The Effect of Schematic Context on Mental Imagery

Abstract

A strong relationship exists between a word's power to arouse imagery and how memorable the word is. Although researchers have reported this relationship to be linear in nature, it can be U-shaped: Words rated as either easy or difficult in arousing an image can be recalled very well, while words rated as neutral are recalled poorly. A U-shaped function seems to occur when people image words in a schematic context. In this study, college students were asked to suppose that they were at a park (the schematic context) while rating words for the ease with which they aroused images. Students in a control condition also rated the words for ease of image arousal, but they were told nothing about a park or any other schema. In two other similar conditions, students rated words for the ease of arousing memories rather than images. After rating the words students recalled them. Results were generally consistent with the U-shaped function, suggesting schema involvement. That is, words rated as easy were consistent with the schema, which presumably aided their recall. Words rated as difficult were inconsistent with the schema, making them distinctive and memorable. Intermediate words, neither aided by the schema nor distinctive, were poorly recalled. Other results showed that rating words for imagery rather than memory arousal, produced higher ratings and better recall. Perhaps memory ratings constrain the person to consider only past events, while imagery ratings allow additional considerations.