Abstract
The longer we view an image, the better we subsequently remember it. However, most previous studies looking at this effect have been limited to recognition – in which an image is presented and tested as a whole – making it difficult to parse what exact aspects of our memory improve the longer we view an image. As there is evidence for a dissociation between memory for object detail and memory for spatial detail (Reagh & Yassa, 2014), it is possible that our memory for object detail and our spatial memory for these objects improve at different rates. Here, we conducted a series of experiments utilizing drawing to test recall, as opposed to recognition, to pinpoint how our memory improves with increased stimulus exposure. In the primary experiment, participants (N = 71) were presented with scene images for varying amounts of time, ranging from 100 msec to 10 sec, and were subsequently asked to draw what they remembered from these scenes. Then, through a series of separate scoring experiments, different participants (N = 1126) quantified the level of object detail and spatial accuracy present in each of the drawings to determine how memory changes with exposure time. We found that while memory for object detail steadily increases with increased time exposure, with more objects recalled after 10 sec of stimulus exposure compared to 100 msec of stimulus exposure, spatial memory remained relatively stable across time, with the size and location of objects precise after just 100 msec of exposure. This suggests that unlike spatial memory, object detail is a primary component of why our memory improves the longer we view an image. Additionally, we found that regardless of how long an image was shown, an object’s visual saliency in a scene was significantly predictive of whether it was recalled.