bransford and johnson 1972

Question 1

aim

Answer 1

to investigate the effect of context on comprehension and memory of text passages

Question 2

method (not procedure)

Answer 2

independent measures design experiment

50 male and female high school students

Question 3

procedure

Answer 3

participants heard a tape recorded passage and were required to recall as accurately as possible
5 conditions
no context(1) participants heard passage once
no context(2) participants heard passage twice
context before
context after
partial context:participants were give a context picture prior to hearin passage but the picture only contained elements mentioned in the passage without showing how they operate together

Question 4

results

Answer 4

passage contained 14 idea units in total

group              average ideas 
no context(1) 3.6
no context (2) 3.8
context before 8.0
context after 3.6
partial context 4.0

Question 5

conclusion

Answer 5

“context before” group was the only one the made a clear difference. This can be explained by schema theory: the full context picture creates a mental representation which then influences the way information is encoded in memory. Idea units encountered in the passage are linked with the schema and in this way encoding is enhanced