Recognition of Concrete and abstract Pictures as a Function of Poststimulus Interval

This study examined picture recognition of concrete common objects and abstract random shapes under two presentation conditions: The durations of the unfilled intervals (off-time duration) that followed the presentation of the pictures were varied either randomly or in blocks. The major findings were: (a) recognition of the concrete pictures was better than recognition of random shapes, (b) the off-time duration did not influence recognition of either type of picture under the random presentation condition, and (c) under the block presentation condition, recognition of the concrete pictures increased as a function of off-time duration, whereas the effect of off-time duration was not found for the abstract shapes. The results were interpreted as suggesting that a longer off-time duration is necessary for abstract shapes so that stimulus differentiation, verbal encoding, visual analogizing, and rehearsing may be utilized in processing.     

Projective invariance and picture perception

Four experiments test the assumption that, in the visual perception of pictures, observers have reliable and direct access to the equivalence of shapes in projective geometry. The assumption is that perception of projective equivalence is the basis of shape constancy ('the projective thesis'). Observers matched or reproduced abstract planar shapes under conditions of rotation in the picture plane, and pictured rotation in depth. Departure from projective equivalence was assessed in each study by measuring the planar analogue of cross ratio. Projective equivalence was not found to be perceived uniformly where Euclidean equivalence was not judged uniformly, either in recognition tasks or in production tasks. When the projective thesis is put to a suitably general test, confidence in the thesis is undermined.     

Storage and retrieval properties of dual codes for pictures and words in recognition memory.

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.     

Visual imagery ability and the recognition of verbal and nonverbal stimuli.

High and low visual imagers, defined as such primarily on the basis of spatial manipulation test performance, were required to identify tachistoscopically-presented pictures, concrete words, and abstract words varying in familiarity. Two recognition paradigms were employed, recognition threshold and recognition latency. High imagers were faster in picture recognition under both paradigms when a nonverbal set or strategy was primed and when pictures were relatively unfamiliar in the threshold paradigm. No relationship was found between imagery ability and word recognition in the visual modality, nor was visual imagery ability related to the auditory recognition of verbal and nonverbal stimuli, such as words and environmental sounds. Commonalities between these findings and others in the imagery ability literature were noted.     

Developmental differences in the role of detail in picture recognition memory

Two experiments assess the effect of the amount of physical detail in pictures on picture recognition memory. Children and adults were presented simple and complex line drawings. A “same-different” recognition test followed in which the distractor items were original pictures from the presentation phase with the amount of physical detail altered. For second- and fourth-grade subjects, recognition sensitivity, measured in terms of d′, was similar for pictures in the simple and complex presentation conditions. For adults, however, recognition sensitivity was greater for pictures in the simple than complex presentation condition. This finding with adults was replicated in Experiment 2. Interpretations of this age difference in picture memory processing are discussed, as well as the constraints imposed by various dependent measures used in picture memory studies.     

Task difficulty and visual similarity increase a distractor's effects on random shapes

Recognition of random shapes followed by a visual distractor is altered by the type of distractor and whether the distractor needs to be attended. Three experiments tested which characteristics modify a visual distractor's effect on random target shapes presented for 75 to 150 msec. Exp. 1 showed that increasing the number of digits to be remembered (1, 3, or 8) increased the effectiveness of digits as distractors. Exeir effect as visual distractors for random target shapes. Random shapes were highly effective as distractors, while pictures of faces or comples colored pictures had a relatively small effect. In Exp. 3 decreasing the presentation time for novel visual distractors decreased recognition of the distractors but not of random target shapes. However, adding a three-digit distractor after the novel visual distractor did decrease recognition of target shapes. Exps. 2 and 3 showed that the order of the recognition tests of the target and distracting stimuli altered target recognition if and only if subjects did know which was to be reported first. These experiments indicate that the effect of a visual distractor depends on both the extent to which it is allotted attention and its visual similarity to the target stimulus.     

Toward neuroanatomical models of analogy: a positron emission tomography study of analogical mapping

Several brain regions associated with analogical mapping were identified using (15)O-positron emission tomography with 12 normal, high intelligence adults. Each trial presented during scanning consisted of a source picture of colored geometric shapes, a brief delay, and a target picture of colored geometric shapes. Analogous pictures did not share similar geometric shapes but did share the same system of abstract visuospatial relations. Participants judged whether each source-target pairing was analogous (analogy condition) or identical (literal condition). The results of the analogy-literal comparison showed activation in the dorsomedial frontal cortex and in the left hemisphere; the inferior, middle, and medial frontal cortices; the parietal cortex; and the superior occipital cortex. Based on these results as well as evidence from relevant cognitive neuroscience studies of reasoning and of executive working memory, we hypothesize that analogical mapping is mediated by the left prefrontal and inferior parietal cortices.     

