No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
The picture superiority effect in associative recognition
Abstract
The picture superiority effect has been well documented in tests of item recognition and recall. The present study shows that the picture superiority effect extends to associative recognition. In three experiments, students studied lists consisting of random pairs of concrete words and pairs of line drawings; then they discriminated between intact (old) and rearranged (new) pairs of words and pictures at test. The discrimination advantage for pictures over words was seen in a greater hit rate for intact picture pairs, but there was no difference in the false alarm rates for the two types of stimuli. That is, there was no mirror effect. The same pattern of results was found when the test pairs consisted of the verbal labels of the pictures shown at study (Experiment 4), indicating that the hit rate advantage for picture pairs represents an encoding benefit. The results have implications for theories of the picture superiority effect and models of associative recognition.
... Of these, Instagram has 2 billion monthly users, making it the fourth most widely used social network in the world, representing 28% of the global population aged 18 and older (We Are Social & Meltwater 2024). Studies have shown that images have a higher cognitive processing capacity than text (Hockley 2008;Bergman et al. 2022), suggesting that technologies facilitating image sharing may be more effective in fostering social networks, building identities, and engaging with others (Ballew et al. 2015). Shared images have the potential to stimulate people emotionally and create a connection with the image being shared (Bergman et al. 2022). ...
... Given that images have a greater cognitive processing capacity than text (Hockley 2008), combining images with targeted texts (Bergman et al. 2022) about endangered species could allow millions of people to be made aware of the beauty and fragility of certain organisms. However, these species have not been the focus of the analyzed profiles, supporting our claim that endangered species are generally underrepresented in media photos. ...
Social media posts can enhance public understanding of biodiversity by promoting species discovery and raising awareness of its importance. Here, we evaluated the representativeness of amphibian and reptile species published on Instagram profiles and discussed the role of social media in publicizing these animals. We analyzed Brazilian profiles that regularly published photos of herpetofauna on Instagram between 2015 and 2021. We identified 1,739 images of 597 amphibian species, mostly anurans, and 2,036 images of 532 reptile species, mostly squamates. The number of images is strongly correlated with the number of amphibian and reptile species featured on Instagram profiles. The species featured in the posts tended to reflect the actual richness of the herpetofauna from Brazil, with a tendency toward species described in earlier taxonomic studies. Endemic and native Brazilian species appeared more frequently, most of which were not classified as threatened. As a result, endangered species were underrepresented in posts, indicating the need for more content highlighting their conservation. These actions, however, should be approached cautiously due to the risks of inadvertently exposing species targeted by the illegal wildlife trade. Finally, we discuss strategies to optimize social media posts to ensure they fulfill their potential in supporting biodiversity conservation.
... Kirkpatrick's and Calkins's work foreshadowed research on the picture-superiority effect-the finding that, in most situations, pictures have a mnemonic advantage over words (for a review, see Madigan, 1983). This phenomenon has been replicated across a number of memory paradigms including free recall (Bevan & Steger, 1971;Bousfield et al., 1957;Paivio & Csapo, 1969, 1973Paivio et al., 1968), serial recall (Nelson et al., 1977), cued recall (Weldon & Coyote, 1996;Weldon et al., 1989), item recognition (Shepard, 1967;Snodgrass & Asiaghi, 1977;Snodgrass et al., 1974), associative recognition (Hockley, 2008;Hockley & Bancroft, 2011), and paired-associate learning (Nelson & Reed, 1976;Paivio & Yarmey, 1966;Wicker, 1970), to name only a few. The picture-superiority effect has been observed across the lifespan, including in young children (Borges et al., 1977;Cole et al., 1971), cognitively healthy nonagenarians (Cherry et al., 2012), and older adults with Alzheimer's disease or mild-cognitive impairment (Ally et al., 2009). ...
... In Experiment 1, we replicated Hockley's (2008) finding of a picture-superiority effect in associative recognition. Intact colour-picture pairs were better discriminated from rearranged colour-picture pairs than intact black-word pairs were from rearranged black-word pairs. ...
The picture-superiority effect is the finding that memory for pictures exceeds memory for words on many tasks. According to dual-coding theory, the pictures’ mnemonic advantage stems from their greater likelihood to be labelled relative to words being imaged. In contrast, distinctiveness accounts hold that the greater variability of pictures compared to words leads to their mnemonic advantage. Ensor, Surprenant, et al. tested these accounts in old/new and forced-choice recognition by increasing the physical distinctiveness of words and decreasing the physical distinctiveness of pictures. Half of the words were presented in standard black font, and half were presented in varying font styles, font sizes, font colours, and capitalisation patterns. Half of the pictures were presented in black and white and half in colour. Consistent with the physical-distinctiveness account but contrary to the dual-coding account, the picture-superiority effect was eliminated when comparing the black-and-white pictures to distinctive words. In the present study, we extend Ensor, Surprenant, et al.’s results to associative recognition and free recall. Results were consistent with physical distinctiveness. We argue that dual-coding theory is no longer a viable explanation of the picture-superiority effect.
... Yet numerous psychological studies suggest that images may provide an especially potent medium for the transmission of gender bias. Research into the 'picture superiority effect' shows that images are often more memorable and emotionally evocative than text 9,10,23 , and may implicitly underlie the comprehension of text itself 11,12,24,25 . Images also differ from text in the salience with which they present demographic information. ...
... (Supplementary Figs.[8][9][10]. This inequality even persists when searching explicitly for 'female' and 'male' images of each category in Google(Supplementary Figs. 1 and 2). ...
Each year, people spend less time reading and more time viewing images¹, which are proliferating online2–4. Images from platforms such as Google and Wikipedia are downloaded by millions every day2,5,6, and millions more are interacting through social media, such as Instagram and TikTok, that primarily consist of exchanging visual content. In parallel, news agencies and digital advertisers are increasingly capturing attention online through the use of images7,8, which people process more quickly, implicitly and memorably than text9–12. Here we show that the rise of images online significantly exacerbates gender bias, both in its statistical prevalence and its psychological impact. We examine the gender associations of 3,495 social categories (such as ‘nurse’ or ‘banker’) in more than one million images from Google, Wikipedia and Internet Movie Database (IMDb), and in billions of words from these platforms. We find that gender bias is consistently more prevalent in images than text for both female- and male-typed categories. We also show that the documented underrepresentation of women online13–18 is substantially worse in images than in text, public opinion and US census data. Finally, we conducted a nationally representative, preregistered experiment that shows that googling for images rather than textual descriptions of occupations amplifies gender bias in participants’ beliefs. Addressing the societal effect of this large-scale shift towards visual communication will be essential for developing a fair and inclusive future for the internet.
... Bill has published studies on a range of memory phenomena including intentional forgetting (Ahmad et al., 2019;Bancroft et al., 2013;Burgess et al., 2017;Hockley et al., 2016;Montagliani & Hockley, 2019;Tan et al., 2020), the mirror effect (Hockley, 1994;Hockley & Niewiadomski, 2007;Neath et al., 2021), the picturesuperiority effect (Ensor et al., 2019;Hockley, 2008b;Hockley & Bancroft, 2011), context-dependent memory (Hockley, 2008a;Hockley & Bancroft, 2015;Hockley et al., 2012), response times (Hockley, 1984;Hockley & Murdock, 1987), and associative memory (Hockley, 1992;Hockley & Bancroft, 2011;Hockley & Cristi, 1996). Despite the range of topics, his work in all those domains exhibits a number of characteristic properties, including elegant experimental design, a characteristically encyclopaedic engagement with the literature, a keen eye for theoretical implications and development, and a preternatural and admirable dedication to empirical precision and logical clarity. ...
... Finally, the picturesuperiority effect has also been attributed to a semantic-processing advantage for pictures (Hamilton & Geraci, 2006). Hockley (2008b) brought clarity and focus to the issue by (a) demonstrating that the picture-superiority effect occurs in associative recognition and (b) further clarifying the picturesuperiority effect's theoretical landscape. In those studies, he had participants study pairs of pictures and words. ...
A Festschrift (the German word standing for feast-script) is a collection of essays to celebrate the significant contributions of a scholar to their respective field of studies. Here, it is our honour to introduce this special issue of the Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology as a Festschrift for William (Bill) E. Hockley to celebrate his rich scholarly contributions to the field of cognitive psychology, specifically on human memory. The diversity of articles in this issue highlights the depth and range of Bill's contributions to the study of human memory and cognition. We congratulate Bill on a successful career and thank him for his dedicated service to science and academia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... Images have been found to target a deeper level of cognitive processing than text, as their interpretation relies on emotion, memory, and familiarity with the subject matter [17,18]. In particular, the emotions triggered when viewing images can lead to respondents paying close attention to them and remembering their content [17]. ...
... Images have been found to target a deeper level of cognitive processing than text, as their interpretation relies on emotion, memory, and familiarity with the subject matter [17,18]. In particular, the emotions triggered when viewing images can lead to respondents paying close attention to them and remembering their content [17]. However, their interpretation can vary across different audiences, as there is no precise syntax to send a direct and targeted message [19,20]. ...
Simple Summary
Although images are more effective than words at communicating important conservation ideas, different aspects of these images have been demonstrated to have positive and negative effects on viewers’ views towards wildlife and towards the organisation that posted the image. The most prevalent and engaging characteristics of wildlife photographs posted to Instagram in 2020 and 2021 were assessed using a quantitative content analysis, with Australian organisations as a case study. The findings show that conservation organisations can confidently share and post photographs that promote positive attitudes towards wildlife and the conservation organisation, and that Instagram posts can feature and promote a wide range of currently underrepresented species.
