Definition of Schema:
Scripts (a type of schema):
How do Schemas Operate?
Schemas and Memory Selection:
Schemas and Memory Abstraction and Integration:
LAB DEMO: Bransford and Franks (1971)
cognitive process by which we store the meaning of a message and not the exact wording and grammatical structure
constructed four-fact sentences, and broke them down into smaller sentences:
4 - The ants in the kitchen ate the sweet jelly that was on the table.
3 - The ants in the kitchen ate the sweet jelly
2 - The ants in the kitchen ate the jelly.
1 - The jelly was sweet.
Acquisition: Ss heard 1-, 2-, and 3-fact sentences only
Test: Ss heard 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-fact sentences (most of which were never presented) and noncase sentences
Results: the more facts in the sentences, the more likely Ss would judge them as “old” and with higher confidence
why were Ss consistenly more likely to believe they heard the whole story -- which they had not -- than the simpler sentences -- which they had heard?
the mind’s search for meaning -- when presented with a random series of statements, the mind tries to put them together in a way that tells a meaningful, coherent story
rather than finding verbatim memory, B & F found “memory for meaning” or memory based on abstraction of meaning from memory and the semantic integration of related material
because the 4-fact sentences most closely match the full meaning of the sentence stories in memory, Ss were most confident of having heard them before
Constructive Model: we integrate info from individual sentences in order to construct larger ideas; emphasizes the active nature of our cognitive processes
Loftus & Palmer (1974)
Critical Question:
“About how fast were the cars going when then SMASHED / COLLIDED / BUMPED / HIT / CONTACTED each other?”
|
Postevent Info
|
Ave. Speed Estimate |
|
smashed
|
40.8 |
|
collided
|
39.3 |
|
bumped
|
38.1 |
|
hit
|
34 |
|
contacted
|
31.8 |
One week later subjects were asked:
“Was there broken glass?”
Schemas and Memory Interpretation: Inferences
Bransford et al. (1972)
Study sentences:
(1) Three turtles rested beside a floating log, and a fish swam beneath them.
(2) Three turtles rested on a floating log, and a fish swam beneath them.
Recognition sentences:
(3) Three turtles rested beside a floating log, and a fish swam beneath it.
(4) Three turtles rested on a floating log, and a fish swam beneath it.
Mental model:
(1) TURTLES LOG
FISH
(2) TURTLES
LOG FISH
(3) TURTLES LOG
FISH
(4) TURTLES
LOG
FISH
Results:
Conclusions about Schemas:
Definition of Metacognition:
“I don’t recall”
“I understood this fairly well”
“I won’t be able to solve this problem right away”
“I can’t study with the TV on”
“Her name is on the tip of my tongue”