schemas help us to understand new situations by allowing us to incorporate new information into our existing knowledge. They act as a 'blueprint' for events, enabling us to form expectations and make predictions about what will happen.

Classroom Schema

Our schema for a classroom typically includes desks, whiteboards, and projectors. We would not expect to see scuba gear or a parachute in a normal classroom setting.

Memory Inaccuracies

The use of schemas can lead to memory errors because we might remember things that are typical of a situation (according to our schema) even if they did not actually happen.

Scripts

Scripts are a type of schema that represents the typical sequence of actions and objects involved in a routine event. They are more specific than general schemas.

Scripts Explanation

Scripts provide a mental representation of how a common event usually unfolds, including the order of actions and the objects that are typically present.

Restaurant Script

Our script for a restaurant might include entering, being seated, ordering food, eating, receiving the bill, and paying. It also includes objects like food, money, tables, and dishes.

Scripts & Memory (Bower et al., 1979)

Studies have shown that when people read stories based on scripts (like 'Visiting Health Professional' or 'Restaurant'), they tend to have better recall for stated actions but also exhibit intrusions, where they remember unstated actions that are typical of the script.

Passage Comprehension

Passage comprehension refers to the ability to understand and make sense of written or spoken text.

Context

Context refers to the surrounding information that helps to clarify meaning.

Context Impact on Comprehension

The presence and timing of context significantly impact how well we comprehend and remember information from a passage.

Full Context Image Effect

When a full context image is seen before hearing a passage, it leads to the best recall and highest comprehension ratings.

Participants Recall

Participants who saw a full context image before hearing a passage demonstrated the highest recall and rated the passage as easier to understand.

Prior Knowledge

Prior knowledge is the information and understanding we already possess about a topic before encountering new information.

Influence of Prior Knowledge

Our existing knowledge significantly influences how well we can comprehend and retain new text.

Recall Enhancement

Having more prior knowledge about a subject can enhance recall for both good and bad readers.

Example of Prior Knowledge

Individuals with more prior knowledge of baseball showed boosted recall for a text about a baseball game, regardless of their general reading ability (Recht & Leslie, 1988).

Goals and Reading

Our goals when reading influence how we process and remember information from a text.

Cognitive Processes by Reading Goals

Different reading goals lead to different cognitive processes and outcomes.

Study Goal

When reading with a study goal, individuals tend to focus on coherence and understanding, make more explanatory inferences, and engage in more predictive inferences.

Recall from Study Goal

This leads to higher recall of the passages.

Entertainment Goal

When reading for entertainment, individuals are higher on evaluations and associations, focusing more on personal experiences and impressions.

Situation Model

A situation model or mental model is an internal representation of the text or other modalities that we construct to comprehend the situation being described.

State of Affairs

It represents the 'state of affairs' of the text.

Building a Situation Model

We build a situation model by integrating information provided in the text and associating one sentence with the next.

Schemas in Situation Model

Schemas can also be used in the creation of a situation model.

Event Representations

The situation model is composed of event representations and involves tracking several dimensions as the narrative unfolds.

Protagonist

Tracking the 'main' character or person of the current event in relation to previous events.

Intentionality

Keeping track of a person's goals in the current event.

Causality

Understanding the causal links between current and past events.

Spatiality

Recognizing the relationship between spatial locations in current and past events.

Temporality

Understanding the temporal relationship between current and past events.

Amnesia

Amnesia refers to a deficit in memory caused by brain damage, disease, or psychological trauma.

Anterograde Amnesia

An inability to encode new memories after the onset of amnesia. Individuals with anterograde amnesia can form new memories for information retrieved using implicit-memory tasks, where retrieval is not explicit.

Retrograde Amnesia

A loss of memory for events that occurred before the onset of amnesia.

Childhood Amnesia (Infantile Amnesia)

The phenomenon where adults have very few autobiographical memories from the first few years of life. This is thought to be due to the fact that the brain areas responsible for long-term memory storage (like the hippocampus and surrounding temporal lobe structures) are not fully developed in early childhood.

Amnesia in Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive illness that causes severe dementia. It is characterized by the disruption of neuron function and communication due to plaques (bundles of amyloid protein that develop in the synapse) and tangles (protein fibers that develop in a neuron's nucleus). The hippocampus, crucial for explicit memory retrieval, is significantly affected in the early stages of Alzheimer's, leading to memory problems.

