Conceptual distinctiveness supports detailed visual long-term memory for real-world objects.

Humans have a massive capacity to store detailed information in visual long-term memory. The present studies explored the fidelity of these visual long-term memory representations and examined how conceptual and perceptual features of object categories support this capacity. Observers viewed 2,800 object images with a different number of exemplars presented from each category. At test, observers indicated which of 2 exemplars they had previously studied. Memory performance was high and remained quite high (82% accuracy) with 16 exemplars from a category in memory, demonstrating a large memory capacity for object exemplars. However, memory performance decreased as more exemplars were held in memory, implying systematic categorical interference. Object categories with conceptually distinctive exemplars showed less interference in memory as the number of exemplars increased. Interference in memory was not predicted by the perceptual distinctiveness of exemplars from an object category, though these perceptual measures predicted visual search rates for an object target among exemplars. These data provide evidence that observers' capacity to remember visual information in long-term memory depends more on conceptual structure than perceptual distinctiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Canonical visual size for real-world objects.

Real-world objects can be viewed at a range of distances and thus can be experienced at a range of visual angles within the visual field. Given the large amount of visual size variation possible when observing objects, we examined how internal object representations represent visual size information. In a series of experiments which required observers to access existing object knowledge, we observed that real-world objects have a consistent visual size at which they are drawn, imagined, and preferentially viewed. Importantly, this visual size is proportional to the logarithm of the assumed size of the object in the world, and is best characterized not as a fixed visual angle, but by the ratio of the object and the frame of space around it. Akin to the previous literature on canonical perspective, we term this consistent visual size information the canonical visual size. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial memory for objects and words.

Examined in 4 experiments whether spatial location information is more likely to be encoded with the memory representation of objects than of words. 16 objects or the 1-word verbal labels for each were studied on a matrix display, followed by a recall test and then a relocation test. In each experiment, an independent variable known to affect item recall was introduced to test whether spatial location memory would concomitantly vary for both objects and words. In Exp I, with 48 2nd graders, 48 5th graders, and 48 high school juniors and seniors, recall of both objects and words increased with age of the Ss. However, relocation accuracy increased for objects but not for words. In Exp II, with 64 4th graders and 64 high school juniors and seniors, visual imagery instructions generally improved memory for words without affecting relocation accuracy. In Exps III (with 56 undergraduates) and IV (with 80 adults, aged 26.2–52.3 yrs), prolonging the test delay diminished recall for objects and words. However, relocation accuracy decreased only for the objects. In each experiment, item memory was affected independently of location memory for words but not for objects. The results suggest that different processes are involved in encoding item and location information for words but not for objects. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explicit and implicit memory for rotating objects.

Although both the object and the observer often move in natural environments, the effect of motion on visual object recognition has not been well documented. The authors examined the effect of a reversal in the direction of rotation on both explicit and implicit memory for novel, 3-dimensional objects. Participants viewed a series of continuously rotating objects and later made either an old-new recognition judgment or a symmetric-asymmetric decision. For both tasks, memory for rotating objects was impaired when the direction of rotation was reversed at test. These results demonstrate that dynamic information can play a role in visual object recognition and suggest that object representations can encode spatiotemporal information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scene and position specificity in visual memory for objects.

This study investigated whether and how visual representations of individual objects are bound in memory to scene context. Participants viewed a series of naturalistic scenes, and memory for the visual form of a target object in each scene was examined in a 2-alternative forced-choice test, with the distractor object either a different object token or the target object rotated in depth. In Experiments 1 and 2, object memory performance was more accurate when the test object alternatives were displayed within the original scene than when they were displayed in isolation, demonstrating object-to-scene binding. Experiment 3 tested the hypothesis that episodic scene representations are formed through the binding of object representations to scene locations. Consistent with this hypothesis, memory performance was more accurate when the test alternatives were displayed within the scene at the same position originally occupied by the target than when they were displayed at a different position. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and memory for pictures of faces.

The hypothesis that pictorial aspects of face-recognition memory are lower in old age was tested in 2 studies. Young and elderly Ss viewed 48 face pictures, and then took a test containing identical copies of input faces, pictorially changed versions of input faces, and entirely new faces. Replicating prior findings, Experiment 1 showed that false recognitions of entirely new faces were higher among elderly Ss. However, there were no age differences in distinguishing identical from pictorially changed faces. Using a modified test, Experiment 2 showed that although the elderly Ss had good knowledge that changed faces were changed, they had relatively poor knowledge of how they were changed. There appears to be age differences in analytical matching of pictorial information against information in memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing of expected and unexpected monetary performance outcomes in healthy older subjects.

