In cognitive psychology, what are schemas?

Schemas are cognitive frameworks that help individuals organize and interpret information in their environment. They function as mental structures that represent knowledge about a concept, event, or object, allowing people to categorize and make sense of new information based on their prior experiences and understanding. This organizing function helps streamline cognitive processing, enabling quicker retrieval of information and more efficient problem-solving.

When new information is encountered, schemas assist in determining how to interpret it, often guiding expectations and influencing behavior. For example, a person has a schema for "dinner," which includes knowledge about what typically happens during dinner, such as eating, socializing, and food types. When presented with an unfamiliar dinner scenario, this schema can be invoked to make sense of the situation and facilitate responses.

While the other options touch on elements related to cognition, they do not capture the specific role of schemas as organizational frameworks. For instance, cognitive biases pertain to systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, memory structures focus solely on the retention and recall aspects of memory, and logical reasoning systems center on the process of drawing conclusions or inferences. Schemas distinctly serve the purpose of organizing existing knowledge to enhance understanding and information processing.