Abstract
Wildlife populations are vanishing at alarmingly high rates. This issue is being addressed by organisations around the world and when utilizing social media sites like Instagram, images are potentially more powerful than words at conveying crucial conservation messages and garnering public support. However, different elements of these images have been shown to potentially have either positive or negative effects on viewers’ attitudes and behaviours towards wildlife and towards the organisation posting the image. This study used a quantitative content analysis to assess the most common and engaging elements of wildlife images posted to Instagram in 2020 and 2021, using Australian conservation organisations as a case study. A total of 670 wildlife images from the Instagram accounts of 160 conservation organisation Instagram accounts were coded and analysed. Results highlight that the most common image elements used included natural backgrounds, mammals and birds, and no human presence. In addition, it was found that the taxon of the animal featured in a post and the presence of humans did not impact engagement levels. Our findings highlight the potential for Instagram posts to feature and promote a wide range of currently underrepresented species, and for conservation organisations to be able to confidently share and post images that promote positive perceptions of both the animal and the conservation organisation.
... Even with only a fleeting exposure to the stimulus, visuals enable easy access to the perception process and help readers interpret the textual information (Coleman, 2010;Messaris and Abraham, 2001). As the human brain perceives, stores, and processes visual and textual information with distinct mechanisms in the cerebral cortex (Paivio, 1989), the information conveyed through photographs is often more easily remembered than textual information, leaving a lasting impression that influences attitudes and behaviors over time (Childers and Houston, 1984;Hockley, 2008). In addition, photographs are particularly suitable for arousing emotions (Barry, 1997;Iyer and Oldmeadow, 2006;Powell et al., 2015). ...
The political power of images has probably never been stronger than in today's “information age” in which mobile devices allow instant access to news coverage of local, national, and global events, which are generally visualized in some way. Thus, this paper investigates whether political news images mobilize people to engage in political protest by appealing to their emotions. A pre-post-design integrating eye tracking with 143 participants examines how the observation of protest images in news coverage induces emotions and affects participatory intents. This reveals that a longer image observation activates both positive and negative discrete emotions (i.e., fascination, interest, sadness, anger, disgust, shame, guilt, and being touched) which increase the image recipients' willingness to participate politically. Additionally, for people with a high level of political interest, longer exposure to an emotion-inducing news image increases their willingness to participate in political activism, while a low level of political interest produces a negative effect.
... Furthermore, research indicates that photographs are more effective than text at generating engagement. This is because they involve more profound levels of processing mechanisms, resulting in higher attention and memory of the message perceived (Hockley, 2008). Therefore, photographs can thus still receive attention and send powerful messages. ...
Nature‐related visual media has a significant impact on today's society by engaging the public in conservation problems and promoting pro‐environmental behaviours. Although major attention has been paid to how some types of visual media (e.g. documentaries) offer unrealistic portrayals of the natural world, biases on representation by wildlife photography remain unexplored.
In the present study, we assessed biases in wildlife photography at spatial, temporal, taxonomic, conservation status and selection criteria scales, and modelled the factors influencing the probability of portrayed organisms winning a wildlife photography contest by using data on 1333 pictures featured in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year, one of the most popular wildlife photography competitions worldwide.
The representation of biomes mostly coincides with their extension on the planet. However, we detected an overrepresentation of temperate (broadleaf and conifer), Mediterranean and tropical forests. We detected a positive change over time in representing historically neglected taxa, such as insects. We also detected an increase in representation of Mangroves, Marine Ecosystems, Tundra and temperate forests and grasslands. Mammals and birds were overrepresented in photographs while insects and plants were underrepresented, and so were species listed as ‘Least Concern’ and ‘Data Deficiency’. The top 10 ranking species included charismatic carnivore species.
Our results showed that the jury's choice offered a more diverse representation of biodiversity than the people's choice, and the winning photographs showcased fewer taxonomic groups than the non‐winning pictures. Realm, domain and colourfulness influenced the probability of an organism's picture being winner, but the variability explained by our model reflects that there are a large number of unexplored determinants (e.g. socio‐economical, technical or emotional).
Our research detected a trend towards a more balanced representation of the natural world in wildlife photography, although biases are yet large, which may influence people's perception of the current status of species and habitats they encompass. Our results highlight a need to evenly represent species and ecosystems to increase public awareness, which requires providing data on species identity and conservation status to increase public knowledge. Finally, we underscore the need to report compliance with ethical guidelines when photographing wildlife.
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
... The 'picture superiority effect' is a proven finding in cognition studies: pictures present better in memory tests than words (Hockley, 2008;Mintzer & Snodgrass, 1999). A study found that the use of visual images linked to written or spoken text can significantly improve attention, recall, and understanding of health information (Brotherstone et al., 2006;Houts et al., 2024). ...
Background: Health promotion is an important part of the health services strategy in hospitals around the world, including in Indonesia. Hospitals can contribute to improving Indonesians’ health by complying with regulations and following government plans. Al Islam Hospital is a type B hospital in Bandung that has adopted diverse health promotion and communication programs. RS Al Islam Bandung is committed to improving the community’s health status through various programs. Purpose: This study aimed to understand how the hospital’s health promotions (PKRS) installation implements advocacy, community empowerment, and partnership programs through communication activities and media. Methods: We employed a qualitative method that included interviews, observation, and a review of relevant literature. Results: The results showed that RS Al Islam Bandung had integrated the principles of effective health communication into its PKRS program. Firstly, hospital management engages in health advocacy by issuing policies in various media that support health promotion programs; secondly, Al Islam Bandung Hospital equips the community with the information, willingness, and skill necessary to tackle the different health issues by involving patients and their families, hospital human resources, and the community; and thirdly, RS Al Islam Bandung establishes collaboration with educational institutions, local communities, and mass media. Conclusion: For the sustainability and effectiveness of health promotion programs, hospitals must ensure continued cooperation with stakeholders and continue to improve their health communication media. Implication: The study suggests that hospital management can conduct a continuous evaluation of health promotion activities carried out at Al Islam Bandung Hospital so that the health promotion and communication activities are not limited to the hospital area. The hospital can achieve this by optimizing its communication media. Hospitals can start using social media analytics and SEO campaigns to produce messages that cater to the needs of their audience.
... Esse esquecimento dos hábitos alimentares é confirmado ao observar que apenas 7 variedades de PANC apresentaram consumo superior a 50%, sendo que essas foram identificadas com o auxílio das imagens do roteiro de entrevista, como demonstrado na Tabela 1. Hockley (2008) afirma que as imagens são lembradas melhor do que palavras em testes de evocação e reconhecimento de itens. As 34 PANC consumidas estão distribuídas em 21 famílias botânicas, com predominância da família Myrtaceae, presente em 7 espécies, cujo consumo ocorre por meio da cereja do mato, guabijú, jambolão, guavirova/guabiroba jabuticaba, pitanga e sete capote. ...
O presente estudo tem como objetivo verificar o saber, os limites e as potencialidades de comercialização das PANC por parte dos agricultores familiares em feiras livres do Oeste Catarinense. O trabalho lançou mão de estudo de caso, com entrevista semiestruturada, em cinco feiras livres, distribuídas nos municípios de Chapecó, Seara e Paial, na Região Oeste de Santa Catarina. A amostra foi constituída por 20 agricultores familiares que desempenham a função de feirantes nesses locais. Diante disso, o estudo propõe descrever a realidade social dos agricultores familiares feirantes, bem como procura esclarecer quais fatores contribuem e/ou limitam o uso e a comercialização das PANC por esses sujeitos. Os principais resultados demonstraram que os saberes expressos através do uso e consumo de PANC encontram-se fragilizados pelos agricultores, pois eles consumiram apenas 34 variedades de PANC ao longo de sua vida, uma vez que apenas 38,2% das espécies consumidas foram comercializadas. A pesquisa conclui pela necessidade de oferecer atividades como cursos, palestras, oficinas, de modo a sensibilizar os participantes sobre o cultivo e comercialização de PANC, bem como uma alternativa de fonte de renda e segurança alimentar. Palavras-chave: agricultura camponesa; desenvolvimento sustentável; segurança alimentar; consumidor; hábitos alimentares.
... Why do these seemingly incompatible conceptual representations persist? First, the triangular representation with group labeling is commonplace in the literature, so even where text emphasizes the importance of systems and practices and may never mention grouping or categorizing outside of the graphics (e.g., as in Sugai & Horner, 2002), the picture superiority effect whereby images are recalled better than words (Hockley, 2008) may drive practice. This is consistent with the scientometric findings that articles with figures are more highly cited, and presumably more influential, than those without (Tahamtan et al., 2016). ...
... Corder (1966) argues that as long as students understand the relationship between what they are going to learn and the displayed visual signs, visual aids are an effective strategy to learn vocabulary. Second language acquisition (SLA) researchers have examined the effectiveness of visual aids in vocabulary recognition time (Tversky & Sherman, 1975), retention in vocabulary (Shen, 2010), vocabulary recall rate (Hockley, 2008), and vocabulary development (Akbari, 2008). In SL classrooms, using visual aids is also described as an important teaching strategy (Harmer, 2001), but the manner in which visual aids are actually used by teachers in SL classrooms is largely undocumented. ...
This study investigates how teachers use language, body movements, and visual displays to seek students’ displays of linguistic knowledge in Chinese-as-a-second-language (CSL) classrooms. We focus on two types of multimodal practices used by CSL teachers. The first type of multimodal practice, [zhe(ge) shi ‘this is’ + image display], is used by teachers to elicit students to display lexico-semantic knowledge of lexical items representing concrete concepts. The second type of multimodal practice is in the form of [zhe(ge) shi ‘this is’ + character display]. It is utilized to elicit students to display their orthographic-phonological knowledge of lexical items representing abstract concepts. These two multimodal practices are employed in different sequential environments and pedagogical activities. Specifically, the first type of multimodal practice is used in the non-initial position of a vocabulary teaching activity, whereas the second type of multimodal practice is used at the beginning of a vocabulary teaching activity. This study shows how teachers use their language, body, and visual signs together to engage students in teaching vocabulary in CSL classrooms. The findings of the study have implications for abstract and concrete vocabulary teaching and multimodal classroom interactional research.
... Hence, item and associative memory likely do not operate completely independently of each other. In support of this view, some factors have similar effects on both aspects of episodic memory: For example, pictures are remembered better than words in both item (Maisto & Queen, 1992;Paivio & Csapo, 1973;Snodgrass & Asiaghi, 1977) and associative memory (Endemann & Kamp, 2022;Hockley, 2008;Hockley & Bancroft, 2011). Hence, some factors that lead to an attentional focus on, and/or an improvement in, item-encoding processing may simultaneously support associative memory, rather than leading to a trade-off. ...
