What is a schema?

• A. The brain's filing cabinet
• B. An organized pattern of thought that guides information processing
• C. A memory trace
• D. Unconscious drives

Answer: (B)

A schema is an organized pattern of thought that guides information processing. These mental frameworks help us categorize knowledge, set expectations, and determine what we notice, attend to, and remember. For example, a restaurant schema includes greeting, seating, menus, ordering, eating, paying, and leaving. This structure lets us process new experiences quickly by predicting what will happen next, but it can also shape memory so we recall details that fit the pattern even if they weren’t present. Schemas can be updated when new information doesn’t fit, through accommodation, or applied to new situations through assimilation. This idea is not merely a memory trace or a static filing system, and it isn’t about unconscious drives.