Family Photographs: in Treatment and Training

The universal appeal of nostalgia and reminiscence makes photographs a natural instrument for studying the impact of the past upon the present. This paper explores photography as a medium for facilitating reminiscence to discover individual roles, interpersonal relationships, and family dynamics. A method is described for using family photographs in treatment and training of clinicians at a Family Therapy Clinic.     

Investigating the structure of autobiographical memory using reaction times

The study investigated the structure of autobiographical memory using reaction time measures. A total of 18 participants took photographs over their summer holidays and then reacted to pairs of these photographs displayed via a computer. They also subsequently sorted their photographs according to the autobiographical themes and events with which they were associated. When photographic sequence and the physical similarities in the photographs were controlled for by considering the results of “stranger” participants who were unfamiliar with the photographs, reaction times were significantly faster to pairs of photographs from the same theme or event. The results are consistent with currently held assumptions about the structure of autobiographical memory. Furthermore, the results suggest that reaction time measures may provide a valuable means by which aspects of autobiographical memory can be explored.     

Why are faces hard to recognize in photographic negative?

Faces may be difficult to recognize in photographic negative simply because they contain a large range of grays, while printed words and geometric shapes, which contain no grays, are easy to recognize in negative. This explanation was partly tested in an experiment where Ss had to recognize positive and negative pictures of well-known people, both using normal monochrome photographs and using lith photographs in which all areas of gray were removed. Lith photographs were harder to recognize than normal photographs, but the difference between positive and negative was the same for lith pictures as for normal ones. This does not rule out an explanation in terms of grays, but it does put a major constraint on it.     

Long-term memory for 400 pictures on a common theme

Long-term memory for large numbers of color photographs with a common motif--doors--was studied using pictures with two levels of informative cues: original photographs, and edited pictures in which extraneous information on details such as vegetation, paint scratches, signs, and lamp posts was removed. In the study phase, subjects viewed 400 pictures and were subsequently tested for memory on two-alternative forced-choice discriminations between studied and distracter pictures from the same picture category, at retention intervals between 0.5 h and 9 days. When tested with the nonedited original photographs immediate memory performance was close to 85% correct; when pictorial details were removed memory performance dropped by 20%. The decay functions were shallow with parallel paths for the categories of pictures. It is concluded that specific details of visual scenes contributed to long-term memory of those scenes.     

Instructive feedback: Effects of number and type

We evaluated the effects of presenting two instructive feedback stimuli of the same and different types for each target behavior taught. Four elementary school students with mild mental retardation were taught to name photographs of places of interest in the local community using constant time delay and instructive feedback. Initially, the four students were taught one set of photographs with one instructive feedback stimulus (name of the street on which the place was located) for each target photograph. All students learned to name all photographs, and three learned to name the street on which the place was located. The three students who learned to name the street for the place in the photograph were then taught three sets of photographs. Each set included two instructive feedback stimuli for each target photograph: Set 2 had one street name and one activity that occurred in the place; Set 3 had two activities per photograph, and Set 4 had one street name and one activity. The three students learned to name the photographs, but only learned to name the activities and not the street names that were presented through instructive feedback. These finds are discussed in terms of the factors that may control acquisition of instructive feedback stimuli and the implications for practice and future research.     

The effects of photographs and event plausibility in creating false beliefs

Recent studies have shown that using photographs as memory retrieval aids can significantly increase the likelihood of false memories. The current study further investigated this effect by examining the interactive effects of photographs and event plausibility in developing false beliefs. At Time 1 and two weeks later at Time 2, participants rated 20 events on the Life Events Inventory (LEI) as to whether each occurred to them in childhood. One week after Time 1, participants were told that two target events were plausible and two were implausible. They then used event-related photographs to visualize one plausible and one implausible event. Occurrence ratings significantly increased from Time 1 to Time 2 for plausible events in the photo condition. These results suggest that the use of photographs as a memory enhancing technique is unlikely to cause false memories for events that are not perceived personally plausible.     

Memory for faces: Are caricatures better than photographs?

Because photographs capture an individual at a moment in time, they contain fleeting features as well as more stable ones. Caricature line drawings, however, include stable features and emphasize distinctive ones. As such, caricatures are closer to schematic memory representations than are photographs. Three experiments using faces of public figures test the hypothesis that caricatures yield better performance than do photographs. Contrary to hypothesis, photographs lead to better performance than do line-drawing caricatures in three different tasks: name recall, face recognition, and name-face verification reaction time. Photographs are also rated as more characteristic or representative of their targets than are line-drawing caricatures.     

Changes in background impair fluency-triggered positive affect: a cross-cultural test using a mere-exposure paradigm

This study examined whether repeated exposure would enhance positive evaluations when only a part of a stimulus (e.g., the central object) was identical to a previously presented stimulus. Japanese and American participants were exposed to photographs of animals with scenery, then asked their preferences for each of four types of photographs of animals (photographs of animals with the original scenery, photographs of animals without scenery, photographs of animals with novel scenery, and photographs of animals not depicted previously). Finally, their recognition of the animals presented in the exposure phase was tested. Members of both groups showed the mere-exposure effect for the first two types of stimuli, irrespective of stimulus recognition accuracy, whereas this effect was not observed for animals presented with novel scenery. This suggests that changes in background impair positive affect as a result of repeated exposure.     