Episodic memory comprises memory for individual information units (item memory) and for the connections among them (associative memory). In two experiments using an object pair learning task, we examined the effect of visual stimulus complexity on memory encoding and retrieval mechanisms and on item and associative memory performance. Subjects encoded pairs of black monochrome object images (low complexity, LC condition) or color photographs of objects (high complexity, HC condition) via interactive imagery, and subsequently item and associative recognition were tested. In Experiment 1, event-related potentials (ERPs) revealed an enhanced frontal N2 during encoding and an enhanced late posterior negativity (LPN) during item recognition in the HC condition, suggesting that memory traces containing visually more complex objects elicited a stronger effort in reconstructing the past episode. Item memory was consistently superior in the HC compared to the LC condition. Associative memory was either statistically unaffected by complexity (Experiment 1) or improved (Experiment 2) in the HC condition, speaking against a tradeoff between resources allocated to item versus associative memory, and hence contradicting results of some prior studies. In Experiment 2, in both young and older adults, both item and associative memory benefitted from stimulus complexity, such that the magnitude of the age-related associative deficit was not influenced by stimulus complexity. Together, these results suggest that if familiar objects are presented in a form that exhibits a higher visual complexity, which may support semantic processing, complexity can benefit both item and associative memory. Stimulus properties that enhance item memory can scaffold associative memory in this situation.
... The participants were 98% accurate in recognizing the pictures but 90% correct when recognizing words. This 'picture superiority effect' has been confirmed in various additional and more recent research studies [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. ...
In recent years, the comparative effectiveness of drawing and writing for memory has been investigated, but the findings have mostly been analyzed for the entire sample of participants rather than subgroups. In quantitative two-way crossover experiments involving 134 children and 262 adults, drawing for memorization as compared to writing was investigated. The participants were divided into subgroups based on their ability to recall the greatest, moderate, or fewest words and drawings. The difference in the number of recalled words and drawings was then compared between subgroups with varying memory capacities for written words and drawings. Participants who had difficulty remembering written words recalled more drawings than written words relative to participants who remembered written words more easily—this applied to shorter- and longer-term memory. To determine the applicability of the findings to various contexts, the following conditions were varied in four separate experiments: participant age, duration of encoding and recall, number of words memorized, interval between encoding and recall, and the research setting. Drawing benefited memory more than writing in all tested scenarios for the subgroup that remembered the fewest number of words. The new finding of the study is that people who have difficulty remembering written words benefit the most from drawing for memorization compared to those who remember written words more easily and this applies to the various tested conditions.
... LEARNING IMAGE MEMORABILITY 4 "picture superiority effect" implies an inherent difference in that pictures are better remembered than words (Hockley, 2008;Paivio & Csapo, 1973). Furthermore, to our knowledge, no study has investigated the effect of feedback on metamemory for images. ...
Memorability, or the likelihood that an image is later remembered, is an intrinsic stimulus property that is remarkably consistent across viewers. Despite this consistency in what people remember and forget, previous findings suggest a lack of consistency in what individuals subjectively believe to be memorable and forgettable. We aimed to improve the ability of participants to judge memorability using a feedback-based training paradigm containing face images (Experiment 1) or scene images (Experiment 2 and its replication and control experiments). Overall, participants were fairly accurate at categorizing the memorability of images. In response to the training, participants were able to improve their memorability judgments of scenes, but not faces. Those who used certain strategies to perform the task, namely relying on characteristic features of the scenes, showed greater learning. Although participants improved slightly over time, they never reached the level of ResMem, the leading DNN for estimating image memorability. These results suggest that with training, human participants can better their understanding of image memorability, but may be unable to access its full variance.
... Ample evidence supports the picture superiority effect, whereby images are remembered better than words in tests of associative and item recognition and recall (Childers and Houston, 1984;Paivio and Csapo, 1973;Hockley, 2008). Pieters and Wedel (2004) find that the pictorial element of print ads is superior in capturing attention. ...
Generative AI’s capacity to create photorealistic images has the potential to augment human creativity and disrupt the economics of visual marketing content production. This research systematically compares the performance of AI-generated to human-made marketing images across important marketing dimensions. First, we prompt seven state-of-the-art generative text-to-image models (DALL-E 3, Midjourney v6, Firefly 2, Imagen 2, Imagine, Realistic Vision, and Stable Diffusion XL Turbo) to create 10,320 synthetic marketing images, using 2,400 real-world, human-made images as input. 254,400 human evaluations of these images show that AI-generated marketing imagery can surpass human-made images in quality, realism, and aesthetics. Second, we give identical creative briefings to commissioned human freelancers and the AI models, showing that the best synthetic images also excel in ad creativity, ad attitudes, and prompt following. Third, a field study with more than 173,000 impressions demonstrates that AI-generated banner ads can compete with professional human-made stock photography, achieving an up to 50% higher click-through rate than a human-made image. Collectively, our findings suggest that the paradigm shift brought about by generative AI can help advertisers produce marketing content not only faster and orders of magnitude cheaper but also at superhuman effectiveness levels with important implications for firms, consumers, and policymakers. To facilitate future research on AI-generated marketing imagery, we release “GenImageNet” that contains all of our synthetic images and their human ratings.
... Kulla-Mader (Kulla-Mader, 2007) research shows that a small amount of visual decoration will not interfere with the understanding of information. Hockley (Hockley, 2009) research shows that the use of visual decoration affects memory. The research community has not conducted in-depth research on how visual decoration affects human memory. ...
In recent years, data visualization has been applied to various scenes, and the memory of data visualization has received widespread attention. Some researchers have studied this. However, the effect of visual decoration is polarized in the research community. Some researchers believe that visual decoration can improve memory effect, while others believe that visual decoration can interfere with memory. This paper takes the bar chart as an example to further evaluate the memory effect of visual decoration in visualization, and puts forward four assumptions: ① the visualization using visual decoration has better memory; ② The position of visual decoration will affect the memory effect; ③ The colour of visual decoration will affect the memory effect; ④ The visual position will affect the memory effect under the same visual decoration. The results show that assumptions 1, 2, 3 and 4 are valid, which proves that visual decoration can improve the memory of visualization, and the location, colour and type of visual decoration will affect the memory of visualization.
... They can enhance the patient's ability to pay attention to, understand, remember and adhere to information [7]. Although pictures are known to improve our ability to remember information [17,18], research on the use of infographics for communicating symptoms to cancer patients, more specifically, is limited [4]. We know little about pictures' informativeness and persuasiveness, and there is a lack of approaches to assess these features [16]. ...
Objective:
The study aims to develop medical infographics that have a potential to raise symptom awareness and promote symptom communication between patients diagnosed with cancer and healthcare professionals.
Methods:
This study comprised four phases: 1) development of medical infographics, 2) user testing with healthcare professionals and patients, 3) selection of specific medical infographics, and 4) interviews on these specific medical infographics with patients using the think-aloud method.
Results:
Design students created 22 medical infographics conveying information about six symptoms and concerns. Patients (n = 28) with cancer said that the colourful infographics evoked individual emotional responses and associations, and they facilitated their narratives of experiences with symptoms. Healthcare professionals (n = 29) thought the infographics were eye-catching and may promote dialogue on symptoms.
Conclusions:
The design of medical infographics must target a specific population. When introduced, the use of medical infographics may be influenced by the physical surroundings. Medical infographics can facilitate symptom communication by creating symptom awareness and providing patients with the vocabulary to describe their symptoms and concerns.
Innovation:
Medical infographics are engaging visual messages with the potential to help prepare cancer patients to communicate their symptom experiences and reduce the feeling of being alone in experiencing certain symptoms.
... It is widely established that visual information is more likely to be remembered and recognized than text or audio content. In some ways, the communal memory of a picture is more intricate, distinctive, and expressive than the collective memory of words (Hockley, 2008). Infographics improve concussion knowledge and preferences among different stakeholders, and it is quickly growing in popularity as a means of synthesizing and disseminating important data. ...
The study of the research is on the Language as a barrier in healthcare communication. And this article suggest how it can be minimized to an extend in both the rural and urban areas.
... Reinstated contexts tend to improve retrieval of the original episode compared with contexts that are novel-that is, have no pre-existing association with any of the studied items. This augmented retrieval may come as explicit recollection of the original episode as reflected in recognition (e.g., Hockley, 2008;Macken, 2002) or recall (e.g., Smith & Manzano, 2010) performance, but also as more automatic activation that influences performance in indirect memory tests . Whether by the intentional or the automatic route, it is thus viable that context reinstatement would bring back similar semantic activation or processing to that which occurred when the original context was first presented. ...
Trying to guess what the correct answer to a question might be can facilitate future learning of this answer when presented in the form of corrective feedback. One issue that determines the effectiveness of guessing as a learning strategy is the timing of the presentation of feedback: it can be presented either immediately after the guess, or after a delay. Whereas the timing of feedback is of little importance for complex materials such as trivia questions, previous research suggests that for simpler materials such as related word pairs guessing seems to benefit learning only when feedback is immediate. In order to test whether this always has to be the case, we conducted two experiments in which we increased the richness of study materials by superimposing the to-be-learned word pairs over unrelated context pictures. We then manipulated the match between contexts at study and at test (Experiment 1) and at the time of feedback delivery (Experiment 2). Contrary to previous studies showing no benefits of guessing with delayed feedback, our results show that learning related word pairs can benefit from guessing even when feedback is delayed. These benefits of guessing occur if participants are reminded via reinstated contexts of the guessing stage at the time of feedback delivery. Our results help constrain theories of guessing benefits and extend theories of reminding.
... Consideráveis estudos têm claramente documentado e estabelecido que imagens são lembradas melhor do que palavras em testes de evocação e de reconhecimento de itens (HOCKLEY, 2008). A primeira explicação para este fenômeno foi a teoria da codificação dupla (PAIVIO, 1971;PAIVIO e CSAPO,1973), um estudo empírico que postula que, diferentemente das palavras, as imagens têm maior probabilidade de serem codificadas em representações verbais e de imagem (por isso codificação dupla), são processadas de maneira diferente e ao longo de canais distintos na mente humana, criando representações separadas, aumentando assim a probabilidade de recuperação posterior. ...
