Long-term retention of a theatrical script by repertory actors: the role of context. |
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Authors: | Henk G Schmidt Henny P A Boshuizen Gerard J P van Breukelen |
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Affiliation: | Department of Psychology, Erasmus University, Rotterdam. schmidt@fsw.eur.nl |
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Abstract: | Four actors were requested to perform Sartre's No Exit after a retention interval of more than 5 months. Their recall of the play was studied either with the spatial and visual contextual cues normally available during a performance or without such cues. Total recall was still considerable, equalling 85%. The number of paraphrases of, and inferences on, the original text was however quite large (32%), suggesting that the actors had learned their lines according to their meaning rather than as a result of rote memorisation. The context manipulation showed that actors' recall is facilitated by the availability of spatial-visual information, but only to a limited extent. The relative importance of textual and contextual cues in the long-term retention of a play is discussed. |
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