International Baccalaureate
Psychology Higher Level Internal Assessment
An Experiment on the Effect of Schema on
Memory Processing
Personal Code: gsk183
Date of Submission: 12/1/2018
Word Count: 1988
,Abstract
The current research conducted is a partial replication of Bransford and Johnson’s (1972)
study, aiming to test whether schema would affect our memorizing performance. It was
hypothesized that participants would have a higher recall rate when the title of the passage was
given, suggesting that schema has a positive effect on memory recall. An independent measures
design was used and 20 grade 9 students were selected through opportunity sampling. Participants
listened to a passage under two conditions: the ‘no title’ and ‘title before’ condition. They were
asked to recall the passage and the results obtained were then compared. The independent variable
of the experiment is whether participants were told the title or not of the passage before listening
to it. The dependent variable is the number of ideas recalled in the passage. The descriptive
statistics showed that participants in the ‘title before’ condition had a higher mean number of ideas
recalled. The inferential statistics obtained were significant at a level of significance of 0.01,
rejecting the null hypothesis. It is concluded that knowing the title of a particular context has a
positive effect on memory recall.
Word Count: 186
2
, Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 4
Method ................................................................................................................................ 7
Design................................................................................................................................................ 7
Participants ........................................................................................................................................ 8
Materials ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Procedure ........................................................................................................................................... 9
Results ............................................................................................................................... 10
Descriptive Statistics ........................................................................................................................ 10
Inferential Statistics .......................................................................................................................... 11
Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 12
References ......................................................................................................................... 14
Appendices .............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Appendix I Informed Consent Form ................................................................................................. 15
Appendix II PowerPoint Slides ......................................................................................................... 16
Appendix III Standardized instructions ............................................................................................. 19
Appendix IV Passage ....................................................................................................................... 20
Appendix V Answer Sheet ............................................................................................................... 21
Appendix VI Marking Scheme ......................................................................................................... 22
Appendix VII Debriefing Notes ........................................................................................................ 23
Appendix VIII Raw Data .................................................................................................................. 24
Appendix IX Mann Whitney Calculations ........................................................................................ 25
3
Psychology Higher Level Internal Assessment
An Experiment on the Effect of Schema on
Memory Processing
Personal Code: gsk183
Date of Submission: 12/1/2018
Word Count: 1988
,Abstract
The current research conducted is a partial replication of Bransford and Johnson’s (1972)
study, aiming to test whether schema would affect our memorizing performance. It was
hypothesized that participants would have a higher recall rate when the title of the passage was
given, suggesting that schema has a positive effect on memory recall. An independent measures
design was used and 20 grade 9 students were selected through opportunity sampling. Participants
listened to a passage under two conditions: the ‘no title’ and ‘title before’ condition. They were
asked to recall the passage and the results obtained were then compared. The independent variable
of the experiment is whether participants were told the title or not of the passage before listening
to it. The dependent variable is the number of ideas recalled in the passage. The descriptive
statistics showed that participants in the ‘title before’ condition had a higher mean number of ideas
recalled. The inferential statistics obtained were significant at a level of significance of 0.01,
rejecting the null hypothesis. It is concluded that knowing the title of a particular context has a
positive effect on memory recall.
Word Count: 186
2
, Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 4
Method ................................................................................................................................ 7
Design................................................................................................................................................ 7
Participants ........................................................................................................................................ 8
Materials ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Procedure ........................................................................................................................................... 9
Results ............................................................................................................................... 10
Descriptive Statistics ........................................................................................................................ 10
Inferential Statistics .......................................................................................................................... 11
Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 12
References ......................................................................................................................... 14
Appendices .............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Appendix I Informed Consent Form ................................................................................................. 15
Appendix II PowerPoint Slides ......................................................................................................... 16
Appendix III Standardized instructions ............................................................................................. 19
Appendix IV Passage ....................................................................................................................... 20
Appendix V Answer Sheet ............................................................................................................... 21
Appendix VI Marking Scheme ......................................................................................................... 22
Appendix VII Debriefing Notes ........................................................................................................ 23
Appendix VIII Raw Data .................................................................................................................. 24
Appendix IX Mann Whitney Calculations ........................................................................................ 25
3
