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Short-term memory for pictures seen once or twice

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Martini, Paolo and Maljkovic, Vera. (2009) Short-term memory for pictures seen once or twice. Vision Research, Vol.49 (No.13). pp. 1657-1667. ISSN 0042-6989

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2009.04.007

Abstract

The present study is concerned with the effects of exposure time, repetition, spacing and lag on old/new recognition memory for generic visual scenes presented in a RSVP paradigm. Early memory studies with verbal material found that knowledge of total exposure time at study is sufficient to accurately predict memory performance at test (the Total Time Hypothesis), irrespective of number of repetitions, spacing or lag. However, other studies have disputed such simple dependence of memory strength on total study time, demonstrating super-additive facilitatory effects of spacing and lag, as well as inhibitory effects, such as the Ranschburg effect, Repetition Blindness and the Attentional Blink. In the experimental conditions of the present study we find no evidence of either facilitatory or inhibitory effects: recognition memory for pictures in RSVP supports the Total Time Hypothesis. The data are consistent with an Unequal-Variance Signal Detection Theory model of memory that assumes the average strength and the variance of the familiarity of pictures both increase with total study time. The main conclusion is that the growth of visual scene familiarity with temporal exposure and repetition is a stochastically independent process.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions:	Faculty of Science > Psychology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Short-term memory -- Research, Visual perception -- Testing, Signal detection (Psychology), Random walks (Mathematics), Receiver operating characteristic curves
Journal or Publication Title:	Vision Research
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0042-6989
Date:	July 2009
Volume:	Vol.49
Number:	No.13
Page Range:	pp. 1657-1667
Identification Number:	10.1016/j.visres.2009.04.007
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
Funder:	National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH), Research Councils UK (RCUK)
Grant number:	R01-EY13155 (NIH)
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URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/2204