3.3 Schema Theory

Cognitive Schema

A cognitive schema is a mental framework or structure that organizes information and knowledge about a particular concept, object, or event.

Who created Schema Theory

Frederic Bartlett - 1932

How do humans use schemas

Mental frameworks for processing, interpreting, and recalling information.

Type of Schemas: Social Schemas

Social schemas - mental representations about various groups of people, for example, a stereotype

Type of schema: Scripts

Schemas about a sequence of events, for example, going to a restaurant or making a coffee

Types of schema: self-schema

Mental representations about ourselves

How do Schemas work: encoding

Schemas shape how we interpret new information

How do Schemas work: Storage

Information is organized within pre-existing schemas

How do schemas work: Retrieval

Memory recall is influenced by schemas, sometimes leading to memory distortions.

Effects that schemas have

Memory distortion

Confirmation bias

Influence on perception

Bottom-up processing

Occurs when the cognitive process is data-driven; perception i snot biased by prior knowledge or expectations.

Top-down processing

Occurs when your prior knowledge or expectations act as a lens or a filter for the information that you receive and process.

Bartlett et al. year

1932

Aim

To investigate how the memory of a story is affected by previous knowledge

Method

Quasi Experiment

Design

Independent Measures

Sampling Strategy

Convenience

IV

Ppts cultural background / schema

DV

Recall accuracy of The War of the Ghosts

Procedure 1

Told ppts ‘The War of the Ghosts’

ppts were British, therefore, unfamiliar terms and names

Procedure 2

Ppts allocated to one of two conditions: repeated and serial reproduction

Procedure 3: Repeated

RR - ppts heard the story and were told to reproduce it after a short time and then to do so again over a period of day, weeks, months, or years

Procedure 4: Serial

SR - ppts had to recall the story and repeat it to another person

Findings 1:

No sig difference between the way that the groups recalled the story

Findings 2:

All ppts changed the story when remembering - distortion

Findings 3: Three patterns of distortion (Assimilation)

Story became more consistent with the participants own cultural expectations

Findings 4: Three patterns of distortion (Levelling)

Story also become shorter with each retelling as participants omitted information which was seen as not important

Findings 3: Three patterns of distortion (Sharpening)

Story order got changed in order to make sense of it using terms more familiar to the culture of the participants.

Conclusion 1

Indicates that remembering is not a passive but rather an active process

Done in order to create meaning of the incoming information

What study should be used with Barlett in a schema theory ERQ question

Bransford and Johnson

Bransford and Johnson Year

1972

Aim

To determine whether schema activation would improve understanding and recall of an ambiguous text

Method

True Lab experiment

Design

Independent Measures

Sampling Strategy

Self-selected; 52 participants

Dependent Variable

• Comprehension ratings

• Recall Scores

Independent Variable

Experiment 1:

Appropriate Context Before / After

Partial Context Before

No Context (heard once)

No Context (heard twice)

Procedure 1:

Participants heard tape-recorded passage

Context Before and Partial Context: 30 seconds to view pictures

Procedure 2:

After hearing the passage participants completed a comprehension rating using the seven-point scale

Procedure 3:

Short delay (2 mins)

Participants asked to recall in writing within 7 min time frame

Recall scored on number of units recalled

Findings 1:

Context Before: significant higher comprehension ratings and recalled significantly more

Context After and Partial Context: no significant increase in recall and comprehension compared to no context

heard twice: no significant increase either

Conclusion 1

Activation of an appropriate schema is a crucial prerequisite for the effective comprehension and subsequent recall of a passage

Conclusion 2

Activation of schema needs to occur during initial processing to facilitate meaningful interpretation

Conclusion 3

Empirical evidence - comprehension is not passive but active