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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Assessment of Memory Function in Pilocarpine-induced Epileptic Mice

Assessment of Memory Function in Pilocarpine-induced Epileptic Mice

Published on: June 4, 2020

How many pixels make a memory? Picture memory for small pictures.

Jeremy M Wolfe¹, Yoana I Kuzmova

¹Harvard Medical School and Visual Attention Lab, Brigham & Women's Hospital, 64 Sidney St. Suite. 170, Cambridge, MA 02139-4170, USA. wolfe@search.bwh.harvard.edu

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

|March 8, 2011

Summary

Scene recognition memory is linked to how well you can classify a scene, even when degraded. Memory recall is asymmetrical, favoring large-scene memory tested with small scenes.

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Published on: August 15, 2010

Area of Science:

Visual Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Memory Studies

Background:

Previous research demonstrated scene recognition from highly degraded "thumbnail" images.
Object identification within degraded scenes is possible due to contextual information.
The question remains whether such degraded scenes are remembered or merely identified.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate memory retention for tiny and degraded scene images.
To determine if scene memory parallels scene recognizability.
To explore asymmetries in memory recall based on stimulus size changes.

Main Methods:

Participants were presented with scenes at varying resolutions and sizes.
Recognition and memory recall for these scenes were subsequently tested.
Stimulus size was manipulated between initial presentation and memory testing.

Main Results:

Memory for tiny and degraded scenes directly correlates with their recognizability.
Scene classification accuracy predicts memory performance.
A significant asymmetry was observed: memory for large stimuli tested with small stimuli was retained, but not vice versa.

Conclusions:

Visual scene memory is closely tied to the ability to classify the scene.
The brain can remember scenes even when presented in a degraded format.
Memory recall is sensitive to changes in stimulus size, showing a directional asymmetry.