RETENTION OF SIZE CONTRAST

S chioldborg P. Retention of size contrast. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1972, 13 , 133–135.—Five subjects estimated areal size of a standard object presented singly and in serial contexts as the smallest, largest, or equally large among three objects. The contrast effect amounted to a difference of approximately three j.n.d.'s between estimates of St as the smallest or the largest object. There was no difference between estimates of St in series with identical objects and St alone. When estimation took place ten seconds after the presentation, the contrast effect disappeared. Since memory estimates proved significantly smaller when St initially was viewed singly than when viewed in a serial context, it is concluded that the disappearance of the contrast effect seems unrelated to memory decay as such.