Abstract
Observers can determine whether they have previously seen an image with over 80% accuracy, even after seeing hundreds of images for just 2-3 seconds each. This “Massive Memory” for WHAT we have seen is accompanied by smaller but still massive memories for WHERE and WHEN the item was seen (Spatial Massive Memory - SMM and Temporal Massive Memory - TMM). Recent studies have shown that certain images are more easily remembered than others (i.e., that some have higher “memorability”). Will memorability influence SMM and TMM as well? 48 viewers saw approximately 310 images each, sequentially presented at random locations in a 7x7 grid. One group of observers saw high memorability images. The other group saw low memorability images. At the presentation of each image, the participant was instructed to indicate whether it was new or old. If the image was categorized as old, observers clicked on a spot in the grid to mark where they thought they saw it the first time, and on a spot on a time line to mark when they saw it, otherwise they clicked a “new” button. Replicating prior work, data show that high memorability images are remembered better than low memorability images (Avg d’ 2.7 vs 1.8, p<0.0001). Intriguingly, we found no significant difference between the average SMM of images in the high and low memorability conditions (p=0.0860 with ‘bad’ observers removed, p=0.61 otherwise). Similarly, there was no apparent effect of memorability on TMM (p=0.2981). This suggests that properties that make images memorable do not also help us remember where and when they were presented, though a negative result of this sort should be replicated before accepting this conclusion.