Schema & Working memory model

Which of the following is not true about schema?

• We continue to create new schema throughout our lives.

• There is biological support that our brain categorizes information int what could be called "schema."

• Schema play a role in what we remember and what we fail to remember.

• Schema are observable by using modern brain scanning technology.

Which of the following was not one of the findings of Bartlett's War with Ghosts study?

• There were many extra details added to the story, making the story longer than the original.

• The story remained coherent - that is, it had a clear plot.

• Unimportant details were left out of the story.

• Culturally unfamiliar details were changed to things that were more culturally relevant to the British participants.

When you travel to foreign country and you see a type of shower that you have never seen before, you tend to use your schema, which are based on past experience, to figure out how to use it. But when this fails, you go to the reception and someone comes up to show you how to use this new type of shower. Once you have seen how to use this new type of shower, you add it to your shower schema. What do psychologists call this process?

• Confabulation

• Accommodation

• Assimilation

• Reconstructive memory

On a trip to a foreign country, you stand in the entrance to a restaurant waiting to be seated. No one pays any attention to you. After several minutes, you start to get a bit upset and ready to leave, when you notice one of the waiters walking past. You ask if someone is going to seat you - and he says, you can just sit anywhere. How would a cognitive psychologist explain what just happened?

• You are a cognitive miser. You should have read a guide book about the restaurant first.

• You had rationalized that since you were a tourist, you would be noticed and helped.

• You were following a script for what to expect in a restaurant which did not apply in this culture.

• Emotion had interfered with your decision making processes.

What was the independent variable that was systematically manipulated in Bartlett's War with Ghosts study?

• The culture of the participants

• The amount of time between recalls

• The method of reproduction

• The length of the text

Why can we say that Bartlett's War with Ghosts study has low reliability?

• The procedure was not properly standardized.

• He only used British participants.

• We cannot actually observe schemas actively processing information in the brain.

• Many people dropped out of the study, so there was not enough data.

Which of the following is not a finding of Brewer & Treyens (1981) study?

• Participants remembered objects that they expected to find in an office.

• Participants mistakenly remembered objects that they would expect to find in an office, but were actually not there.

• Participants remembered objects that they would not expect to find in an office.

• Participants changed the location, shape or nature of objects in order to fit their schema - for example, the notebook was on the desk and not on the chair.

What does it mean when we say that a theory is robust?

• That it can be tested under laboratory conditions.

• It only applies to human behaviour - not to animals.

• The variables are clearly defined and studies can be replicated.

• It can be applied in a number of different situations.