The effects of schema on recognition memories and subjective experiences for actions and objects

We examined how the schema affects recognition memories and subjective experiences for actions and objects. First, participants watched consecutive slides that described a man in the kitchen. In the slides, the man performed schema-consistent actions and schema-inconsistent actions, and schema-consistent objects and schema-inconsistent objects were left in the kitchen space. After watching the slides, participants completed a recognition test, a remember/know test, and a Perception/Thought/Emotion/Context questionnaire. For objects, the discrimination between targets and distracters was more accurate for schema-inconsistent items than for schema-consistent items, owing to perceptual, thought, and emotional recollections for schema-inconsistent object targets. For actions, schema-consistent targets were more frequently recognized than schema-inconsistent targets, with more remember judgments based on perceptual and contextual recollections. While item-specific information of schema-inconsistent targets could be elaborated for objects, the perceptual details and the contextual relationship of schema-consistent targets could be elaborated for actions. We also found less false recognitions for schema-consistent action distracters than for schema-consistent object distracters. The retrieval of the perceptual details of schema-consistent action targets could prevent false recognitions for schema-consistent action distracters.