CHILDREN'S ORGANIZATION AND RECALL OF INFORMATION IN SCRIPTED NARRATIVES

JAYANTHI J MISTRY, Purdue University

Abstract

Research on real-world knowledge representations has demonstrated that descriptions of familiar routines and activities are structured in terms of general script organizations which influence the comprehension and recall of narratives. The present study was designed to examine the power of scripts to organize, and thereby facilitate recall, not only for events of scripted narratives, but also for objects embedded in the narratives. Sixty Kindergarten and 48 5th graders were presented lists of objects embedded in sets of either strongly or weakly scripted narratives. Since children are believed to organize, store and retrieve knowledge in script form (Nelson & Gruendel, 1981), and since strong scripts are more integrated, stereotyped and temporally-ordered, permitting expectations to be made about order of events (Schank & Abelson, 1977), it was expected that the contents of strongly-scripted narratives would be better recalled than those of weakly-scripted narratives which do not permit expectations of logical sequence. An ANOVA on recall scores revealed that older children remembered more objects and events than younger children, and that both age groups had better recall in the Strong Script condition than in the Weak Script condition. Clustering of object recall was assessed on the basis of grouping by taxonomic category and by story. The pattern of object recall findings was supported by the story clustering data, i.e. older children clustered more by story than younger children, and both age groups clustered more in the Strong Script condition.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

Developmental psychology

COinS