serial reproduction

n. A technique for studying memory in which a person is read or told a short story or sees a picture and then tells the story to or draws it from memory for a second person, who then tells or draws it for a third person, and so on. At the end of the sequence, errors in the retelling or redrawing are recorded and analyzed. Usually some aspects of the story or picture are overemphasized while others are omitted and some elements simply added.