A Schema Pointer Plus Tag Model of Prose Memory

Abstract

In Chapter 1 it was argued that comprehension consists of identifying and instantiating schemas that correspond to different knowledge domains and levels of structure. The schema is a critical theoretical construct in the proposed framework. What should a schema-based theory explain? A number of questions become important when a schema-based framework is seriously considered. How are various types of schemas cognitively represented? How do schemas guide comprehension? How does the comprehender construct prose representations by virtue of these schemas? These questions will be examined in later chapters. The goals in the present chapter are somewhat less ambitious. In this chapter we will examine how individuals represent and retrieve passages that are organized around some central, underlying schema. For example, consider a passage that describes a scripted activity, such as eating at a restaurant. How would such a passage be represented in memory? What retrieval processes are involved when the individual recalls or recognizes statements from such a passage?