The feedback-related negativity (FRN), an event-related potential (ERP) component reflecting feedback processing in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), has consistently been found to be reduced in healthy aging, whereas behavioral findings regarding age-related changes in decision making and feedback-based learning are inconsistent. This study aimed to elucidate similarities and differences between healthy younger and older subjects in the processing of monetary performance feedback focusing on effects of reward expectancy. Eighteen younger and 20 older subjects completed a feedback learning task, in which a rule could be learned to predict the reward probabilities associated with particular stimuli. Older subjects showed evidence of slower learning than younger subjects. In both younger and older subjects, the amplitude difference between nonreward and reward in the FRN time window was larger for unexpected than expected outcomes, driven by modulations of negative feedback ERPs. Consistent with previous findings, the amplitude difference tended to be generally reduced in older subjects. P300 amplitude was larger for reward than nonreward in both groups, and interactions between valence and probability indicated that only the P300 for reward was modulated by expectancy. Despite general changes of outcome-related ERPs in healthy aging, older subjects show evidence of preserved effects of expectancy on the processing of monetary feedback. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of asbestos in expected and unexpected places in Israel

The influence of 13 anticancer alkylating agents on cell proliferation, cell cycle parameters, and morphonuclear characteristics was monitored in vitro on three neoplastic cell lines. This monitoring was carried out by means of the digital cell image analysis of Feulgen-stained nuclei. This computer-assisted microscope analysis of chromatin texture made it possible to assess 15 morphonuclear parameters. These 15 parameters were submitted to multivariate analyses, that is, principal-components analyses followed by the canonical transformation of the data. The 13 alkylating agents included four nitrogen mustards (chlormethine, chlorambucil, melphalan, and cyclophosphamide), two nitrosoureas (carmustine and lomustine), two platinum analogues (cisplatine and carboplatine), two ethyleneimine derivatives (thiotepa and investigational PE1001), one antibiotic (mitomycin C), one alkylsulfonate (busulfan), and one triazene (dacarbazine). The mouse MXT mammary and the human J82 and T24 bladder tumor cell lines were used in this study. The results show that these alkylating agents induced specific modifications to the chromatin pattern according to the subclass to which they belong. In other words, the multivariate statistical analyses of the 15 parameters made it possible to identify, at least partly, distinct subclasses of alkylating agents according to their mechanisms of action. As a validation of the methodology, the results also show that most of the alkylating agents induced an increase in the percentage of cells in the G2 phase, while some sometimes induced an increase in the percentage of cells in the S phase of the cell cycle.     

Aging and interference in verbal working memory.

According to inhibitory views of working memory, old adults should have particular problems deleting irrelevant information from working memory, leading to greater interference effects compared with young adults. The authors investigated this hypothesis by using variations of an A-B, C-D retroactive interference paradigm in working memory with young and old adults. They used a recognition measure of memory, assessing both accuracy and reaction time. The primary finding was that senior adults consistently exhibited proportionally greater retroactive interference effects compared with young adults when interfering word pairs that had been read aloud had to be rejected. Patterns of recognition and reaction time data suggested that old adults' activation of target material is similar to young adults, but they experience sustained activation of irrelevation material that has entered working memory. Theoretical implications of these findings for inhibitory deficit (R.T. Zacks & L. Hasher, 1998) and source memory deficit accounts of cognitive aging are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and fluency-based illusions in recognition memory.

We examined age-related differences in susceptibility to fluency-based memory illusions. The results from 2 experiments, in which 2 different methods were used to enhance the fluency of recognition test items, revealed that older and young adults did not differ significantly in terms of their overall susceptibility to this type of memory illusion. Older and young adults were also similar in that perceptual fluency did not influence recognition memory responses when there was a mismatch in the sensory modality of the study and test phases. Likewise, a more conceptual fluency manipulation influenced recognition memory responses in both older and young adults regardless of the match in modality. Overall, the results indicate that older adults may not be more vulnerable than young adults to fluency-based illusions of recognition memory. Moreover, young and older adults appear to be comparable in their sensitivity to factors that modulate the influence of fluency on recognition decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental changes in recognition memory for pictures of objects and scenes.

Investigated recognition memory for pictures, using photographs that showed either single objects or multi-object scenes and distractors that differed from targets in that an element had been added, an original element moved, or the vantage point changed. In Exp I, Ss included 24 6-yr-olds, 24 9-yr-olds, and 24 adults from the US; in Exp II Ss included the same age groups but from an Indian village in Guatemala. Results indicate that addition transformations were easier to recognize than rearrangements at all ages in the US but not in Guatemala. Objects were easier to recognize than scenes in both cultures. Contrary to recent claims, the present results show that recognition memory improved with age for both cultures. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Accurate visual memory for previously attended objects in natural scenes.

