Paper 1: The Cognitive Approach (AJW) Schema Theory Paper 1: The Cognitive Approach (AJW)

“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend” Robertson Davis

What is a schema? A cognitive framework for structuring information about the world, events and behaviour A mental representation that organises knowledge, beliefs, and expectations Knowledge is stored/organised semantically inter-connected schema (LTM) Future experiences are perceived in pre-set ways (through the schematic lenses)

Chairness What does a chair schema include?

Good point: Helpful for filtering relentless flood of information from the senses Bad point: creates biases leading to inaccuracies in our perception and recall.

Top-down versus bottom-up processing Top Down – active analysis of incoming information in relation to what we already know (stored in LTM) Schema are said to support our ongoing active search for the ‘best’ interpretation of sensory data based on previous experience (i.e. they are part of top down processing)

Bottom-up processing perception is driven only by incoming information. When sensory information is incomplete or ambiguous, top down processing may occur When sensory information is complete, bottom up may be more likely.

Perceptual set We perceive the world through our personal ‘perceptual set’ Cultural factors Personal/psychological factors Motivation (e.g. hunger) State (sad/happy) Past experiences Context

The Muller-Lyer Illusion Stewart (1973): Does not work on people from cultures where buildings are made from natural materials, known as carpentered world hypothesis. e.g. children from rural Tonga not susceptible to this illusion

Bartlett : of the Ghosts Bartlett believed schemas affect memory at the point of retrieval Pps heard the story which was ambiguous (they did not have a schema that helped them recall it) however they used existing schemas to help create a story that made sense to them Evaluation: Gauld and Stephenson and Wynn and Logie, Hunter, Allport and Postman

Confabulation Remembering elements that did not happen that are schema consistent when retrieval interval is increased it is harder to distinguish between self generated thoughts and bottom up information that was present at the scene (in the story).

Bransford and Johnson, Giving context before hearing the story helped recall Giving context after hearing the story did not Suggests schemas assist with sense making at the point of encoding providing slots into which units to be recalled are placed, making them more accessible .

Schema can also affect memory at retrieval Snyder and Uranowitz (1978) Betty: Popular had lots of dates, never had a steady boyfriend IV: 1. Betty got married OR 2. Betty later identified as gay DV : did they remember that she had no steady boyfriend (YES/N0) Memories become selective based on which schemas are activated.

How else do schema affect memory? Cognitive schemas also can affect memory at different stages, e.g. encoding, storage and retrieval. Andersen and Pichert Brewer and Treyens Sulin and Dooling

Confirmation bias Interpreting info in terms of existing schema, distortion, accommodating the info to fit the schema Formation and strengthening of schema Selective remembering Avoid or deny information that does not fit Brochet - wine tasting study p85 Lawton Marsh and Hanlon - Salamander study p85 Lawton