Why did participants' prior assumptions influence their recollection of an ambiguous passage regarding a character named Nancy?

Explanation

This phenomenon illustrates schema theory, where individuals use pre-existing knowledge structures (schemas) to interpret new information. When a passage is ambiguous, participants fill in the gaps using their own biases or expectations about the situation. These schemas act as a filter, causing the individual to encode and later recall information that is consistent with their pre-existing beliefs rather than the objective details of the passage.