Schema formation and stimulus-schema discrepancy: A basic unit and its properties

Research with 2-day-old neonates shows that they create mental representations-schemata-for their experiences and that this cognitive ability is hardwired and functional at birth. This research and studies with older infants indicate that both the formation and the expansion of schemata occur through moderate discrepancies, a concept that Jerome Kagan promoted conceptually and through his research. Discrepancy, as distinct from novelty, is insufficiently acknowledged in the literature on schema theory. The schema is both cognitive and affective and develops in unison in a curvilinear pattern with a gradual onset and exponential expansion. Optimal attentiveness and positive affect occur at the peak of formation and to moderate discrepancies. Redundancy beyond the optimal level produces decreasing interest and positive affect and increasing negative affect resulting in boredom and avoidance. These characteristics of schema development are difficult to study with older children and adults. Rumelhart (1980) regarded the schema as the "building block of cognition" and Kagan (2002) called its expansion through moderate discrepancies an "engine of change" implying widespread application for cognition and behavior throughout life. Kagan urged the search for structure (form) as opposed to function in cognition, and the curvilinear pattern of schema development and its characteristics, it is argued, is the structure he sought. Implications and select applications of schema development and expansion are presented. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).