Components of Visual Memory

Visual recognition memory for a sequence of non-verbalized patterns is shown to have a large and clearly defined recency effect. This recency effect occurs with random list lengths and therefore cannot be due to differential processing of the end items. The effect is completely removed by just 3 s of mental arithmetic but survives for at least 10 s over unfilled intervals. Recognition memory for patterns at other serial positions is slower, less accurate, and shows no primacy effect; performance at these earlier serial positions is dependent upon the time for which patterns are initially presented, but is unaffected by the duration of the retention interval, mental arithmetic, and the time between patterns on initial presentation. These findings provide evidence that visual memory has two components that are closely analogous to the short-term (STM) and long-term (LTM) components of verbal memory. Visual STM, here called visualization, has a capacity of one pattern, cannot be activated LTM, and does not seem to be the gateway to LTM.

[1]  W A Phillips,et al.  Interference with Visualization , 1977, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[2]  Patrick Henry Winston,et al.  The psychology of computer vision , 1976, Pattern Recognit..

[3]  E. Scheerer,et al.  Two Visual Stores and Two Processing Operations in Tachistoscopic Partial Report , 1976, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[4]  D. Hines.  Immediate and delayed recognition of sequentially presented random shapes. , 1975, Journal of experimental psychology. Human learning and memory.

[5]  B Tversky,et al.  Picture memory improves with longer on time and off time. , 1975, Journal of experimental psychology. Human learning and memory.

[6]  William G. Chase,et al.  Visual information processing. , 1977 .

[7]  W. A. Wickelgren.  Single-trace fragility theory of memory dynamics , 1974, Memory & cognition.

[8]  Marvin Minsky,et al.  A framework for representing knowledge , 1974 .

[9]  R. Bjork,et al.  Recency-sensitive retrieval processes in long-term free recall☆ , 1974 .

[10]  W. A. Phillips.  On the distinction between sensory storage and short-term visual memory , 1974 .

[11]  F. Craik,et al.  The role of rehearsal in short-term memory , 1973 .

[12]  A M Taylor,et al.  Immediate Memory for Faces: Long- or Short-Term Memory? , 1973, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[13]  O. Tzeng.  Positive recency effect in a delayed free recall , 1973 .

[14]  W. O. Shaffer,et al.  Rehearsal and storage of visual information. , 1972, Journal of experimental psychology.

[15]  G. Cohen.  Serial Position Effects in the Recall of Picture Sequences , 1972, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[16]  R. Atkinson,et al.  The control of short-term memory. , 1971, Scientific American.

[17]  William A. Phillips,et al.  Reaction time and short-term visual memory , 1971 .

[18]  Patrick Henry Winston,et al.  Learning structural descriptions from examples , 1970 .

[19]  R. Haber.  How we remember what we see. , 1970, Scientific American.

[20]  M. Potter,et al.  Recognition memory for a rapid sequence of pictures. , 1969, Journal of experimental psychology.

[21]  R. Shepard.  Recognition memory for words, sentences, and pictures , 1967 .

[22]  A D Baddeley,et al.  Short-term Memory for Word Sequences as a Function of Acoustic, Semantic and Formal Similarity , 1966, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[23]  M. Glanzer,et al.  Two storage mechanisms in free recall , 1966 .

[24]  A. W. Melton.  Implications of short-term memory for a general theory of memory , 1963 .

[25]  L. R. Peterson,et al.  Short-term retention of individual verbal items. , 1959, Journal of experimental psychology.

[26]  Merrill Hiscock,et al.  Imagery and Verbal Processes. , 1974 .

[27]  E. Warrington,et al.  An analysis of short-term and long-term memory defects in man. , 1973 .

[28]  John R. Hayes,et al.  ON THE FUNCTION OF VISUAL IMAGERY IN ELEMENTARY MATHEMATICS , 1973 .

[29]  Michael I. Posner,et al.  Abstraction and The Process of Recognition , 1970 .

[30]  J A Deutsch,et al.  The physiological basis of memory. , 1969, Annual review of psychology.

[31]  Richard C. Atkinson,et al.  Human Memory: A Proposed System and its Control Processes , 1968, Psychology of Learning and Motivation.

[32]  Peter A. Tucker,et al.  Primary Memory , 1965, Encyclopedia of Database Systems.