Este estudo observou que a capacidade de recordação de informações que são recebidas por meio de visualização de imagens associativas é consideravelmente superior à capacidade de recordação de informações recebidas em formato abstrato, tais como somente palavras e textos. Um mesmo conteúdo conceitual, em dois diferentes formatos, foi apresentado a dois grupos de pessoas, um formato para cada grupo. A apresentação de ambos os formatos observava a mesma duração de tempo, porém, para os integrantes de um dos grupos, a apresentação demonstrava imagens associadas aos conceitos e para integrantes do segundo grupo, a apresentação foi feita apenas sobre o texto conceitual, sem imagens. Após a apresentação individual para cada integrante, era solicitado ao sujeito que evocasse o conteúdo adquirido em quatro momentos distintos, visando verificar a retenção da informação na memória. A primeira evocação foi solicitada imediatamente à apresentação, a segunda evocação uma hora depois, a terceira 24 horas depois e a quarta evocação era feita após sete dias. Os resultados demonstraram que, independentemente da idade, gênero, ocupação profissional e até escolaridade, os sujeitos que receberam a apresentação com imagens alcançaram um desempenho 89% superior de memorização, sobre os sujeitos que receberam a apresentação apenas baseada em texto.
... In the Sketchnoting group (in accordance with the principles adopted in this study) it was not possible to use written text. Although the research in cognitive psychology appears to emphasize the well-known phrase -"a picture is worth a thousand words" (Hockley, 2008)-this study recognizes that metacognitive knowledge alone transmitted during trainings and pictures do not improve (linguistic) competences without training them in practice. This would encourage the use of double information encoding strategies in the future. ...
Objective
The aim of this study was to examine whether a 3-month training with the use of the metacognitive strategies would strengthen the executive function related to verbal fluency in children with ADHD.
Method
A total of 45 children with ADHD (M = 10.41; SD = 1.42) participated in a randomized experimental study. They completed the Verbal Fluency Test before and after training.
Result
The results of the Wilcoxon test show that the mean number of words spoken by the child increased significantly in the second measurement compared to the first in the Mind Map group (M = 11.40; SD = 4.03; M = 14.46; SD = 3.99; p = .001). Unfortunately, this data did not apply to the Sketchnoting Group. Verbal regression was noted in the Control Group.
Conclusion
The results provide an interesting premise for further research. Perhaps Mind Mapping training can be an effective form of complementary therapy.
... In the Sketchnoting group (in accordance with the principles adopted in this study) it was not possible to use written text. Although the research in cognitive psychology appears to emphasise the well-known phrase -"a picture is worth a thousand words" (Hockley, 2008 cognitive activity in order to protect oneself and one's self-esteem (Śpiewak et al., 2003.) The literature addressing this issue often stresses the reluctance of children with ADHD to undertake cognitive effort (Bobkowicz -Lewartowska, Giers, 2016.) ...
Objective:
The aim of this study was to examine whether a 3-month training with the use of the metacognitive strategies would strengthen the executive function related to verbal fluency in children with ADHD.
Method:
A total of 45 children with ADHD (M = 10.41; SD = 1.42) participated in a randomized experimental study. They completed the Verbal Fluency Test before and after training.
Result:
The results of the Wilcoxon test show that the mean number of words spoken by the child increased significantly in the second measurement compared to the first in the Mind Map group (M = 11.40; SD = 4.03; M = 14.46; SD = 3.99; p = .001). Unfortunately, this data did not apply to the Sketchnoting Group. Verbal regression was noted in the Control Group.
Conclusion:
The results provide an interesting premise for further research. Perhaps Mind Mapping training can be an effective form of complementary therapy.
... Visual communication disseminates information easily and effectively. The success of visual communication design lies in effortless and accurate delivery of the right meaning (Hockley, 2008). Reading and interpreting a visual communication design is an immediate and continuous process which gets initiated the moment the viewer encounters the image (Crow, 2003). ...
Persuasive technology is an example of design intended to result in certain user behaviour it is strategic, with defined behavioural outcomes in mind. Broadly reviewing the idea of using design to modify behaviour, a spectrum of approaches emerges; a common factor is designer intent, and thus the term Design with Intent can be used. Persuasive technology is interactive information technology that aims to change users' opinions or behaviour. Persuasion has traditionally been defined as "human communication aimed at influencing the autonomous judgements and behaviours of others." Because consumers may be contacted easily, the Web, Internet, mobile, media and other ambient technologies provide opportunities for persuasive interaction. Furthermore, the Web and other Internet-based systems are ideal for persuasion communication because they combine the benefits of both interpersonal and mass communication.
... Of the few studies, Hockley (1994) reported a mirror effect, and although both Hockley and Cristi (1996) and Lucas et al. (2017) reported an advantage for concrete over abstract words, neither reported whether a mirror effect was observed. The picture superiority effect is often seen as being related to the concreteness effect (e.g., Paivio, 1991), and mirror effects have been reported when one set of stimuli were pictures and the other were words (Hockley, 2008b;Hockley & Bancroft, 2011). ...
The mirror effect, the finding that a manipulation which increases the hit rate in recognition tests also decreases the false alarm rate, is held to be a regularity of memory. Neath et al. (in press) took advantage of the recent increase in the number of linguistic databases to create sets of stimuli that differed on one dimension but were more fully equated on other dimensions known to affect memory. Using these highly controlled stimulus sets, no mirror effects were observed; in contrast, using stimulus sets that had confounds resulted in mirror effects. In this article, we use their stimulus sets to examine associative recognition. Using confounded stimuli, Experiment 2 found a lower false alarm rate for high- compared to low-frequency words, replicating previous results, and Experiment 4 found a mirror effect when manipulating concreteness, also replicating previous results. Using highly controlled stimuli, Experiment 1 found no evidence that frequency affected associative recognition, and Experiment 3 found concreteness affected only the hit rate, not the false alarm rate. When highly controlled stimuli are used, frequency affects only the false alarm rate in item recognition and has no effect in associative recognition, whereas concreteness affects hit rates in both item and associative recognition. Implications for theoretical accounts are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Faces inherently capture our attention, allowing our brains to quickly determine whether a new individual poses a threat. This natural tendency has been leveraged by brands to attract consumer attention in advertising, but the contribution of a face to attract attention on pack has yet to receive much attention. In this study, we examine whether incorporating a face on product packaging enhances its visibility in online supermarkets. Our research indicates that unlike in advertising, faces do not have a significant positive effect on a packaging visibility in an online shopping context. The likely reason is that the reduction of facial image size to a thumbnail on screen renders them ineffectual as emotion communication devices. Therefore, there is no online attentional advantage that would encourage packs without a face to add one to their pack design, nor is there any disadvantage if packs take a face off their pack in an online setting.
This study examined whether pupil size varies as a function of the memorability of natural scene images. In Experiment 1, participants were asked to memorize, recognize, and passively view high‐ and low‐memorability images from an established dataset. The baseline‐corrected pupil sizes were larger for high‐memorability images, but only during old trials in the recognition phase. However, after implementing stricter controls for image luminance and arousal, pupil dilation for high‐memorability images was observed across all phases: memorization, recognition, and passive viewing (Experiments 2 and 3). The effect of image memorability was further validated through item‐based analysis. Both the pupil old/new effect and the subsequent memory effect were replicated, and these effects are probably separable from the effect of image memorability. The results of this study suggest that pupil size is sensitive to image memorability regardless of the behavioral task, supporting the view that image memorability is an intrinsic, higher‐order property of the image.
The viewpoint that unitization provides a possibility of increasing the contribution of familiarity to associative memory has been widely accepted, but its effects on associative memory and recollection remain controversial. The current study aims to explain these mixed results by considering a potential moderator: changes in the level of unitization from encoding to retrieval phases. During the encoding phase, participants learned the related and unrelated picture pairs (i.e., high vs. low levels of unitization). Subsequently, they needed to distinguish between the intact and rearranged pairs during retrieval, where, in these rearranged pairs, the level of unitization from encoding to retrieval phases may or may not change. Meanwhile, the scalp electroencephalographic activity (EEG) was recorded. The results showed a significant familiarity-related FN400 old/new effect for related picture pairs alone, which supported the above viewpoint. However, its impact on the associative memory and recollection-related LPC old/new effects varied with the level of unitization changes—specifically, under the unchanged conditions. Although related pairs elicited significant FN400 and LPC old/new effects, the differences in these old/new effects and associative memory between the related and unrelated picture pairs were not significant. Conversely, under the changed conditions, related picture pairs not only elicited significantly larger FN400 and LPC old/new effects but also improved associative memory more than unrelated picture pairs. These findings not only clarify some of the inconsistencies in the literature concerning the impact of unitization on associative memory but also suggest that unitization affects the contributions of familiarity and recollection to associative memory differently, its effectiveness varying with the level of unitization changes.
O conto O Alienista foi escrito por Machado de Assis e publicado entre 1881 e 1882. A história tem como protagonista Simão Bacamarte, alienista, que pode ser o precursor do psiquiatra. Bacamarte ocupa lugar de destaque na vila de Itaguaí, no Rio de Janeiro, após voltar de seus estudos na Europa. Instalou a casa de Orates ou Casa Verde, um asilo para tratar da saúde mental dos considerados alienados. Com o apoio dos vereadores e da população local, logrou êxito, mas se tornou obcecado e acabou internando quase todos os moradores. Utilizou-se a metodologia de revisão bibliográfica que tem por objetivo o levantamento de materiais relacionados ao tema do estudo. Assim, este artigo tem por objetivo analisar a obra machadiana em sua crítica sobre a sanidade e a loucura, refletindo sobre o papel e autoridade do médico psiquiatra, além de pensar o modelo de internação em asilos e hospícios.
