In 1981, researchers Brewer and Treyens investigated how prior expectations influence visual memory. Participants were asked to wait individually in an office room for 35 seconds. The room contained typical office items (such as a desk, calendar, and typewriter) as well as highly unusual items (such as a skull and a bark basket). When later asked to write down everything they could remember from the room, participants significantly better recalled the typical office items and frequently wrote down expected office items that were not actually there, such as books.
Based on: Brewer, W. F., & Treyens, J. C. (1981). Role of schemata in memory for places. Cognitive Psychology, 13(2), 207–230.
Explain how this article links to the cognitive area of psychology.
135 exam-style questions on OCR A Level Psychology Areas, covering Social, Cognitive, Developmental, Biological, and Individual differences. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.