The effects of conflicting schemas on recall

Abstract

The present experiment hypothesized that: a) the conflict of schemas would be greater (means that recall would be decreased) as the participant activated together (through reading and listening) word lists from two different schemas, than when they activated word lists from only one schema, and b) that participant would show greater reconstruction phenomenon in the recall face when activated together (through reading and listening) word lists from two different schemas than when they activated word lists from one schema. In the present experiment 36 undergraduate students from the American College of Greece were randomly selected to participate. Their participation was voluntary. One third (n=12) read and listened school schema simultaneously, one third (n=12) read and listened super market schema simultaneously and one third (n=12) read school schema and listened super market schema simultaneously. Results showed that the conflict of schemas would be greater as the participant activated together word lists from two different schemas. In addition, opposing to the second part of original hypothesis, the participants wouldn’t show greater reconstruction phenomenon in the recall face when activated together word lists from two different schemas.