Emojis, or pictographs that supplement or replace written language, have become ubiquitous in contemporary communication, including emoji marketing. Drawing on insights
from linguistics and sign theory, the current research proposes an emoji marketing framework in which emoji symbolism (symbolic vs. iconic emoji use) affects consumers’ message appraisals (perceived message intimacy and clarity), which in turn influence brand cultural relevance (propositions P1 and P2). Emoji syntax (i.e., whether emojis are supplemented with text or not) and marketer-consumer group relatedness (shared vs. unshared
group membership) moderate the relationship between emoji symbolism and consumers’ message appraisals. The framework suggests that messages that use emojis as symbols, relative
to no-emoji (text-only) marketing messages, evoke greater perceived message clarity (P3a) and greater perceived message intimacy (P4a) if those emojis are supplemented with
text, as well as greater intimacy if group relatedness is shared (P5a). In contrast, if messages use emojis as icons, again relative to no-emoji (text-only) marketing messages, they produce greater perceived message clarity if emojis are not supplemented with text (P3b) and higher perceived message clarity and intimacy regardless of marketer-consumer group relatedness (P4b and P5b). The authors present several implications and pertinent avenues for research that can leverage this novel emoji marketing framework.
Limitations in one’s capacity to encode information in working memory (WM) constrain later access to that information in long-term memory (LTM). The present study examined whether these WM constraints on episodic LTM are limited to specific representations of past episodes or also extend to gist representations. Across three experiments, young adult partici- pants (n = 40 per experiment) studied objects in set sizes of two or six items, either sequentially (Experiments 1a and 1b) or simultaneously (Experiment 2). They then completed old/new recognition tests immediately after each sequence (WM tests). After a long study phase, participants completed LTM conjoint recognition tests, featuring old but untested items from the WM phase, lures that were similar to studied items at gist but not specific levels of representation, and new items unrelated to studied items at both specific and gist levels of representation. Results showed that LTM estimates of specific and gist memory representations from a multinomial-processing-tree model were reduced for items encoded under supra-capacity set sizes (six items) relative to within-capacity set sizes (two items). These results suggest that WM encoding capacity limitations constrain episodic LTM at both specific and gist levels of representation, at least for visual objects. The ability to retrieve from LTM each type of representation for a visual item is contingent on the degree to which the item could be encoded in WM.
This chapter discusses the setup and work of R2, the behavioral insights unit of Rome. First, we provide a description of the context in which Italy’s first unit dedicated to applying behavioral science within the public administration was formed and share details of its structural setup. Second, an excerpt of the team’s work is described. (i) A selection of the work carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic’s outbreak, focused on understanding and driving key behaviors such as social distancing, staying home, washing hands, and easing pandemic fatigue. As Italy was the first country to declare a state of emergency in Europe for the COVID-19 pandemic, the unit held a unique front-line position to explore behavioral science-backed solutions to combat the virus’ spread. (ii) The city of Rome’s first RCT, which was conducted to increase litigation settlement. Citizens involved in litigation with the municipality received an intervention designed following the latest evidence from behavioral science and behavioral economics, leading response rates to increase by 108%. The number of resolved disputes translates into countless work hours saved for city government lawyers and millions of euros in otherwise lost tax revenues generated for the municipality. Finally, the chapter shares two key learnings from the Roman endeavor, which can be effectively replicated in different contexts.
Researchers have proposed a gist-based representation for sounds, whereas a more verbatim-based representation is retrieved from long-term memory to account for higher recognition performance for pictures. The current study examined the mechanism for the recognition advantage for pictures. In Experiment 1A, pictures and sounds were presented in separate trials in a mixed list during the study phase and participants showed in a yes-no test, a higher proportion of correct responses for targets, exemplar foils categorically related to the target, and novel foils for pictures compared to sounds. In Experiment 1B, the picture recognition advantage was replicated in a two-alternative forced-choice test for the novel and exemplar foil conditions. In Experiment 2A, even when verbal labels were presented for sounds during the study phase, a recognition advantage for pictures was shown for both targets and exemplar foils. Experiment 2B showed that the presence of verbal labels for sounds, during both the study and test phases did not eliminate the advantage of recognition of pictures in terms of correct rejection of exemplar foils. Finally in our last two experiments, we examined if the degree of similarity within pictures and sounds could account for the recognition advantage of pictures. The mean similarity rating for pictures was higher than the mean similarity rating for sounds in the exemplar test condition, whereas mean similarity rating for sounds was higher than pictures in the novel test condition. We propose a conceptual-perceptual distinctiveness processing account of recognition memory for pictures and sounds.
This article lays out the foundation of a new language for easier written communication that is inherently reader-friendly and inherently international. Words usually consist of strings of sounds or squiggles whose meanings are merely a convention. In Icono , instead, they typically are strings of icons that illustrate what they stand for. “Train,” for example, is expressed with the icon of a train, “future” with the icon of a clock surrounded by a clockwise arrow, and “mammal” with the icons of a cow and a mouse—their combination’s meaning given by what they have in common. Moreover, Icono reveals sentence structure graphically before, rather than linguistically after, one begins reading. On smartphones and computers, writing icons can now be faster than writing alphabetic words. And using simple pictures as words helps those who struggle with conditions like dyslexia, aphasia, cerebral palsy, and autism with speech impairment. Because learning its pronunciation or phonetic spelling is optional rather than a prerequisite, and because it shows what it says, Icono is bound to be easier to learn to read—and then easier to read—than any other language, including our own.
With the development of quantum communication technology, Shor’s algorithm is expected to crack RSA encryption. Quantum communication will change the method of classical encryption in the future. We propose a quantum image encryption method via reversible quantum logic gates computing as quantum computing is reversible. An entangled pair of qubits are used for data transmission. The plaintext image is encrypted into an encrypted image via the quantum gate by using superdense coding to encrypt and transmit the operating quantum gate. The encrypted image is decoded by reversible computing, which is expected to provide a way for quantum image encryption.
2e learners are complex and can present educationally as gifted underachievers, average learners, or learning-challenged students. Educators often struggle to find ways to guide the educational success of such learners due to a lack of tools and a guiding framework. This chapter introduces Nest!LE2e, a visually guided thinking, planning, and mapping framework and tool for schools, teachers, and parents when evaluating curriculum, instruction, and differentiation for twice-exceptional learners within local constraints. Visuals help to highlight and convey hard-to-integrate, complex interactions. Nest!LE2e allows for visual mapping of interactions amongst the 2e learner, the educator, contextual, and relational factors and creates a holistic synthesis of a 2e learner's educational profile that identifies areas for intervention and allows visual data to be tracked over time.
Orienting toward the meaning versus perceptual features of an experience benefits subsequent memory. Yet given that past work encouraged these orientations with different tasks, it is not clear if this memory benefit is solely due to internal processing factors versus external task-related ones. Moreover, it remains unclear how this benefit generalises from verbal to detailed picture memory. Here, we developed a novel paradigm that cued participants’ attention to thematic (story) or stylistic (artist style) dimensions of storybook-style illustrations during a repeat-detection task. Afterwards, participants completed a recognition memory test with studied illustrations and lures along thematic and stylistic dimensions. In contrast to past work, both orienting tasks were identical except for the dimension participants were cued to attend to. Furthermore, our thematic and stylistic dimensions enabled us to separately examine memory quality along each dimension. We found that thematic attention yielded superior memory for studied illustrations over stylistic orientations. False alarms to lures varied by dimension and attention: errors were greater to thematic than stylistic lures overall and stylistic attention elevated false alarms to stylistic lures. Our results show that semantic encoding orientations enhance detailed picture memory, without a cost to memory quality along semantic or perceptual dimensions of experience.
