The Effect of Consistency on Short-Term Memory for Scenes
Mingliang Gong1,2, Yuming Xuan1,3, Xinwen Xu1,3
1State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Frontiers in Psychology
|October 20, 2017
Summary
Detecting changes in scenes is easier when the overall scene consistency changes, regardless of whether the specific object changed is consistent or inconsistent. This highlights the importance of semantic gist in visual change detection.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Visual Perception
- Scene Memory
Background:
- The detectability of object changes in visual scenes is a long-standing research question.
- Changes in objects may co-occur with alterations in the overall scene gist or semantic context.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how changes in scene gist and object consistency influence visual change detection.
- To determine if semantic consistency changes are more critical for change detection than object consistency itself.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Manipulated scene consistency (maintained vs. changed) and object consistency within visual scenes.
- Experiment 2: Employed phase-scrambled stimuli to differentiate high-level semantic changes from low-level physical feature changes.
Main Results:
- Object changes were detected equally well in consistent and inconsistent scenes.
- Changes were detected more accurately when the overall scene consistency was altered, irrespective of the changed object's consistency.
- Experiment 2 confirmed that the observed effects were driven by high-level semantic changes, not low-level visual features.
Conclusions:
- Scene consistency, particularly changes in semantic gist, plays a significant role in short-term visual memory and change detection.
- Sensitivity to semantic content alterations appears to be a key factor in recognizing changes within complex scenes.
Related Concept Videos
01:22Chunking and Rehearsal in Sensory Memory
626
Improving short-term memory can be achieved through techniques like chunking and rehearsal. Chunking involves organizing information into larger, more manageable units. This technique is particularly useful for information that exceeds the typical memory span of between five and nine items. For instance, logging into an online account with a password like "ta89vq0179gz" involves grouping letters and numbers into three chunks—ta89, vq01, and 79gz. It makes large amounts of...
626
01:20Traumatic Memory
622
Emotionally traumatic events often lead to memories that are exceptionally vivid and enduring, sometimes persisting with remarkable clarity throughout an individual's life. A classic example of this phenomenon is a person who survives a car accident. Even years later, they may recall every detail of the event with startling accuracy — the screeching of the tires, the jarring impact, and the acrid smell of burning rubber. Such vividness contrasts sharply with how an individual...
622
01:30Impact of Schemas
227
Schemas are cognitive structures that provide a framework for interpreting and organizing social information. They help individuals navigate complex environments by offering expectations about people, events, and behaviors. Schemas influence attention, encoding, and retrieval processes, thereby shaping the entire trajectory of information processing in social contexts.Attention and Cognitive LoadDuring initial attention, schemas function as filters that prioritize schema-consistent information,...
227
01:23System of Memory
7.5K
Memory is categorized into three major systems: sensory memory, short-term memory (STM), and long-term memory (LTM). These systems differ in their capacity and the duration for which they can hold information. Sensory memory captures raw sensory input from the environment, holding it for just a few seconds or less. For example, on hearing a brief, loud sound, like a car horn honking, the sound seems to linger in the mind for a moment even after it stops. This is an instance of sensory memory...
7.5K
01:18Long-Term Memory
734
Long-term memory is a relatively permanent type of memory, capable of storing vast amounts of information over extended periods. Its storage capacity is generally considered unlimited.
Long-term memory can be categorized into two primary types: explicit and implicit memory. Explicit memory, also known as declarative memory, involves the conscious recollection of information that we deliberately try to remember, recall, and articulate. This type of memory encompasses specific facts, events, and...
Long-term memory can be categorized into two primary types: explicit and implicit memory. Explicit memory, also known as declarative memory, involves the conscious recollection of information that we deliberately try to remember, recall, and articulate. This type of memory encompasses specific facts, events, and...
734
01:14Sensory Memory
743
Sensory memory captures information from the environment in its original form for a very brief duration, just long enough to be exposed to visual, auditory, and other senses. This type of memory is detailed and rich but quickly lost unless certain strategies are employed to transfer it into short-term or long-term memory. Sensory information is continuously bombarding the human brain, yet only a small fraction is absorbed, as most of it does not significantly impact daily life. For instance,...
743