Enhanced recall of disgusting relative to frightening photographs is not due to organisation

Previous research has shown that disgusting photographs are better remembered than frightening photographs, even when the two image types have equivalent valence and arousal. However, this work did not control for potential differences in organisation between the disgusting and frightening stimuli that could account for enhanced memory for disgusting photographs. The current research therefore tested whether differences in recall between disgusting and frightening photographs persist when differences in organisation are eliminated. Using a set of disgusting and frightening photographs matched for interrelatedness, Study 1 found that participants recalled more disgusting photographs than frightening photographs. This effect was mediated by increased attention to the disgusting photographs. Study 2 used Latent Semantic Analysis to further interrogate the relatedness of the photographs, providing converging evidence that organisation does not account for enhanced recall of disgusting photographs. Taken together, these results suggest that dimensional models of emotion cannot fully account for emotion’s effects on episodic memory. Instead, disgust appears to enhance recall via a distinctive, attention-mediated mechanism.     

Shadow People: A Counter Visual of Those Who Use Methamphetamine

This photo essay offers a counter visual to the common images of people who use methamphetamine (meth). Images of meth users found in the media and in anti-meth campaigns typically paint them as one-dimensional actors who have sacrificed their health, families, and lives for their drug of choice. Such depictions contribute to the stigmatization and demonization of users, which can ultimately impede their recovery. Here, we provide photographs of men who previously cooked methamphetamine but who were in treatment at the time the photographs were taken. The photographs are captioned with quotes from the men to show some of the range of attractions for using, the hazards of chronic use, and the struggles to live free from meth. Our hope is that these images and brief quotes will help to show the complexity of these peoples’ lives.     

Pigeons concurrently categorize photographs at both basic and superordinate levels

We studied categorization in pigeons, using carefully controlled photographs. Within daily sessions, 4 pigeons had to classify each of 32 photographs into either its proper basic-level category (cars, chairs, flowers, or people; four-key forced choice procedure) or its proper superordinate-level category (natural or artificial; two-key forced choice procedure). The pigeons successfully classified the same stimuli at both levels. Overall, the pigeons learned the basic discrimination more quickly than the superordinate discrimination, but this difference was reliable only for artificial stimuli (cars and chairs), not for natural stimuli (flowers and people). The pigeons also exhibited reliable discrimination transfer to novel photographs, attesting to the open-endedness of these basic and superordinate categories.     

Napping promotes inter-session habituation to emotional stimuli

The effects of a daytime nap on inter-session habituation to aversive visual stimuli were investigated. Healthy young adult volunteers viewed repeated presentations of highly negative and emotionally neutral (but equally arousing) International Affective Picture System (IAPS) photographs during two afternoon sessions separated by 2.5h. Half of the photographs were shown at both sessions (Repeated Sets) and half differed between sessions (Novel Sets). For each stimulus presentation, evoked skin conductance response (SCR), heart-rate deceleration (HRD) and corrugator supercilii EMG response (EMG), were computed and range corrected using respective maximum session-1 responses. Following each presentation, subjects rated each photograph on dimensions of pleasantness and arousability. During the inter-session interval, Nap subjects had a 120-min polysomnographically monitored sleep opportunity, whereas Wake subjects watched a non-stimulating video. Nap and Wake subjects did not differ in their subjective ratings of photographs. However, for Repeated-Set photographs, Nap subjects demonstrated greater inter-session habituation in SCR and EMG but a trend toward lesser inter-session habituation in HRD. These group differences were absent for Novel-Set photographs. Group differences across all measures were greater for negative stimuli. Occurrence of SWS during the nap was associated with greater inter-session habituation of EMG whereas occurrence of REM was associated with lesser inter-session habituation of SCR to negative stimuli. Sleep may therefore promote emotional adjustment at the level of somatic responses. Physiological but not subjective inter-session habituation to aversive images was enhanced by a daytime nap.     

Recognising facial surfaces.

The extent to which faces depicted as surfaces devoid of pigmentation and with minimal texture cues ('head models') could be matched with photographs (when unfamiliar) and identified (when familiar) was examined in three experiments. The head models were obtained by scanning the three-dimensional surface of the face with a laser, and by displaying the surface measured in this way by using standard computer-aided design techniques. Performance in all tasks was above chance but far from ceiling. Experiment 1 showed that matching of unfamiliar head models with photographs was affected by the resolution with which the surface was displayed, suggesting that subjects based their decisions, at least in part, on three-dimensional surface structure. Matching accuracy was also affected by other factors to do with the view-points shown in the head models and test photographs, and the type of lighting used to portray the head model. In experiment 2 further evidence for the importance of the nature of the illumination used was obtained, and it was found that the addition of a hairstyle (not that of the target face) did not facilitate matching. In experiment 3 identification of the head models by colleagues of the people shown was compared with identification of photographs where the hair was concealed and eyes were closed. Head models were identified less well than these photographs, suggesting that the difficulties in their recognition are not solely due to the lack of hair. Women's heads were disproportionately difficult to recognise from the head models. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the use of such three-dimensional head models in forensic and surgical applications.     