Murdock (1974, Human Memory: Theory and Data, Lawrence Erlbaum) distinguished between the encoding and retrieval of item information (the representation of individual events) and associative information (the representation of relations between separate events). Mandler (1980, Psychological Review, 87, 252-271) proposed that recognition decisions could be based on the sense of familiarity engendered by the stimulus or on the retrieval of conceptual, semantic, and contextual information about the target. These two distinctions have motivated a considerable amount of research over the past 40 years and have provided much of the bases for our current understanding of recognition memory. Selective aspects of this research are reviewed to show how theories of recognition memory have developed to embody these two dichotomies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Presents a standardized set of 260 pictures for use in experiments investigating differences and similarities in the processing of pictures and words. The pictures are black-and-white line drawings executed according to a set of rules that provide consistency of pictorial representation. They have been standardized on 4 variables of central relevance to memory and cognitive processing: name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity. The intercorrelations among the 4 measures were low, suggesting that they are indices of different attributes of the pictures. The concepts were selected to provide exemplars from several widely studied semantic categories. Sources of naming variance, and mean familiarity and complexity of the exemplars, differed significantly across the set of categories investigated. The potential significance of each of the normative variables to a number of semantic and episodic memory tasks is discussed. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Tested recognition memory for words and pictures using a fixed memorized-set procedure (Exp I) and a continuous procedure (Exp II). Ss were a total of 72 right-handed female undergraduates in an introductory psychology course. Test items were each presented twice at lags of 4, 12, or 24 intervening items, and any item could be tested using the same or different stimulus form (word or picture) at each lag. A recognition model that assumes successive encoding, decision, and response stages was used as the theoretical framework for interpretation of results. Analysis indicated that stimulus form and lag affected encoding processes in similar ways for Exp I and Exp II. Differences were obtained for the decision stage, however; stimulus form apparently affected decision processes in Exp II but not in Exp I. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Eich (1985) recently presented a distributed memory model in which the pattern of results used to support the levels-of-processing view of Craik and Lockhart (1972) was modeled by different degrees of similarity between the encoding context and the to-be-recalled item. We report two experiments in which both phonemic and semantic similarity were varied between pairs of words and incidental acquisition (rhyme vs. category judgments) was varied across the same pairs of items. In both experiments the manipulation of the acquisition task produced a difference in cued-recall performance for positive and negative rhyme and category judgments. Recall was better following a category encoding decision than following a rhyme decision. This difference was independent of the effects of similarity, which demonstrated that Eich's (1985) assumptions regarding the effects of similarity are not sufficient to account for the differences resulting from the manner in which subjects encode information. An alternative method of modeling the levels-of-processing effect within the framework of distributed memory models is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated effects of noun imagery (I) and meaningfulness (m) on paired-associate (PA) learning using 3 PA lists. In 1 list, I was varied on stimulus and response sides in a factorial design while m was held constant; in another, m was similarly varied while I was controlled; in the 3rd, I and m were covaried. 33 undergraduates served as Ss. 4 study-test trials with each list showed that I was alone had strong positive effects, more so on the stimulus than response side of pairs, whereas m alone showed negative effects attributable mainly to superior learning of low m-low m pairs. The covarying attributes had intermediate effects, suggesting again that the contribution of m was negative. Exp. II yielded insignificant effects for m when varied on stimulus and response sides using homogeneous lists. 68 Canadian Forces trainees served as Ss. The patterns of learning data and post learning reports of learning strategies are consistent with an interpretation of the effects of I in terms of mediating imagery. The negative effect of m suggests associative interference. (French summary) (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Six experiments tested the hypothesis that the mirror effect in recognition memory reflects a deliberate, postretrieval assessment of the test item's memorability. Both word frequency and concreteness were varied, and constraints at retrieval were manipulated in 2 ways: 3 experiments compared recognition tested either alone or while performing a secondary task, and 3 experiments used the response-signal method to control recognition processing time. Contrary to the hypothesis, the mirror effect was not eliminated or attenuated by either kind of retrieval constraint. Moreover, both retrieval manipulations induced mirror effects of their own. Current recognition-memory theories appear inadequate to explain the results. It is suggested that the mirror effect be related to the full range of patterns of hits and false alarms, and that these 2 measures routinely be supplemented by measures of discriminability and bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Four experiments, with a total of 576 undergraduates, evaluated a model of picture and word encoding. The primary assumptions of this model are that both sensory and semantic codes can be activated for both pictures and words but that the relative order of access to phonemic information is different for the 2 types of representation. For pictures, phonemic access is indirect, with label or name codes accessible only after semantic processing. For words, phonemic access is direct, with no need for prior semantic processing. These assumptions were evaluated in a task requiring either serial reconstruction or serial recall of the order of the 2 types of stimuli—tasks that require accessibility of a verbal label. In different experiments, type of representation, label similarity, schematic similarity, rate and conceptual similarity were manipulated. Results indicate that label similarity disrupted performance independently of all other variables, confirming along with verbal reports of the Ss, the apparent usefulness or necessity of labeling stimuli in remembering serial order. In accord with expections of the model, high levels of either schematic or conceptual similarity disrupted serial ordering of the pictures, either eliminating or reversing the typical pictorial superiority effect. High levels of conceptual similarity among the labels for the pictures had no reliable effects. The proposed sensory–semantic model is contrasted with the dual code hypothesis and with a levels-of-processing conceptualization. (22 ref) * (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Four experiments are reported that extend previous research and firmly demonstrate that item information is more susceptible to decay or interference than is associative information. The forgetting rate for single words is shown to be greater than the forgetting rate for associations between random pairs of words in a continuous recognition paradigm using both yes–no (Exp 1) and forced-choice (Exps 2 and 3) test procedures. Item recognition is also shown to decline more than associative discrimination between an immediate and an end-of-session delayed test in the study–test paradigm. The findings provide further empirical support for a process-oriented distinction between item and associative information and pose a challenge for global matching models of recognition memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Classes of stimuli that are relatively easy to classify in recognition as old when old also appear to be relatively easy to classify as new when new. Five experiments are reported that extend this mirror effect to tests requiring retention of order and associative information. These experiments tested memory for words and nonwords; across experiments, the mirror effect was found on both yes–no and forced-choice tests. In addition, a new account of the mirror effect is proposed, one which suggests that this pattern results from participants' attempts to distribute responses equally across stimulus classes on tests. Support from this account came from additional experiments in which the mirror effect was eliminated when participants were asked to refrain from using positive responses as guesses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
According to the transfer appropriate processing framework (H. L. Roediger, M. S. Weldon, & B. A. Challis, 1989), if pictures engage more conceptual processing than words, then they should produce more priming on implicit conceptual tests. Experiments 1 and 2 did not find any significant advantage of pictures on the implicit category production or word association tests. When these tests were given as explicit cued-recall tests in Experiment 3, pictures were recalled better than words, producing a dissociation and indicating that the materials were sensitive to differences in picture and word processing. In Experiments 4 and 5, the implicit tests showed level-of-processing effects indicating that they were sensitive to differences in conceptual processing. Therefore, it is hypothesized that (a) conceptual processing plays a minor role, if any, in superior picture recall and that visual distinctiveness is a more important factor; and (b) distinctiveness is more important in intentional than incidental retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Three experiments with 140 undergraduates examined representations of common nouns, proper nouns, and their pictorial counterparts. In each experiment, Ss were required to name pictures and to read words. They later read words (Exp I), some of which had been presented as pictures and some as words, and some had not been seen earlier. Reading latencies for proper nouns were reduced by prior experience with either the word or a pictorial counterpart, whereas latencies for common nouns were reduced only if the S had previously seen the word. Recognition (Exp II) and recall (Exp III) were superior for pictures compared with words and for proper items compared with common items. Results are consistent with the idea that some memories are composed primarily of generic information (common nouns) and that some are composed primarily of specific information (pictures and proper nouns). Generic information is useful in aiding subsequent processing but not in discriminating that memory from other memories, whereas specific information makes the memory more distinctive but in general is not useful in aiding subsequent processing unless the same specific information is again involved. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Words and pictures were studied, and recognition tests were given in which each studied object was to be recognized in both
word and picture format. The main dependent variable was the latency of the recognition decision. The purpose was to investigate
the effects of study modality (word or picture), of congruence between study and test modalities, and of priming resulting
from repeated testing. Experiments 1 and 2 used the same basic design, but the latter also varied retention interval. Experiment
3 added a manipulation of instructions to name studied objects, and Experiment 4 deviated from the others by presenting both
picture and word referring to the same object together for study. The results showed that congruence between study and test
modalities consistently facilitated recognition. Furthermore, items studied as pictures were more rapidly recognized than
were items studied as words. With repeated testing, the second instance was affected by its predecessor, but the facilitating
effect of picture-to-word priming exceeded that of word-to-picture priming. The findings suggest a two-stage recognition process,
in which the first is based on perceptual familiarity and the second uses semantic links for a retrieval search. Common-code
theories that grant privileged access to the semantic code for pictures or, alternatively, dual-code theories that assume
mnemonic superiority for the image code are supported by the findings. Explanations of the picture superiority effect as resulting
from dual encoding of pictures are not supported by the data.
This paper briefly reviews the evidence for multistore theories of memory and points out some difficulties with the approach. An alternative framework for human memory research is then outlined in terms of depth or levels of processing. Some current data and arguments are reexamined in the light of this alternative framework and implications for further research considered.
In two experiments, subjects studied a long series of words and pictures for recognition. Retention intervals varied from several minutes to a few months. The complicated testing procedures in Experiment I required the use of a traditional correction for guessing to obtain estimates of subjects' memory performance. A comparable, but simpler, design in Experiment II permitted the calculation of sensitivity and bias measures. In both studies, pictorial memory was superior to verbal memory at all retention intervals tested, and this advantage was essentially constant over time. In addition, the experiments identified an increasing tendency to call verbal test items "old" over time. Bias scores in Experiment H revealed that subjects adopted a more lenient criterion in responding to words than to pictures, and increased leniency was noted for both item types over time. Explanations of the results are offered in terms of differences in initial encoding and of a loss of discrimination between experimental and extraexperimental materials.
Pictures generally show superior recognition relative to their verbal labels. This experiment was designed to link this pictorial superiority effect to sensory or meaning codes associated with the two types of symbols. Paired-associate stimuli consisted of simple pictures or of their labels, with list items selected either from the same conceptual category or from different conceptual categories. In addition, schematic or visual similarity among the pictures was either high or low. At two rates of presentation equal amounts of conceptual interference were produced for pictures and their labels. High schematic similarity eliminated the pictorial superiority effects at the slow rate and completely reversed it at the fast rate. These results suggest that the meaning representations for simple pictures and their labels may be identical, and that the pictorial superiority effect is related to the qualitative superiority of the sensory codes for pictures.
Storage and retrieval properties of pictures and words were studied within a recognition memory paradigm. Storage was manipulated by instructing subjects either to image or to verbalize to both picture and word stimuli during the study sequence. Retrieval was manipulated by representing a proportion of the old picture and word items in their opposite form during the recognition test (i.e., some old pictures were tested with their corresponding words and vice versa). Recognition performance for pictures was identical under the two instructional conditions, whereas recognition performance for words was markedly superior under the imagery instruction condition. It was suggested that subjects may engage in dual coding of simple pictures naturally, regardless of instructions, whereas dual coding of words may occur only under imagery instructions. The form of the test item had no effect on recognition performance for either type of stimulus and under either instructional condition. However, change of form of the test item markedly reduced item-by-item correlations between the two instructional conditions. It is tentatively proposed that retrieval is required in recognition, but that the effect of a form change is simply to make the retrieval process less consistent, not less efficient.
The mirror effect is a regularity in recognition memory that requires reexamination of current views of memory. Five experiments that further support and extended the generality of the mirror effect are reported. The first two experiments vary word frequency. The third and fourth vary both word frequency and concreteness. The fifth experiment varies word frequency, concreteness, and the subject's operations on the words. The experiments furnish data on the stability of the effect, its relation to response times, its extension to multiple mirror effects, and its extension beyond stimulus variables to operation variables. A theory of the effect and predictions that derive from the theory are presented.
