Normative Studies of Sequence Strength and Scene Structure of 30 Scripts

Abstract

Subjective ratings of action-sequence strength and scene structure were collected for the 30 scripts documented by Galambos (1983).Subjects largely agreed on the location of the major scene boundaries.Ratings of action sequences indicated that some scripts possess stronger sequential properties than others, and if actions were from the same scene rather than from different scenes, the probability that subjects disagreed about their order was higher.We discuss the implications and importance of these results concerning modeling of script representation in memory.A script has been defined as a "predetermined, stereotyped sequence of actions that define a well-known situation" (Schank & Abelson, 1977, p. 41).During the past two decades, much research has been devoted to the functional aspect of scripts, using a variety of tasks such as reading (e.g.,