title: The representation of nonstructural information in visual memory: evidence from image combination.
abstract: Two experiments investigated the differential representation of the figure and ground of a picture in visual short-term and long-term memory. It is known (Hitch, Brandimonte, & Walker, 1995) that subjects find it more difficult to combine mental images of two separately presented pictures in order to identify a novel form when the two pictures are incongruent in color (i.e., when a black-on-white line drawing has to be combined with a white-on-black drawing). In the present experiments, the figures were depicted in solid form to allow color congruity to be varied independently for figure and ground. Results showed a clear impairment in image combination when the to-be-combined figures were incongruent in color (black-on-gray and white-on-gray) but not when their grounds were incongruently colored (gray-on-black and gray-on-white). In this way, image combination was seen to be supported by a representation of the object depicted in the picture rather than by a literal representation of the picture itself (i.e., a pictorial code). In line with previous findings, the same representation was seen to support image combination based on short-term memory (Experiment 1) and long-term memory (Experiment 2), provided that in the latter case verbal recoding was precluded. When verbal recoding was allowed, image combination based on long-term memory was insensitive to color congruity, implying the involvement of a more abstract structural representation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, England. p.walker@lancaster.ac.uk
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Hitch
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Dewhurst
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Whiteley
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Brandimonte
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004538:Eidetic Imagery; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D014796:Visual Perception