A developmental study of recognition of pictures and nouns

Children at four age levels (4, 6, 8, and 10 years) were given continuous recognition tasks using concrete noun, abstract noun, and pictorial stimuli in a 4 × 3 factorial design. Pictures were recognized significantly better than concrete and abstract nouns at the 4- and 6-year age levels and significantly better than abstract nouns at the 8- and 10-year age levels. This supported Paivio's contention that pictures are easier to remember than words because of a greater possibility of dual encoding, while Rohwer's contention that there is a shift in recognition memory development received no support. There were no significant differences between recognition of concrete and abstract nouns at any age level, which opposed the findings from adult studies and suggested that Paivio's theoretical orientation would have to be extended in order to account for developmental data. Recognition for both concrete and abstract nouns was found to be linear and increasing significantly with age, but no age trends for picture recognition were found.     

中性抽象词和具体词情绪信息获得的差异

采用词汇迫选学习范式考察不同类型词汇获得情绪信息的认知机制。结果发现：（1）在迫选过程中与积极图片匹配的具体词汇喜好度显著高于与消极图片匹配的喜好度,而抽象词学习并未表现出这样的效应。（2）积极图片下被选择词汇的喜好度显著高于未被选择词汇的喜好度,而消极图片下被选择词汇与未被选择词汇的喜好度差异不显著。该结果表明具体词相较于抽象词更易获得相应情绪信息,积极情绪比消极情绪信息更易被习得。     

Enhanced recognition of memorable pictures in ultra-fast RSVP

Long-term recognition memory for some pictures is consistently better than for others (Isola, Xiao, Parikh, Torralba, & Oliva, IEEE Transaction on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI), 36(7), 1469–1482, 2014). Here, we investigated whether pictures found to be memorable in a long-term memory test are also perceived more easily when presented in ultra-rapid RSVP. Participants viewed 6 pictures they had never seen before that were presented for 13 to 360 ms per picture in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) sequence. In half the trials, one of the pictures was a memorable or a nonmemorable picture and perception of this picture was probed by a visual recognition test at the end of the sequence. Recognition for pictures from the memorable set was higher than for those from the nonmemorable set, and this difference increased with increasing duration. Nonmemorable picture recognition was low initially, did not increase until 120 ms, and never caught up with memorable picture recognition performance. Thus, the long-term memorability of an image is associated with initial perceptibility: A picture that is hard to grasp quickly is hard to remember later.     

Episodic encoding and recognition of pictures and words: role of the human medial temporal lobes

In the present PET study, we examined brain activity related to processing of pictures and printed words in episodic memory. Our goal was to determine how the perceptual format of objects (verbal versus pictorial) is reflected in the neural organization of episodic memory for common objects. We investigated this issue in relation to encoding and recognition with a particular focus on medial temporal-lobe (MTL) structures. At encoding, participants saw pictures of objects or their written names and were asked to make semantic judgments. At recognition, participants made yes-no recognition judgments in four different conditions. In two conditions, target items were pictures of objects; these objects had originally been encoded either in picture or in word format. In two other conditions, target items were words; they also denoted objects originally encoded either as pictures or as words. Our data show that right MTL structures are differentially involved in picture processing during encoding and recognition. A posterior MTL region showed higher activation in response to the presentation of pictures than of words across all conditions. During encoding, this region may be involved in setting up a representation of the perceptual information that comprises the picture. At recognition, it may play a role in guiding retrieval processes based on the perceptual input, i.e. the retrieval cue. Another more anterior right MTL region was found to be differentially involved in recognition of objects that had been encoded as pictures, irrespective of whether the retrieval cue provided was pictorial or verbal in nature; this region may be involved in accessing stored pictorial representations. Our results suggest that left MTL structures contribute to picture processing only during encoding. Some regions in the left MTL showed an involvement in semantic encoding that was picture specific; others showed a task-specific involvement across pictures and words. Together, our results provide evidence that the involvement of some but not all MTL regions in episodic encoding and recognition is format specific.     

The perceptual basis of the modality effect in multimedia learning

Various studies have demonstrated an advantage of auditory over visual text modality when learning with texts and pictures. To explain this modality effect, two complementary assumptions are proposed by cognitive theories of multimedia learning: first, the visuospatial load hypothesis, which explains the modality effect in terms of visuospatial working memory overload in the visual text condition; and second, the temporal contiguity assumption, according to which the modality effect occurs because solely auditory texts and pictures can be attended to simultaneously. The latter explanation applies only to simultaneous presentation, the former to both simultaneous and sequential presentation. This paper introduces a third explanation, according to which parts of the modality effect are due to early, sensory processes. This account predicts that-for texts longer than one sentence-the modality effect with sequential presentation is restricted to the information presented most recently. Two multimedia experiments tested the influence of text modality across three different conditions: simultaneous presentation of texts and pictures versus sequential presentation versus presentation of text only. Text comprehension and picture recognition served as dependent variables. An advantage for auditory texts was restricted to the most recent text information and occurred under all presentation conditions. With picture recognition, the modality effect was restricted to the simultaneous condition. These findings clearly support the idea that the modality effect can be attributed to early processes in perception and sensory memory rather than to a working memory bottleneck.     