Comparison of neural activity that leads to true memories,false memories,and forgetting: An fMRI study of the misinformation effect

False memories can occur when people are exposed to misinformation about a past event. Of interest here are the neural mechanisms of this type of memory failure. In the present study, participants viewed photographic vignettes of common activities during an original event phase (OEP), while we monitored their brain activity using fMRI. Later, in a misinformation phase, participants viewed sentences describing the studied photographs, some of which contained information conflicting with that depicted in the photographs. One day later, participants returned for a surprise item memory recognition test for the content of the photographs. Results showed reliable creation of false memories, in that participants reported information that had been presented in the verbal misinformation but not in the photographs. Several regions were more active during the OEP for later accurate memory than for forgetting, but they were also more active for later false memories, indicating that false memories in this paradigm are not simply caused by failure to encode the original event. There was greater activation in the ventral visual stream for subsequent true memories than for subsequent false memories, however, suggesting that differences in encoding may contribute to later susceptibility to misinformation.     

High-order concept formation in the pigeon

After 30 days of operant training, with pecking responses to aerial photographs containing man-made objects reinforced with food, and no food reinforcement for pecking on photographs not containing man-made objects, a discrimination to the two classes of photographs was obtained. The discriminative response generalized to photographs with which the pigeons had no previous experience. This study demonstrates that pigeons are capable of forming relatively high-order concepts. Some possible stimulus properties controlling the discrimination are discussed.     

Hypotheses in perception: their development about unambiguous stimuli in the environment

A series of seven photographs which depict a real scene as it is approached by an observer were shown, in sequence, to ninety-six university students. The photographs were either projected colour transparencies or black-and-white prints. Two sixes of photographs were used in each set and the series was presented with or without the first photograph. In earlier studies in which blurred photographs were used as stimuli, observers were unsure about their hypotheses. That was not the case in this study. Although individual observers differed widely in their initial hypotheses, the initial photographs were not perceived as ambiguous. It required on average from 2.9 photographs (large, black-and-white, full series) to 4.5 photographs (small, colour, full series) for correct identification. In general, colour is a hindrance to correct identification. For the full series approximately three hypotheses are put forward before the scene is correctly identified.     

When Photographs Create False Memories

ABSTRACT— Photographs help people illustrate the stories of their lives and the significant stories of their society. However, photographs can do more than illustrate events; in this article, we show that photographs can distort memory for them. We describe the course of our "false-memory implantation" research, and review recent work showing that photographs can sometimes increase—while other times decrease—false memories. First, we discuss research showing that a doctored photo, showing subjects taking a completely fictitious hot-air-balloon ride, can cultivate false memories for that experience. We hypothesize that the photograph helps subjects to imagine details about the event that they later confuse with reality. Second, we show that although photographs are indeed powerful sources of influence on memory, they are not necessarily as powerful as narrative. In fact, in certain circumstances, photographs might constrain imagination. Third, we discuss research showing that true photographs can also cultivate false memories. Finally, we present recent work showing that photographs can create false memories for current events.     

The validity of composite photographs for assessing masculinity preferences

Among non-human animals, exaggerated male traits may signal immunocompetence and are often attractive to females. This finding has not been reliably replicated in human populations, however, where preferences for feminised male faces are often observed in experiments. Some authors have suggested that certain experimental approaches, and in particular the use of 'composite', or averaged, photographs, may lack ecological validity and elicit misleading responses. This may account for reports of preferences for femininity. To date, however, experiments have varied on numerous, often confounded, methodological dimensions, making the contribution of different factors difficult to assess. To address this, we conducted an experiment to examine the influence of stimulus type on participant responses. Masculinity preferences were measured using both composite photographs and the photographs from which they were composed, while all other methodological variables were held constant. In contrast to predictions by previous authors, composites elicited significantly stronger overall preferences for masculinity, especially when textural information was reduced during the averaging process. The existence of preferences for feminised male faces is unlikely to be explained by the use of composite photographs alone.     

Fortysomething: Recognizing faces at one’s 25th reunion

Twenty-four to 26 years after their high school graduation, subjects matched 40 photographs of former classmates taken from the high school yearbook with 40 current photographs of these same former classmates. Compared with age-matched control subjects who had no prior familiarity with the persons depicted in the photographs, the former classmates were superior at matching the old and new photographs. Generally, same-orientation photographs (i.e., old and new photographs taken from the same side) were matched more accurately than different-orientation photographs. Prior familiarity, however, rendered the orientation factor unimportant. These findings are discussed in terms of the processes that underlie facial recognition over very long intervals and in terms of their psycholegal implications.