Memory Discrimination for Information Typical or Atypical of Person Schemata

In three different experiments using general role schemata (e.g., “man of the world”), occupational schemata (e.g., “truck driver”), and person types (e.g., “aggressive male”), subjects showed higher memory discrimination for items that were atypical of a schema than for items that were typical. At the same time, subjects also showed more false recognitions for typical items. Ratings of the degree to which items were typical of a schema proved to be a stronger predictor of false-recognition rates than did interitem similarity. A comparison was also made of conditions in which schemata were explicitly labeled and those in which subjects themselves induced the schemata. This comparison indicated that explicit labeling led to superior memory discrimination in the case of occupational schemata, but not in the case of person types. Results are interpreted as supporting a “schema pointer plus tag” (SP + T) model of person memory, in contrast to a “filtering” interpretation of schema processing. These results also underline the importance of collecting measures of memory discrimination in the study of person memory.