Abstract
Information stored in the human memory is organized in the form of mental schemata. In this paper we report on the Reproduction of Categorical Knowledge (ROCK) tool, a novel method for uncovering the structure of mental schemata of memorized information. The tool applies serial reproduction and hierarchical clustering to magnify memory bias and uncover inner configurations of fragmented information, using strength of association. We conducted behavioral experiments to test the validity of the tool. Experiment 1a demonstrated that the schematic structure of personality traits uncovered by the ROCK tool highly matched those described by the Big Five theory. This finding was replicated in Experiment 1b, focusing on a lower-level personality dimension extroversion with results aligned with personality theories. Experiment 2 assessed the ROCK tool using artificial stimuli with a pre-defined structure, created using a Markov chain model. Participants acquired the structure of the stimuli through an implicit learning procedure, and the ROCK tool was used to assess their level of recall. The results showed that the learned structure was identical to the designed structure of the stimuli. The results from both studies suggest that the ROCK tool could effectively reveal the structure of mental schemata.
Highlights
Memory is affected by knowledge and prior experience (Bartlett, 1932), and provides a means to explore people’s representation of ideas and opinions
The number of identified trait words was categorically allocated to each dimension and the word groups distinguished in the experiment generally fit the Big Five theory of personality; for example, broad interests – narrow interests was clustered into the dimension openness
Fifteen of the word groups were clustered into correct dimensions, some were clustered into a dimension different from McCrae and Costa’s (1992) model
Summary
Memory is affected by knowledge and prior experience (Bartlett, 1932), and provides a means to explore people’s representation of ideas and opinions. Memory is regarded as the active organization of past reactions (De Brigard et al, 2017), so that each time new information is encoded into previously related events, an integrated knowledge structure will be generated for later memory retrieval. This knowledge structure is called a schema (Piaget, 1923; Dimaggio, 1997). Memory advantages of schema-relevant, as compared to schema-irrelevant information, have been found for both recall and recognition. Relative to schema-irrelevant information, schema-relevant information leads to better free recall performance for story content or scenario actions (McDaniel, 1984; Gopher et al, 1985; Yussen et al, 1988; Geiselman and Callot, 1990), as well as better cued recall
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
