Memory scanning of organized visual material.
A recognition memory experiment investigated memory scanning when stimuli were organized but not easily labeled verbally. Subjects were shown a series of three, four, or five pictures followed by a probe stimulus in a paradigm similar to that introduced by Sternberg. Reaction time to the test stimulus served as the dependent measure. The principle findings indicated that the organization of the to-be-remembered sets had a pronounced influence on performance. When sets were disorganized, the retrieval appeared to be a serial process, since reaction time increased with set size. With organized sets, reaction time was independent of set size, suggesting a parallel search.
D006801:Humans; D007257:Information Theory; D008568:Memory; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011930:Reaction Time; D014796:Visual Perception