Abstract
Newly learned information that is congruent with a preexisting schema is often better remembered than information that is incongruent. This schema effect on memory has previously been associated to more efficient encoding and consolidation mechanisms. However, this effect is not always consistently supported in the literature, with differential schema effects reported for different types of memory, different retrieval cues, and the possibility of time-dependent effects related to consolidation processes. To examine these effects more directly, we tested participants on two different types of memory (item recognition and associative memory) for newly encoded visuo-tactile associations at different study-test intervals, thus probing memory retrieval accuracy for schema-congruent and schema-incongruent items and associations at different time points (t = 0, t = 20, and t = 48 hours) after encoding. Results show that the schema effect on visual item recognition only arises after consolidation, while the schema effect on associative memory is already apparent immediately after encoding, persisting, but getting smaller over time. These findings give further insight into different factors influencing the schema effect on memory, and can inform future schema experiments by illustrating the value of considering effects of memory type and consolidation on schema-modulated retrieval.
Highlights
Information that is congruent with prior knowledge is often found to be better remembered than incongruent information [1,2]
Reaction times did not show any differences for either group (group 1: t(22) = .44, p = n.s., group 2: t(22) = .52, p = n.s., group 3: t(22) = .12, p = n.s.), or between-groups (congruent: F(1,66) = .31, p = n.s., incongruent: F(1,66) = .36, p = n.s., not in any post-hoc analyses). These results show a delay x congruency interaction for item recognition memory scores based on a schema effect that arises only after a delay that allows consolidation processes to take place
The results reported here show that encoding and consolidation differentially affect the schema effect on memory for different memory types
Summary
Information that is congruent with prior knowledge (or a schema) is often found to be better remembered than incongruent information [1,2] This congruency effect or schema effect on memory is suggested to be dependent on mnemonic mechanisms [3,4], such as differentially efficient encoding [5,6] and consolidation processes [7,8,9]. As learning of congruent information does not always consistently lead to better memory performance than incongruently learned information, it was suggested that the schema effect might be dependent on various additional factors, such as how a memory is cued and after which delay it is measured [4,11] These additional factors might account for the paradoxical effects of a schema on memory performance that are mentioned above
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