Authors:

Eldridge, M., Barnard, P. & Bekerian, D.

Reference:

Year of publication:

1994

CBU number:

2965

Abstract:

This study examines how daily schemas influence retrospective memory of work activities. We interviewed people about their typical work activities, and tested their recall of activities from the previous day and from one day in the previous week. There were four major findings: (1) people recalled fewer activities from last week than from yesterday; (2) those activities that were recalled from last week tended to be those that were in the daily schema; (3) the strategies and patterns of recall over the two time periods differed dramatically; and (4) people with highly elaborated daily schemas were more successful at recalling activities from last week than were people with poorly elaborated schemas. The results of this study have several real practical implications for the design of technology to support retrospective memory.