Memory for actions in scripted activities as a function of typicality, retention interval, and retrieval task

Abstract

This study examined memory for information that varies in typicality (relevance) to a central organizingschema. Subjects listened to scripted activities and were given recall and recognition tests after different retention intervals. Data supported a schema-pointer-plus-tag model that specifies how memory for scripted actions varies as a function of typicality, retention interval, and retrieval task. Several mathematical formulations of the model were tested in order to simulate the recall and recognition data. The model that best fit the data incorporated four properties. Fir-st, memory discrimination is initially better for atypical than for typical actions in both recall and recognition tasks. Second, recall involves conceptually driven retrieval, whereas recognition involves both conceptually driven and data-driven retrieval. Third, conceptually driven retrieval has an exponentially decreasing retention function, whereas there is a linear decrease in data-driven retrieval. Fourth, the retention function for conceptually driven retrieval is steeper for atypical than for typical actions, which supports the notion that the schema plays a more important role in guiding this type of retrieval as the retention interval increases; in contrast, the slopes of the retention functions for data-driven retrieval are the same for typical and atypical actions. A schema-pointer-plus-tag model was compared with some alternative schema-based memory models.In recent years, there has been increasing interest in developing models to explain the role of schemata in the acquisition, representation, and retrieval of information in memory (Bower, Black, & Turner, 1979;Cantor & Mischel, 1979;Graesser, Woll,Kowalski, & Smith, 1980;Hastie, 1980;Kintsch & van Dijk, 1978;Norman & Bobrow, 1979; Rumelhart & Ortony, 1977;Spiro, 1977;Taylor & Crocker, 1981; Thorndyke & HayesRoth, 1979). With regard to prose comprehension, most researchers agree that schemata are generic knowledge structures that interrelate statements in passages. For example, when individuals comprehend a passage about someone eating in a restaurant, they identify the generic restaurant schema. This schema provides a knowledge base that guides the interpretation of the text and generates inferences and expectations.With regard to the representation and retrieval of information in prose, there are several issues that a schema-based model might address. One issue pertains to the typicality of information with respect to a central organizing schema. It is rare that specific experiences are perfectly consistent with the generic schemata that This research was supported by Grant MH-33491 from the National Institute of Mental Health. We would like to thank John Black for his insightful comments on this manuscript. We would also like to thank Martin McMullen for his technical assistance on the figures and Springer-Verlag for granting permission to use Figure I and Table 1. Requests for reprints should be sent to Arthur C. Graesser, Department of Psychology, California State Univer...

Recognition of script-typical versus script-atypical information: Effects of cognitive elaboration

“…The typicality effect in recognition memory, by contrast, should not depend on the length of the retention interval because recognition memory is generally less reconstructive than recall memory. In accordance with these predictions, Smith and Graesser (1981) found an atypicality advantage in recognition memory for all retention intervals, whereas the atypicality advantage in recall memory was limited to short retention intervals and reversed into a typicality advantage approximately 48 h after testing. Recently, however, Davidson (1994) demonstrated that the reversal of the typicality effect in recall memory is limited to atypical items describing relatively pallid and routine actions.…”

The cultural life script as cognitive schema: How the life script shapes memory for fictional life stories

“…Therefore, consistent with prior research on other schemata (e.g., Kleider, Pezdek, et al, 2008;Lampinen et al, 2001;Smith & Graesser, 1981), the life script schema played a more substantial role in shaping memory as the length of the retention interval increased. Second, though our findings in support of Hypothesis #3, regarding remember/know judgements for correctly recognized events, were less strong, we did find a trend for schema-inconsistent events to be given remember judgements more frequently than schema-consistent events.…”

“…for the behavior of instructors in a classroom (Neuschatz, Lampinen, Preston, Hawkins, & Toglia, 2002); for common scenes such as taking one's dog to the veterinarian or going to the beach (Bower, Black, & Turner, 1979;Graesser, Gordon, & Sawyer, 1979; Graesser, Woll, Kowalski, & Smith, 1980;Lampinen, Faries, Neuschatz, & Toglia, 2000;Shapiro & Fox, 2002;Smith & Graesser, 1981); for stereotypes about categories of people (e.g., gender stereotypes;…”

Musical Features That Facilitate Melody Identification: How Do You Know It's “Your” Song When They Finally Play It?

“…Another possibility is that these musical ornaments are easily remembered because they are salient or relatively atypical contour patterns (e.g., D. A. Smith & Graesser, 1981) that stand out from the surrounding musical context. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the experimental corpus included a relatively small proportion of notes that completed alternation (12.1%) and pair patterns (2.4%).…”