In three experiments, we examined why pictures are remembered better than words on explicit memory tests like recall and recognition, whereas words produce more priming than pictures on some implicit tests, such as word-fragment and word-stem completion (e.g., completing -l-ph-nt or ele----- as elephant). One possibility is that pictures are always more accessible than words if subjects are given explicit retrieval instructions. An alternative possibility is that the properties of the retrieval cues themselves constrain the retrieval processes engaged; word fragments might induce data-driven (perceptually based) retrieval, which favors words regardless of the retrieval instructions. Experiment 1 demonstrated that words were remembered better than pictures on both the word-fragment and word-stem completion tasks under both implicit and explicit retrieval conditions. In Experiment 2, pictures were recalled better than words with semantically related extralist cues. In Experiment 3, when semantic cues were combined with word fragments, pictures and words were recalled equally well under explicit retrieval conditions, but words were superior to pictures under implicit instructions. Thus, the inherently data-limited properties of fragmented words limit their use in accessing conceptual codes. Overall, the results indicate that retrieval operations are largely determined by properties of the retrieval cues under both implicit and explicit retrieval conditions.
In Experiment 1 subjects studied a mixed list of pictures and words and then received either a free recall test or a word
fragment completion test (e.g.,_yr_mi_forpyramid) on which some fragments corresponded to previously studied items. Free recall of pictures was better than that of words.
However, words produced greater priming than did pictures on the fragment completion test, although a small amount of picture
priming did occur. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the picture priming was not due to implicit naming of the pictures during
study. In Experiment 4 subjects studied words and pictures and received either the word fragment completion test or a picture
fragment identification test in which they had to name degraded pictures. Greater priming was obtained with words in word
fragment completion, but greater priming was obtained with pictures on the picture identification test. We conclude that (1)
the type of retrieval query determines whether pictures or words will exhibit superior retention, and (2)our results conform
to the principle of transfer appropriate processing by which performance on transfer or retention tests benefits to the extent
that the tests recapitulate operations used during learning.
A number of independent lines of research have suggested that semantic and articulatory information become available differentially from pictures and words. Five experiments with 212 university students suggest a model of information access whereby pictures access semantic information more readily than name information, with the reverse being true for words. Memory for both pictures and words was a function of the amount of processing required to access a particular type of information as well as the extent of response differentiation necessitated by the task. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
A mirror effect can be produced by manipulating word class (e.g., high vs. low frequency) or by manipulating strength (e.g., short vs. long study time). The results of 5 experiments reported here suggest that a strength-based mirror effect is caused by a shift in the location of the decision criterion, whereas a frequency-based mirror effect occurs although the criterion remains fixed with respect to word frequency. Evidence supporting these claims is provided by a series of studies in which high frequency (HF) words were differentially strengthened (and sometimes differentially colored) during list presentation. That manipulation increased the HF hit rate above that for low frequency (LF) words without selectively decreasing the HF false alarm rate, just as a fixed-criterion account of the word-frequency mirror effect predicts.
This article presents a model for accuracy and response time (RT) in recognition and cued recall, fitted to free-response and signal-to-respond data from Experiment 1 of P. A. Nobel and R. M. Shiffrin (2001). The model posits that recognition operates through parallel activation in a single retrieval step and cued recall operates as a sequential search. Because the data for recognition showed that variations in list length and study time per list had a large effect on accuracy but a small or negligible effect on (a) free-response RT distributions and (b) retrieval dynamics in signal-to-respond, the timing of the recognition decision is based on an assessment of retrieval completion (ARC), rather than on a sufficiency of evidence in favor of 1 of the response options. By assuming within-trial forgetting, the model predicts both the dissociation of accuracy and RT and the finding that errors are slower than correct responses. For cued recall, this model was incorporated as the 1st step in a search consisting of cycles of sampling and recovery.
In a typical associative-recognition task, participants must distinguish between intact word pairs (both words previously studied together) and rearranged word pairs (both words previously studied but as part of different pairs). The familiarity of the individual items on this task is uninformative because all of the items were seen before, so the only way to solve the task is to rely on associative information. Prior research suggests that associative information is recall-like in nature and may therefore be an all-or-none variable. The present research reports several experiments in which some pairs were strengthened during list presentation. The resulting hit rates and false alarm rates, and an analysis of the corresponding receiver operating characteristic plots, suggest that participants rely heavily on item information when making an associative-recognition decision (to no avail) and that associative information may be best thought of as a some-or-none variable.
A mirror effect can be produced by manipulating word class (e.g., high vs. low frequency) or by manipulating strength (e.g., short vs, long study time). The results of 5 experiments reported here suggest that a strength-based mirror effect is caused by a shift in the location of the decision criterion, whereas a frequency-based mirror effect occurs although the criterion remains fixed with respect to word frequency. Evidence supporting these claims is provided by a series of studies in which high frequency (HF) words were differentially strengthened (and sometimes differentially colored) during list presentation. That manipulation increased the HF hit rate above that for low frequency (LF) words without selectively decreasing the HF false alarm rate, just as a fixed-criterion account of the word-frequency mirror effect predicts.
Four experiments are reported that extend previous research and firmly demonstrate that item information is more susceptible to decay or interference than is associative information. The forgetting rate for single words is shown to be greater than the forgetting rate for associations between random pairs of words in a continuous recognition paradigm using both yes-no (Experiment 1) and forced-choice (Experiments 2 and 3) test procedures. Item recognition is also shown to decline more than associative discrimination between an immediate and an end-of-session delayed test in the study-test paradigm. The findings provide further empirical support for a process-oriented distinction between item and associative information and pose a challenge for global matching models of recognition memory.
Classes of stimuli that are relatively easy to classify in recognition as old when old also appear to be relatively easy to classify as new when new. Five experiments are reported that extend this mirror effect to tests requiring retention of order and associative information. These experiments tested memory for words and nonwords; across experiments, the mirror effect was found on both yes-no and forced-choice tests. In addition, a new account of the mirror effect is proposed, one which suggests that this pattern results from participants' attempts to distribute responses equally across stimulus classes on tests. Support from this account came from additional experiments in which the mirror effect was eliminated when participants were asked to refrain from using positive responses as guesses.
To determine whether the advantage of picture memory over word memory would be maintained over repeated tests with the same material, eight subjects participated in six sessions of a recognition memory experiment. In each session after the first, half of the studied items and half of the lures from the previous session were switched to the opposite category. Recognition memory, whether measured by hits, false alarms, A′, or confidence ratings, remained at a constant high level across the six sessions, and pictures maintained their advantage over words. There was a small sequential advantage of maintaining an item in the same category from one session to the next, but this was only reliable for new items. We concluded that the advantage of pictures over words in memory is not because of their novelty, and that situational familiarity of the type manipulated here does not appear to operate analogously to naturally occurring familiarity.
Just as subjects can be highly accurate in identifying the original sense modality of presentation of words, they are also easily able to remember whether items were originally presented in verbal or pictorial form. This finding suggests some representational storage in terms of symbolic as well as in terms of sensory modality.
Memory storage for concrete words (nouns) and pictures was assessed in a recognition memory paradigm by using as confusion items corresponding stimuli in the opposite modality; that is, words which are verbal labels of the pictures, and pictures which are visual representations of the words. Results from both a Yes-No and Forced-Choice recognition experiment supported a dual-coding theory of memory storage such as that proposed by Paivio (1971), in which both verbal and visual codes are stored for both words and pictures. The influence of confusion items which referred to identical concepts was particularly marked for picture memory, and was interpreted as indicating that verbal codes of pictures are more likely to match their corresponding words than visual codes of words are to match their corresponding pictures.
Free verbal recall is generally higher for items presented as pictures than for items presented as words. Possible interpretations of this effect include differential verbal elaboration, superiority of nonverbal imagery as a memory code, and dual encoding favoring pictures. A series of experiments investigated the relative contributions of imaginal and verbal memory codes using incidental recall tasks in which the orienting task was designed to control the way items are encoded during input. Three experiments required subjects to encode words and pictures verbally, by writing or pronouncing the words or picture labels; or imaginally, by drawing or imaging the picture or object suggested by the word. Two further experiments involved a probability learning task which required no encoding reaction to pictures or words, but an analogue of imaginal and verbal coding was provided in one experiment using picture-picture, picture-word (or word-picture) and word-word repetitions. Recall tests following these manipulations consistently yielded much higher recall for pictures than for words under all conditions except when subjects imaged to words. Strong support was also found for the hypothesis that image and verbal memory codes are independent and additive in their effect on recall. In addition, the contribution of imagery appeared to be substantially higher than that of the verbal code. Thus the usual superiority of pictures in free recall is best explained by dual encoding, or a combination of image superiority and dual coding, both of which are ordinarily favored when items are presented as pictures.
PICTURES OF OBJECTS WERE RECALLED SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER THAN THEIR NAMES ON THE 1ST 2 OF 4 FREE RECALL TRIALS. RECALL FOR THE 2 MODES DID NOT DIFFER IN INTERTRIAL ORGANIZATION BUT STRIKING DIFFERENCES OCCURRED AS A FUNCTION OF INPUT SERIAL ORDER. PICTURE SUPERIORITY OCCURRED FOR TERMINAL INPUT ITEMS ON TRIAL 1, AND BOTH TERMINAL AND EARLY ITEMS ON TRIAL 2. FINDINGS ARE DISCUSSED IN TERMS OF VERBAL AND NONVERBAL (CONCRETE) MEMORY CODES. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Recall and recognition performance were compared under 3 different modes of presentation (written words, black-and-white pictures of objects, and color pictures of objects) for 15 male and 15 female Ss in each of 3 grade levels (college students, 6th graders, and 4th graders). Results show a developmental trend of increasing recall performance with age. Whereas adult performance was significantly affected by mode of presentation (color pictures > black-and-white pictures > written words), no difference was found across presentation modes for the 4th and 6th graders. However, the data also indicate that children do have pictorial and color cues available in memory in a manner very similar to adults. It is suggested that the cognitive structures of children do not utilize this stimulus information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Used signal detection theory (SDT) to measure recognition memory in 2 groups of 8 undergraduates with 1 group seeing words alone and pictures + words. Both groups were run for 3 sessions under each of 2 presentation probability conditions. Recognition memory was better for pictorial stimuli in each group, but there was no improvement in recognition memory for the combined cues of word + picture over picture alone. 4 measures of recognition memory were highly correlated, including 2 based on SDT and 1 based on high threshold theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Detection Theory is an introduction to one of the most important tools for analysis of data where choices must be made and performance is not perfect. Originally developed for evaluation of electronic detection, detection theory was adopted by psychologists as a way to understand sensory decision making, then embraced by students of human memory. It has since been utilized in areas as diverse as animal behavior and X-ray diagnosis. This book covers the basic principles of detection theory, with separate initial chapters on measuring detection and evaluating decision criteria. Some other features include: complete tools for application, including flowcharts, tables, pointers, and software;. student-friendly language;. complete coverage of content area, including both one-dimensional and multidimensional models;. separate, systematic coverage of sensitivity and response bias measurement;. integrated treatment of threshold and nonparametric approaches;. an organized, tutorial level introduction to multidimensional detection theory;. popular discrimination paradigms presented as applications of multidimensional detection theory; and. a new chapter on ideal observers and an updated chapter on adaptive threshold measurement. This up-to-date summary of signal detection theory is both a self-contained reference work for users and a readable text for graduate students and other researchers learning the material either in courses or on their own. © 2005 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Dual-process models of recognition assume that recognition judgments are based on a fast-acting familiarity-based process and a slower, more accurate, recall-based process. Often, the recall process is assumed to operate as a recall-to-reject process in which mismatching information that is retrieved from memory is used to reject test foils that are similar to studied items. In four experiments, we use receiver operating characteristic curves to evaluate the evidence for a recall-to-reject process in recognition judgments. Recall-to-reject emerged in item recognition and was especially apparent when participants were explicitly told that it was an appropriate strategy. Recall-to-reject also emerged in associative-recognition tasks in which sufficient time was allowed for a recall process to contribute to the recognition judgments.
