Perception and Memory of Pictures
Abstract
This research is concerned with perception and memory of pictures. The theoretical motivations behind the experiments vary from area to area: in some cases, we want to test predictions of a connectionist model for picture recognition; in other we want to compare pictures with words to determine whether the two surface forms are understood at the same rate; in still other, the pictures are used as a vehicle to study questions about implicit memory. In the area of perception, interference in identification of a degraded image occurs when even more degraded images of the same object precede it. We tested, and rejected, the explanation proposed by Bruner and Potter that erroneous hypotheses about the object's identity interfere with subsequent recognition in favor of the explanation generated by our connectionist model. This explanation holds that transient activation of perceptual features common to the target and its distractors reduces the signal-to-noise ratio and causes interference. We were able to eliminate interference by having subjects solve math problems between presentations of the more degraded images. In the area of implicit memory, we found that the best priming stimulus for subsequent identification was a moderately fragmented stimulus, as compared to a very fragmented or almost complete stimulus. We developed the perceptual closure hypothesis to account for this effect--it says that the more difficult perceptual closure or completion of the fragmented figure is to achieve, the more priming occurs, as along as closure is finally achieved.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 20, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA241639
Entities
People
- Joan G. Snodgrass
Organizations
- New York University