Massive Visual Long-Term Memory is Largely Dependent on Meaning
Roy Shoval, Nurit Gronau, Tal Makovski · 2022
Previous research demonstrated a massive capacity of visual long-term memory (VLTM) for meaningful images. However, the capacity and limits of a “pure” VLTM that is inde¬pendent of conceptual information still need to be determined. In three experiments, participants memorized hundreds of images depict¬ing real-world objects, along with visually similar images that were stripped of their semantic meaning. VLTM was evaluated using a four-alternative-forced-choice test including old and new images and their counterpart mirror transformations. The results revealed superior memory for meaningful than for meaningless stimuli and importantly, there was no hint of a massive VLTM for the meaningless items. Furthermore, when examining memory recognition of visual properties per-se (i.e., original/mirror state), memory was overall poor, and practically negligible for the meaningless items. Taken together, our findings suggest that meaning is critical for mas¬sive VLTM and for the ability to store visual properties.