The structure of memory: Evidence concerning the recall of surface and background colour of shapes

In the first of four experiments, two groups of subjects were shown a series of cards, each displaying a different shape. For one group the shapes were of different colours, and each was located on either a black or a white background. For the other group a shape was black or white, and its background was coloured. Subjects in both groups were instructed to memorize the colour and brightness (black or white) assigned to each shape. Recall of the colours, in response to the names of the shapes, was superior for the group for which the shapes themselves had been coloured. In the other three experiments the finding was extended, with the aim of limiting possible explanations of the effect. One of these experiments showed that the effect is obtained when the relevant stimuli are imagined rather than being physically shown to a subject. This suggests that the effect is not the result of processes of attention that are dependent upon the perceptual analysis of a display. In discussion, it is argued that the effect may shed light on the constraints that govern the process of association. One hypothesis that specifically accounts for the results is that the structure of memory for visually presented information is that of a network of propositions.