Brewer and Treyens (1981)

Question 1

Aim:

Answer 1

To investigate the role of schema in the encoding of episodic memories

Question 1

Participants

Answer 1

86 university psychology students

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

Participants were asked to wait into a room designed like an office for 35 secounds. The objects in the room were either congurent or incongurent with the schema of an office. Congurent being items associated with an office like books, pens, and papers, Incongurent being items not assciated with an office, like brick, hammer, toy skull etc. After 35 secounds the researcher had asked the participant to leave the room which they were then allocated to one of 3 conditions. Recall, drawing, and verbal recognition conditions.

Question 3

Results

Answer 3

The researchers found that in the recall and drawing conditions that the participants could only recall the objects that were congurent with their schema of an office, however in the verbal recognition condition, they were also able to remember objects which were incongurent with their schema of an office.

Question 4

What this study supports

Answer 4

This study supports schema theory as unless prompted by the researcher, participants were only able to recall objects which were within their mental framework of what is meant to be in an office. This provides evidence that in order to fill in gaps of information, that the schema is used.