WHY IS COIN HEAD ORIENTATION MISREMEMBERED - TESTS OF SCHEMA INTERFERENCE AND HANDEDNESS HYPOTHESES

Three experiments were conducted to investigate memory for head direct ion on Canadian coins. In Expt 1, 71 per cent of 125 subjects reported wrongly that the Queen's head faces to their left, replicating previo us claims of significant misremembering, and contradicting the specifi c interference hypotheses' that, responses are guided by knowledge of coins or postage stamps. In Expts 2 and with 100 and 126 subjects resp ectively, a majority (59 per cent) of left-handers correctly identifie d coin head orientation whereas a majority (62 per cent) of right-hand ers were incorrect. However, the instruction to imagine the coin in th e left or right hand had no effect on performance. Although it is sugg ested that the handedness findings warrant further attention, it is co ncluded that the data are generally consistent with the hypothesis tha t subjects base their judgements of coin head direction on a memory sc hema that favours heads facing left.