Abstract
Some researchers reported that subjects showed higher memory performance for atypical activities than scripted activities. This study aimed at determining which was more valid to explain such results, a “scriptpointer plus tag (SP+T)” hypothesis or a “resource allocation” explanation. Sixty undergraduate students listened to six scripted stories, three of which contained atypical activity in the middle of the serial position. After a 30 minite intervening task, they were unexpectedly asked to recall the stories. The SP+T hypothesis posits conceptual representation, and it predicts that the atypical activity is recalled at higher probability than the scripted activities in a story. On the other hand, the resource allocation explanation attributes memory performance to the amount of resources allocated at input, and it predicts that not only the atypical activity but also the scripted activity presented immediately after the atypical activity in a serial position is recalled at higher probability than the other scripted activities. The results were consistent with the SP+T hypothesis.