French norms of imagery for pictures, for concrete and abstract words]

This paper deals with French norms for mental image versus picture agreement for 138 pictures and the imagery value for 138 concrete words and 69 abstract words. The pictures were selected from Snodgrass et Vanderwart's norms (1980). The concrete words correspond to the dominant naming response to the pictorial stimuli. The abstract words were taken from verbal associative norms published by Ferrand (2001). The norms were established according to two variables: 1) mental image vs. picture agreement, and 2) imagery value of words. Three other variables were controlled: 1) picture naming agreement; 2) familiarity of objects referred to in the pictures and the concrete words, and 3) subjective verbal frequency of words. The originality of this work is to provide French imagery norms for the three kinds of stimuli usually compared in research on dual coding. Moreover, these studies focus on figurative and verbal stimuli variations in visual imagery processes.     

Emotions Evoked by Viewing Pictures may Affect Temporal Aspects of Visual Processing

We examined how impression (such as safety, pleasantness, and impact), as well as emotional arousal and valence, evoked by viewing a picture affects temporal resolution of visual processing and perceived picture duration. In the first experiment as an index of temporal resolution of visual processing, we measured the noticeable duration of a monochrome picture after presenting a color picture. In the second experiment, we measured the duration of the picture presentation, which was equivalent to the duration of the presentation of a gray rectangle that should not evoke specifically safe or pleasant impressions. We found that the minimum duration in which an observer could notice a monochrome image in viewing a dangerous picture was shorter than that in viewing safe pictures. We also found that observers overestimated the duration of the picture presentation in viewing dangerous pictures. However, there was no significant correlation between the results of the two experiments. These results suggest that the basis for improvement of the temporal resolution in visual processing differs from that for the elongation of the perceived duration.     

Semantic interference in a delayed naming task: evidence for the response exclusion hypothesis

In 2 experiments participants named pictures of common objects with superimposed distractor words. In one naming condition, the pictures and words were presented simultaneously on every trial, and participants produced the target response immediately. In the other naming condition, the presentation of the picture preceded the presentation of the distractor by 1,000 ms, and participants delayed production of their naming response until distractor word presentation. Within each naming condition, the distractor words were either semantic category coordinates of the target pictures or unrelated. Orthogonal to this manipulation of semantic relatedness, the frequency of the pictures' names was manipulated. The authors observed semantic interference effects in both the immediate and delayed naming conditions but a frequency effect only in the immediate naming condition. These data indicate that semantic interference can be observed when target picture naming latencies do not reflect the bottleneck at the level of lexical selection. In the context of other findings from the picture-word interference paradigm, the authors interpret these data as supporting the view that the semantic interference effect arises at a postlexical level of processing.     

On the significance of “double encoding” for the superior recall of pictures to names

Ten-year-old children who were shown pictures of objects immediately preceded by the object's name recalled the material no better than those exposed to the names of the stimuli alone. Both conditions yielded significantly poorer retention than those in which pictures alone were presented or pictures followed by their names. A second study replicated this result. In addition this demonstrated, by a picture and name recognition task, that the effects could not be due to subjects in the “name prior to picture” condition ignoring the pictorial component. These results were interpreted as contradicting the “double encoding” explanation of the superiority of pictures to names in free recall. Parallel visual and verbal encoding of a pictured object does not facilitate retention unless the verbal cue is actively elicited from the subject by the stimulus. The implications of this result for other studies which have employed either simultaneous or sequential presentation of pictures and names are briefly discussed.     

The picture superiority effect in associative recognition

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.     

激活水平和呈现方式对错误记忆的影响

随机抽取80名大学生参与实验,采用DRM(Deese-Roediger-Mcdermott)范式,探讨了激活水平和呈现方式对错误记忆的影响。结果发现:(1)在随机呈现条件下,关键诱饵的错误再认率显著低于分组呈现条件,但学过项目的正确再认率在两种条件下无差异。(2)在高激活水平条件下,学过项目的正确再认率明显低于低激活水平条件,但关键诱饵的错误再认率在两种激活条件下的差异不够明显。这表明,呈现方式对关键诱饵的错误再认率有显著影响,而激活水平的影响则不显著。由此可知,人们的记忆可以在没有任何外界信息干扰的情况下因内在联想过程而自发地发生改变。     

感知觉加工与概念加工对联结记忆中图片优势效应的影响

本研究采用联结再认范式考察联结记忆中感知觉水平和概念加工程度对图片优势效应的影响。实验1通过呈现清晰或模糊的词语或图片对操纵了感知觉水平,结果发现只有在清晰条件下图片优势效应才会出现;实验2则在模糊条件下通过要求被试想象两个项目之间的关系操纵了概念加工程度,结果发现在有概念加工条件下,出现了图片优势效应。研究结果表明：（1）降低的感知觉水平会导致联结记忆中的图片优势效应消失;（2）对模糊项目对进行概念加工会使联结记忆中出现图片优势效应。