The nature of the information retained from previously fixated (and hence attended) objects in natural scenes was investigated. In a saccade-contingent change paradigm, participants successfully detected type and token changes (Experiment 1) or token and rotation changes (Experiment 2) to a target object when the object had been previously attended but was no longer within the focus of attention when the change occurred. In addition, participants demonstrated accurate type-, token-, and orientation-discrimination performance on subsequent long-term memory tests (Experiments 1 and 2) and during online perceptual processing of a scene (Experiment 3). These data suggest that relatively detailed visual information is retained in memory from previously attended objects in natural scenes. A model of scene perception and long-term memory is proposed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A visual short-term memory advantage for objects of expertise.

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) is limited, especially for complex objects. Its capacity, however, is greater for faces than for other objects; this advantage may stem from the holistic nature of face processing. If the holistic processing explains this advantage, object expertise--which also relies on holistic processing--should endow experts with a VSTM advantage. The authors compared VSTM for cars among car experts and car novices. Car experts, but not car novices, demonstrated a VSTM advantage similar to that for faces; this advantage was orientation specific and was correlated with an individual's level of car expertise. Control experiments ruled out accounts based solely on verbal- or long-term memory representations. These findings suggest that the processing advantages afforded by visual expertise result in domain-specific increases in VSTM capacity, perhaps by allowing experts to maximize the use of an inherently limited VSTM system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging, source memory, and emotion.

In 2 experiments we assessed younger and older adults' ability to remember contextual information about an event. Each experiment examined memory for 3 different types of contextual information: (a) perceptual information (e.g., location of an item); (b) conceptual, nonemotional information (e.g., quality of an item); and (c) conceptual, emotional information (e.g., safety of an item). Consistent with a large literature on aging and source memory, younger adults outperformed older adults when the contextual information was perceptual in nature and when it was conceptual, but not emotional. Age differences in source memory were eliminated, however, when participants recalled emotional source information. These findings suggest that emotional information differentially engages older adults, possibly evoking enhanced elaborations and associations. The data are also consistent with a growing literature, suggesting that emotional processing remains stable with age (e.g., Carstensen & Turk-Charles, 1994, 1998; Isaacowitz, Charles, & Carstensen, 2000). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging, source memory, and misrecollections.

The authors propose an illusory recollection account of why cognitive aging is associated with episodic memory deficits. After listening to statements presented by either a female or a male speaker, older adults were prone to misrecollecting past events. The authors' illusory recollection account is instantiated in a new illusory recollection signal detection model that provides a better fit of older adults' data than does the standard signal detection model. They observed that age-related differences in source memory (as measured by source d′ scores) virtually disappear after accounting for the occurrence of illusory recollections. These data suggest that age-related source memory impairments are not due to older adults' remembering less diagnostic source information and having to guess more. Instead, older adults appear to misremember past events more often than younger adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and forgetting in prospective and retrospective memory tasks.

Ss (aged 52–83 yrs) named 30 famous people 4 times over the course of an hour and responded to 2 targets (a beard and a pipe) by marking the trial number on the response sheet. Initial performance in the prospective memory task was related only to a measure of incidental learning. Subsequent forgetting (i.e., success followed by failure) occurred more often for older Ss than for younger Ss, but there was no difference between the age groups in recovery (i.e., failure followed by success). Forgetting was predicted by age, even after a composite measure of general ability was included in the regression. Recovery was related to general ability alone. Results both replicate and extend those from a reanalysis of a previous study (E. A. Maylor, 1990). They provide a striking contrast with the effect of age on retrospective memory, namely, age-related impairment on initial performance but no effect of age on subsequent forgetting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Young children's memory for the true and pretend identities of objects.

Two studies examined how children conceive of the true and pretend identities of an object used in object-substitution pretense. In each study, 3- and 4-year-olds were assessed for their memory for each identity of an object that they used in a previous episode of pretend play (Study 1) or observed someone else using (Study 2). More children correctly remembered the true than the pretend identity of the objects, and there was no contingency between their tendency to remember each identity Additionally, children's tendency to correctly specify each identity was related to their age and when (i.e., during or after the pretend episode) the task was given. The results were explained by factors affecting young children's ability to manage separate representations of true and pretend identities of objects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)