However, reliance on schematic knowledge can lead to memory error, hence causing an individual to remember the past as being more regular and orderly than the reality. In an experiment, participants who waited briefly in a professor’s office were asked, seconds later, to recall the contents in the office. One-third of the participants recalled seeing books in the office, even though none were present (Brewer ; Tureens, 1981). In this case the memory error is in line with participants’ expectation of what should be in a professors office.
Research shows that people have a very poor memory tort familiar everyday objects. As in the case of Nickering & Anderson (1979) who conducted a study where American subjects were asked to draw from memory what they would expect to find on each side of a United States penny _ The study showed that out of the eight critical features on the coin, on average only three were recalled accurately Furthermore out of the three features recalled they were often masticated. Similarly, Morris (1988) showed that only 15% of his British subjects were able to correctly recognize the correct appearance of a ten pence coin.
Furthermore Bakeries &: Biddable (1980) found that a campaign to inform radio listeners Of a new set Of wavelengths for radio broadcasts failed to a have the required effect. These experiments suggest that merely being exposed to something repeatedly does not sufficiently produce an accurate memory Of it. French & Richards (1993) demonstrated memory failures that could be attributed to schema-driven memory in an experiment where participants were required to draw a clock from memory. This experiment attempts not only to replicate but also extend the effects of schema. Driven memory as demonstrated by French & Richards (1993).
It is predicted that participants in the memory condition will be more likely than those in the copy condition to misrepresent also predicted that participants in the copy condition would more likely report incorrectly that there is something unusual about the representation of the number tour on the watch. Method Participants 90 participants took part in this experiment Participants were split into small groups, with each group being allocated to either the basic memory condition or the forewarned memory condition or the copy condition. Materials Participants were given pencils, erasers and papers. Design
A between-subject design was adopted which means the different participants were allocated to different groups or conditions. The independent variables, which are variable that can be manipulated, were the memory condition, the forewarned memory condition and the copy condition. The dependent variables, which are variables that can be measured, were accuracy in drawing the number four in Roman numerals correctly and number of participants that reported that there was something unusual about the number four on the watch face. Procedure The procedure for the Drawing Phase was identical to that of French and
Richards (1993): In first condition which is called Condition A, participants were told, “l am going to show you a picture Of a watch Which want you to examine visually for one minute. ” The picture of the watch was removed after one minute and participants were issued With pencils, erasers and papers. Then they were told “Please draw the watch as accurately as possible from memory. You have six minutes to do so. ” They were told after five minutes, they had one minute left. Participants were then asked to write on the back of their drawing anything they felt was unusual about the watch.
Drawings were then collected by the experimenter. In the second condition which is called Condition B, participants were told, “l am going to show you a picture of a watch which want you to examine visually tort one minute. Then I will ask you to draw it from memory, The watch itself will be removed. You will be allowed six minutes”. The picture tooth watch was removed after one minute and participants were issued with pencils, erasers and papers, Then they were told “Please draw the watch as accurately as possible from memory, You have six minutes to do so. They were told after five minutes, they ad one minute left. Participants were then asked to write on the back of their drawing anything they felt Vass unusual about the batch_ Drawings oeuvre then collected by the experimenter. In the third condition which is called Condition C, participants were issued with pencils, paper, and erasers. They were told, “l would like you to draw a picture of this watch. You have six The picture of the watch was kept in full view for the six-minute copying period, and they were told after five minutes, they had one minute left.
