1. Culture and Memory

2. Factors Affecting Memory Performance
Oral Tradition
Ross and Millson (1970)
American v Ghanian college students asked to remember stories  Ghanian students better!
This effect may be limited to meaningful material
Schooling
Chunking and techniques to aid in processing large amounts of information
Cole & Scribner (1974)
Rehearsal
No serial position effect in Kpelle tribespeople from rural Liberia

3. Cole and Scribner (1974)
Studied memory of Kpelle tribespeople in rural Liberia.
Worked closely with college-educated local Liberians- acted as experimenters.
Procedure
Viewed a list of objects from 4 categories:
Utensils, clothes, tools, fruits/vegetables
Asked to recall the words
Repeated over several trials

4. Cole & Scribner’s word list
Plate
Cutlass
Calabash
Hoe
Pot
Knife
Pan
File
Cup
Hammer
Potato
Trousers
Onion
Singlet
Banana
Head Tie
Orange
Shirt
Coconut
Hat

5. Cole & Scribner (1974) Results WHY??? Interesting….
Liberian children showed no regular increase in memory performance after the age of 9
Recalled 10 items, then 12 after 15 practice trials
UNLESS they had attended school
Learned the material quickly- same rates as US kids
WHY???
Schooled children used categories and chunking to help remember
Interesting….
When the items were incorporated into a story, the non-schooled Liberian children recalled the items with ease- clustered them according to the roles they played in the story.

6. Cole & Scribner (1974) Significance
Ability to remember is universal.
HOW we remember is culturally bound!
Many memory studies examine memory performance that is associated with schooling.
How does schooling affect memory?
Exposure to information processing tasks
Lots of practive in memorizing large amounts of information!
Able to apply the techniques they learn to similar situations.