Chapter 6, page 73
Ɣ When people activate a schema, they may use that schema to mistakenly recall information that was
not ever present. Colleen may recall that the text said that the men walked into the mall, even though
the text never said this.
Although schemas can lead to memory errors, they also help students learn more effectively when
the students activate appropriate schemas. When reading a passage about the American West, a student
who activates an appropriate “American West” schema will remember more events relevant to the schema,
and he can use the schema to draw sound inferences. For instance, when reading that “the family headed
home with their winter’s supplies,” a student who activates an appropriate schema about life in the Old
West will correctly infer that the family were likely on a horse-drawn wagon,” even though the text did not
say so explicitly.
Figure 6.2 shows a second grader’s drawing that illustrates the effects of schemas on memory. The
child, Evan, has gone with his class on a field trip to a farm. Evan already had a strong farm schema from
books he had read with his parents and from a toy farm set that he likes to play with. His schema has
helped him recall every single animal seen on the farm. But his schema also led to two errors. There were
ducks on the farm that the class saw, but Evan distorted what he saw, drawing chickens instead of ducks
because he strongly expected to see chickens rather than ducks. He also drew horses in his picture, even
though there were no horses on the farm, thus recalling information that was not present. Thus, schemas
facilitate memory, but they also can cause distortions in memory (Brewer & Nakamura, 1984).
Figure 6.1:
Evan’s drawing of what he saw at the farm
The left panel shows a photograph of a farm.
The caption says: This is the farm that Evan’s class visited. The animals seen by the children were:
ducks, goats, hogs, cows, cats, and a dog.
The right panel shows a child’s drawing of a farm house, a tree, and the following animals: chickens,
goats, pigs, cows, and a cat.