Bransford and Johnson et al 1972

CA

Giving context to unfamiliar events leads to better recall as these new ideas are connected to the provided schema

Background

• What are schemas?

• What are the different types of schemas?

Aim

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

Method

Experiment, independent measure design

Participants

50 male and female high school volunteers

Procedure

participants heard a tape recorded passage and were asked to recall by writing down as many ideas as possible with five conditions -

• No context, heard passage once

• No context, heard passage twice

• Contextual picture provided before hearing passage

• Contextual picture provided after hearing passage

• Partial contextual picture provided before hearing passage.

Results

there were a total of 14 ideas, context before variable had 100% more recalled facts

• No context (1) - 3.6

• No context (2) - 3.8

• Context before - 8.0

• Context after - 3.6

• Partial context - 4.0

Conclusion

reinforces idea of schemas, pictures created schema and information encoded against this mental representation

Evaluations

Strengths

construct validity
The variation of variables being tested allows for the theory to be tested in several ways, meaning there is little reliance on a limited foundation of information. Because it was a laboratory experiment, it is inherently well-controlled.


temporal validity
The study and how it is conducted allows for it to be replicated throughout time, not relying on unique aspect of today's society. It has very little reliance on technology, apart from the passage being played.

Limitations

Because individual schemas affect how one views their surroundings, it may have had a slight effect on their remembrance of the story, aside from the context or lack thereof.

Link to Question

Demonstrates that schemas do impact cognition

• Those who heard context before listening to passage had a signficantly higher

Further implications

• How to study better

• What makes a better classroom environment