The effect of cultural script knowledge on memory for stories over time

Abstract

Two studies examined the effect of culturally based scripts and associated knowledge on memory for stories about people performing common activities. North American subjects read four stories about people riding a city bus, purchasing a record album, eating breakfast, and buying travel tickets. There were two versions of each story, one consistent with a North American cultural script and one with some foreign script unfamiliar to the subjects. Memory for the stories was tested at varying intervals, from immediately after reading the story to one week later. Results showed that the foreign stories were mis‐remembered to have been more like the American stories than they in fact were and that this effect was most strongly observed after one week. Such findings argue that any theory of the effects of script‐based knowledge on memory must examine different intervals of delay and consider the cultural origin of that knowledge.