Differences in recognition and impressions of animate and inanimate objects in which features are deleted or added

In the present study whether adults recognized features added to or deleted from an original pictures (asymmetric effects) when both animate and inanimate objects were presented together as stimuli, whether there was a difference in recognition between animate objects (butterflies and cats) and inanimate objects (artificial objects) and whether types of changes affected impression of pictures and impression predicted recognition were investigated. Ratings of Recognition and Impression were obtained. Analysis showed that adults discovered added features more accurately than deleted features in pictures of artificial objects, discovered deleted features more accurately than added features in pictures of cats, and there was no asymmetry of recognition in pictures of butterflies. There was difference in confidence ratings of recognition between animate and inanimate objects but no difference between them in percentage of correct recognition. Types of changes affected Impression ratings in all three types of objects. Moreover, Impression ratings predicted confidence ratings of pictures of cats and artificial objects but did not in pictures of butterflies. These results showed that asymmetry of recognition of addition and deletion is affected by the number of objects and whether they are animate or inanimate. Asymmetric recognition of additions vs deletions was sometimes mediated by Impression, both when one type of object was presented and when multiple types of objects were presented together.