Anderson and Pichert (1978)

Aim: To investigate if schema processing influences both encoding and retrieval

Procedure: The participants were given one schema at the encoding stage and one schema at the retrieval stage, to see if they were influenced by the last schema when they had to recall the information. The participants heard a story that was based on 72 points. Half of the participants were asked to read the story for the point of view of a house-buyer and the other half from the point of view of a burglar. After a break, half of the participants were given a different schema, so the burglars switched to the buyers and vice versa. The other half were tested on their original schema again.

Results: The researchers found that the group of participants in the changed schema group were able to recall 7 percent more points on the second test than on the first one. Recall of points that were directly linked to the new schema increased by 10 per cent, whereas recall of points that were important to the previous schema declined. The researchers also found that the group which continued with the first schema actually remembered fewer ideas at the second trial.

Conclusion: The results indicated that schema processing has some effect at retrieval and encoding, because the new schema could only have influenced recall at the retrieval stage. The results also showed that people encoded information which was irrelevant to their prevailing schema, because the group that had the buyer schema at encoding were able to recall burglar information when they changed the schema.

Evaluation: The experiment was highly controlled in a laboratory, so there may be lack of ecological validity. However, the variable control enabled the researchers to establish a cause-and-effect relationship on how schemas affect different memory processes.