Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

arrow_back_ios_new
MENTAL MODEL · M5053

Boundary Extension

Boundary Extension
Learn & MetacognitionHigh supportMemory Psychology
Included
account_tree

Updated 2026-08-03

Loading revision record…

INTRODUCTION

English translation pending.

CORE DEFINITION

Boundary extension is a false-memory effect in memory psychology. When someone views a photograph or scene and later recalls it, they tend to remember a wider field of view than was actually present, confidently including edges and surroundings that were never shown. The mind uses its schema of what such a scene normally looks like to complete the picture beyond the frame. The practical warning applies to eyewitness testimony and any post-mortem review: the vivid feeling of having seen the whole scene is itself unreliable.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Seen versus inferred: Separate what was actually in the frame from what the schema supplied around it. - Record correction: Check a memory against a photo, log, or recording before trusting its boundaries. - Confidence discount: Treat vivid panorama recall as a construction and weight it lower in any account.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Memory is not a recording but a reconstruction, and reconstructing a scene means activating the schema that usually goes with it. The schema supplies the probable surroundings of a kitchen, a street, or a face, and those supplied details are stitched into recall without any label marking them as inferred. The result is a memory that feels complete and therefore feels certain, even though part of it was never seen.

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/1

Practice this model in one real situation:

Check to track your progress (stored locally)
Learning progress0%
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more

Source support: Explicit

  • link
    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_extensionZH · Explicit
    verified

RELATED MODELS

Related model

Von Restorff Effect

The von Restorff effect, also known as the isolation effect, predicts that when multiple homogeneous stimuli are presented, the stimulus that differs from the rest is more likely to be remembered. The theory was coined by German psychiatrist and pediatrician Hedwig von Restorff (1906–1962), who, in …

arrow_forwardRelated model

Misinformation Effect

The misinformation effect occurs when a person's recall of episodic memories becomes less accurate because of post-event information. The misinformation effect has been studied since the mid-1970s. Elizabeth Loftus is one of the most influential researchers in the field. One theory is that original ...

arrow_forwardRelated model

Self-Reference Effect

The self-reference effect is a tendency for people to encode information differently depending on whether they are implicated in the information. When people are asked to remember information when it is related in some way to themselves, the recall rate can be improved.

arrow_forward