Abstract
Previous studies of memory for routine events (e.g., catching a plane) have pointed out two ways such events might be organized. Schank and Abelson's script theory has emphasized the temporal sequence of events, while story grammars have focused on events' hierarchical structure or centrality. The present experiments compare predictions from these two theories. In Experiment 1, subjects agreed in their rankings of both sequence and centrality. Experiments 2 and 3 demonstrated that centrality, but not sequence, influenced time to decide whether an episode belongs to a routine. In Experiment 4, sequence alone affected decisions about which of two episodes occurred earlier; however, the sequence effect was opposite that predicted by script theory. These findings suggest that sequence and centrality information may be computed as needed, rather than precompiled.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 260-281 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 1982 |
Funding
We thank Robert Abelson, John Black, Gordon Bower, Bill Brewer, Nancy DeFrancesco, Donald Norman, Stephen Schacht, Steven Shevell, Edward Smith, and Tom Trabasso for their advice and assistance. We also acknowledge the support of U.S. Public Health Service Grants K02MH00236 and 5S07RR0702914 and of National Science Foundation Grant BNS80-14131. Correspondence should be addressed to Lance Rips, Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Chicago, 5848 South University Avenue, Chicago, I11. 60637. James Galambos's current address is Computer Science Department, Yale University, New Haven, Conn. 06520.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine