Brewer and Treyens Study (cognitive)

Question 1

Brewer and Treyens Study (cognitive)

Aim

Answer 1

To investigate the role of schema in encoding and retrieval of an episodic memory.

Question 2

Brewer and Treyens Study (cognitive)

Procedure

Answer 2

• approx 90 univerity psych students
• seated in a room that was made to look like an office
  
  • office consisted of typical & atypical objects, some ommited objects too
• all chairs in the room except or one had objects on them, forcing a particular vantage point
• participants “waited” in the iffice for approx 35 seconds, then the participnats were called into another room and asked what they remembered from the office
• 3 groups:
  
  • Written recall: asked to write a description of objects in the office, including location, shape, size and colour. then given a recognition test where thery were given a bookletcontaing objects and they were needed to rate aeach iten for how sure they could remember them
  • Drawing recall: given a map of the office and asked to draw in the objects they were able to recall
  • Verbal recognition only: were read a list of objects and asked if they were n the office or not

Question 3

Brewer and Treyens Study (cognitive)

Findings

Answer 3

• “Typical items” were more often recalled and “atypical” items were not often recalled in free recall
• When asked to select items on the list, they were most likely to identify “atypical” items
• Also had a higher rate of identifying objects which were schema-typical but not in the room in the verbal recognition task (a distortion)
• In both free recall conditions, participants tended to change the nature of the objects to match their schema.
• Appears that schema played a role in memory of objects in the office
• Supports the idea that schema can influence episodic memory and may cause memories to be inaccurate

Question 4

Brewer and Treyens Study (cognitive)

Strengths

Answer 4

• research produced quantitive and qualitative data in order o procvide rcher understanding of the role of schema
• No way to verify the schema of the participants prior to the experiment, but researchers did a pilot study by using a questionnaire with students to determine schema-consistent objects

Question 5

Brewer and Treyens Study (cognitive)

Limitations

Answer 5

• Social desirability effect - May have played a significant role

Question 6

Brewer and Treyens Study (cognitive)

Ethical Considerations

Answer 6

• deception used to increase the internal validity of the study

Question 7

Brewer and Treyens Study (cognitive)

Research Method

Answer 7

Experiment