Representation of unattended material in memory.
The current study addresses how information whose processing was not part of task requirement (unattended) is represented in memory. Using a novel measure, recognition memory for unattended material was assessed twice, once when it appeared with the same (old) attended study target and once with a new target. The data reveal memory for unattended study information only in the old target condition. Results suggest that the entire study event is encoded and represented in a memory trace, which contains both attended target information along with unattended context information. In conclusion, manifestation of unattended memory may be dependent on the presence of old target information at test.
Interdisciplinary Department of Social Sciences, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel. hoffmay@gmail.com
Yaakov
Y
Hoffman
Joseph
J
Tzelgov
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D055815:Young Adult