Results From Warrington and Weiskrantz's (1970) Experiment 1

This figure illustrates that amnesic individuals show much lower function on free-recall tests than normal controls, but they show equivalent memory for studied items on fragment-completion tests. This highlights the difference between explicit and implicit memory in amnesia.

Imagery

Imagery refers to the mental representation of information that is not currently perceived through the senses. It can involve visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, and gustatory experiences.

Explanation of Imagery

We can create images in our minds that resemble perceiving an object, event, or scene. Imagery is useful in many cognitive tasks, including memory, perception, and problem-solving. Visual images can help us navigate our environments.

Examples of Imagery

Imagining driving down the Pacific Coast Highway with the sun shining and the wind blowing. Imagining the sounds, smells, and feel of a picnic in a park.

The Debate on Propositional and Spatial Representations

This debate concerns how information is mentally represented.

Spatial Representation (Analog)

The idea that visual information is represented in the mind in a format that is analogous to how it appears in the real world, preserving spatial relationships.

Propositional Representation (Descriptive)

The idea that mental images are represented in an abstract, language-like format, where information is stored as a set of propositions or statements about the objects and their relationships, without necessarily preserving the spatial details of a visual image.

Kosslyn's Work

Kosslyn's work using mental scanning tasks suggested that the time it takes to mentally 'travel' between objects in an imagined scene is related to the actual spatial distance between them, supporting the idea of spatial representations.

Pylyshyn's Argument

Pylyshyn argued for propositional representations, suggesting that these reaction time differences could be explained by our implicit knowledge and expectations rather than an actual spatial image.

Mental Scanning Example

In Kosslyn's (1973) study, participants took longer to answer questions about parts of an imagined object (like a plane's tail) that were further away from their initial point of focus (like the plane's propeller). This was interpreted as evidence for spatial representation.

Imagery

Imagery can significantly enhance memory.

Concreteness Effect

Information that is easier to imagine (e.g., concrete words like 'house' or 'kite') is generally better remembered than information that is difficult to imagine (e.g., abstract words like 'dream' or 'justice').

Picture Superiority Effect

Pictures are often better remembered than words because pictures are automatically encoded in two ways: as a visual code and a verbal code (if labeled), providing dual encoding and better retrieval opportunities.

Paivio's Dual-Coding Theory

The theory that pictures are encoded in two ways, enhancing memory retrieval.

Bizarreness Effect

Bizarre or unusual images can be better remembered than common images because they are distinctive.

Auditory Imagery

Auditory imagery involves the mental representation of sounds, such as music or speech.

Imagery in Memory

Auditory imagery can play a role in memory, particularly for auditory information.

Mnemonics

Mnemonics are memory aids or strategies that use imagery and other techniques to improve memory.

Method of Loci

A mnemonic technique where you imagine items you want to remember placed at different locations along a familiar route. To recall the items, you mentally 'walk' along the route and visualize each item at its location.

Pegword Mnemonic

A technique that involves associating words you want to remember with a set of already memorized 'pegwords' using vivid imagery.

Explanation of Mnemonic Techniques

These techniques rely on the brain's strong ability to remember visual and spatial information. By creating vivid and interactive mental images, we can create more memorable associations for the information we want to retain.

Flashbulb Memories

Flashbulb memories are vivid and detailed recollections of the circumstances surrounding a surprising and emotionally arousing event.

Confidence in Flashbulb Memories

People often have a strong feeling of confidence in the accuracy of flashbulb memories, even though research suggests they can be inaccurate over time.

Examples of Flashbulb Memories

Remembering exactly where you were and what you were doing when you heard about a major news event.

Imagery in Problem Solving

Imagery can be a useful tool for problem solving by allowing us to mentally visualize and manipulate different aspects of a problem.

Explanation of Imagery in Problem Solving

By creating mental images of the components of a problem and how they might interact, we can gain insights and explore potential solutions.

Example of Imagery in Problem Solving

Mentally visualizing the gears in a pulley system to understand which direction a wheel will turn or how much movement is required to solve a mechanical problem.