Subjects were presented with a list of pictures and words and performed tasks that oriented processing toward the concept as an image, the concept as a verbal item, or toward underlying referential information associated with the concept. Recognition (Experiment 1) for concepts presented as pictures was superior only when the task required subjects to orient to the concept as a verbal item per se; a word superiority effect was observed when orientation was to the concept as a picture per se. The mode of presentation did not influence concept recognition when subjects had focused on the referential meaning of the items. Memory for form was also influenced by the task, with subjects more likely to claim they saw a word as a picture than vice versa, but only in the referent tasks. When subjects were asked to recall, rather than recognize the concepts (Experiment 2), there was a similar, though not identical, pattern of results. The sensory-semantic model of D. L. Nelson, V. S. Reed, and C. L. McEvoy Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 1977, 3, 485–497) had difficulty with some aspects of these data. The availability of information regarding cognitive operations performed on the input seems to be an important component of memory traces.
The probability of recognizing a member of a word pair tested with the pair intact was shown to equal the probability of recognizing a single word plus the probability of recalling an unrecognized word. A reanalysis of earlier results (Humphreys, Memory and Cognition, 1976, 4, 221–232) showed that the probability of failing to recognize both words in an intact study pair was not less than the probability of failing to recognize the two words in a rearranged pair. A second experiment confirmed this finding. These results support the hypothesis that two types of information (item and relational) underlie these recognition judgments. They also support assumptions about the retrieval processes being independent of context.
Participants are more likely to give positive responses on a recognition test to pseudowords (pronounceable nonwords) than words. A series of experiments suggests that this difference reflects the greater overall familiarity of pseudowords than of words. Pseudowords receive higher ratings of similarity to a studied list than do words. Pseudowords receive more positive recognition responses than words even when pseudowords are remembered at least as well as words. This pseudoword effect is found on forced-choice recognition and on frequency judgments but not in associative recognition.
A role for relational information was examined for the paradigm in which recognition-memory performance on items tested in the same context in which they were studied is compared with performance on items tested in different contexts. Over a series of five experiments, randomly formed pairs were used to manipulate the context of high-frequency English words. Comparisons were made between instructional manipulations designed to influence the use of relational information, and between yes/no, confidence rating (both between- and within-subject), and forced-choice tasks. There was a context effect not due to the use of inappropriate response strategies. However, high-criterion subjects resembled those subjects who were specifically instructed to use relational information, while low-criterion subjects showed little or no context effect. A model specifying the relationship between item and relational information and how relational information influences decisions in recognition-memory paradigms was proposed.
WHEN an object such as a chair is presented visually, or is represented by a line drawing, a spoken word, or a written word, the initial stages in the process leading to understanding are clearly different in each case. There is disagreement, however, about whether those early stages lead to a common abstract representation in memory, the idea of a chair1-4, or to two separate representations, one verbal (common to spoken and written words), and the other image-like5. The first view claims that words and images are associated with ideas, but the underlying representation of an idea is abstract. According to the second view, the verbal representation alone is directly associated with abstract information about an object (for example, its superordinate category: furniture). Concrete perceptual information (for example, characteristic shape, colour or size) is associated with the imaginal representation. Translation from one representation to the other takes time, on the second view, which accounts for the observation that naming a line drawing takes longer than naming (reading aloud) a written word6,7. Here we confirm that naming a drawing of an object takes much longer than reading its name, but we show that deciding whether the object is in a given category such as `furniture' takes slightly less time for a drawing than for a word, a result that seems to be inconsistent with the second view.
The time course of availability of associative and item information was examined by using a response signal procedure. Associative information discriminates between a studied pair of words and a pair with words from two different studied pairs. Item information is sufficient to discriminate between a studied pair and a pair not studied. In two experiments, discriminations that require associative information are delayed relative to those based on item information. Two additional experiments discount alternative explanations in terms of the time to encode the test items or task strategies. Examination of the global memory models of Gillund and Shiffrin (1984), Hintzman (1988), and Murdock (1982) shows that the models treat item and associative information inseparably. Modifications to these models which can produce separate contributions for item and associative information do not predict any difference in their availability. Two possible mechanisms for the delayed availability of associative information are considered: the involvement of recall in recognition and the time required to form a compound cue.
Six experiments studied the effect of physical orienting questions (e.g., "Is this angular?") and semantic orienting questions (e.g., "Is this edible?") on memory for unrelated pictures at stimulus durations ranging from 125-2,000 ms. Results ran contrary to the semantic superiority "rule of thumb," which is based primarily on verbal memory experiments. Physical questions were associated with better free recall and cued recall of a diverse set of visual scenes (Experiments 1, 2, and 4). This occurred both when general and highly specific semantic questions were used (Experiments 1 and 2). Similar results were obtained when more simplistic visual stimuli--photographs of single objects--were used (Experiments 5 and 6). As in the case of the semantic superiority effect with words, the physical superiority effect for pictures was eliminated or reversed when the same physical questions were repeated throughout the session (Experiments 4 and 6). Conflicts with results of previous levels of processing experiments with words and nonverbal stimuli (e.g., faces) are explained in terms of the sensory-semantic model (Nelson, Reed, & McEvoy, 1977). Implications for picture memory research and the levels of processing viewpoint are discussed.
In this article we present a standardized set of 260 pictures for use in experiments investigating differences and similarities in the processing of pictures and words. The pictures are black-and-white line drawings executed according to a set of rules that provide consistency of pictorial representation. The pictures have been standardized on four variables of central relevance to memory and cognitive processing: name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity. The intercorrelations among the four measures were low, suggesting that they are indices of different attributes of the pictures. The concepts were selected to provide exemplars from several widely studied semantic categories. Sources of naming variance, and mean familiarity and complexity of the exemplars, differed significantly across the set of categories investigated. The potential significance of each of the normative variables to a number of semantic and episodic memory tasks is discussed.
In five experiments, participants studied pairs of words and yes/no recognition memory for both item and associative information was tested. Two stimulus manipulations, nouns versus nonnouns and high versus low word concreteness, produced the mirror effect for both item and associative recognition. The mirror effect was reflected in both measures of accuracy and response latency. A word frequency manipulation, however, produced the mirror effect only for item recognition. Two additional experiments showed that the mirror effect could also be obtained between nouns and nonnouns and between high and low concrete words for associative recognition in a forced-choice recognition procedure. The results extend the generality of the mirror effect to measures of response latency and to associative recognition and also suggest that similar retrieval and decision processes underlie recognition of item and associative information.
Receiver-operating characteristics (ROCs) were examined in three recognition memory experiments. ROCs for item information (i.e., was this word presented?) were found to be curvilinear. However, ROCs for associative information (i.e., were these two words presented together?) were found to be linear. The results are in agreement with the predictions of a dual-process model that assumes that recognition judgments are based on familiarity and recollection. Familiarity reflects the assessment of a continuous strength dimension and is well described as a signal detection process, whereas recollection reflects the retrieval of qualitative information about the study episode and behaves like a discrete threshold process. The results showed that memory judgments about items relied on a combination of recollection and familiarity, but that judgments about associations relied primarily on recollection. Further examination of the associative ROCs suggested that subjects were able to recollect that old pairs of items were in the study list, and, under some conditions, that new pairs were not in the study list.
The form change paradigm was used to explore the basis for the picture superiority effect. Recognition memory for studied pictures and words was tested in their study form or the alternate form. Form change cost was defined as the difference between recognition performance for same and different form items. Based on the results of Experiment 1 and previous studies, it was difficult to determine the relative cost for studied pictures and words due to a reversal of the mirror effect. We hypothesized that the reversed mirror effect results from subjects' basing their recognition decisions on their assumptions about the study form. Experiments 2 and 3 confirmed this hypothesis and generated a method for evaluating the relative cost for pictures and words despite the reversed mirror effect. More cost was observed for pictures than words, supporting the distinctiveness model of the picture superiority effect.
Two-process accounts of recognition memory assume that memory judgments are based on both a rapidly available familiarity-based process and a slower, more accurate, recall-based mechanism. Past experiments on the time course of item recognition have not supported the recall-to-reject account of the second process, in which the retrieval of an old item is used to reject a similar foil (Rotello & Heit, 1999). In three new experiments, using analyses similar to those of Rotello and Heit, we found robust evidence for recall-to-reject processing in associative recognition, for word pairs, and for list-discrimination judgments. Put together, these results have implications for two-process accounts of recognition.