Picture memory experiments.

Abstract
75 STUDENTS WERE SHOWN A SERIES OF PICTURES, AND WERE TESTED WITH ANOTHER SERIES IN WHICH 1/2 OF THE ORIGINAL PICTURES APPEARED UNCHANGED, WHILE 1/2 WERE REPLACED BY SIMILAR PICTURES. IN EXP. I AND II, GIVING THE TITLE OF THE PICTURE AND REQUESTING RECALL BEFORE RECOGNITION TESTING MADE NO DIFFERENCE IN RECOGNITION ACCURACY. BOTH IMMEDIATE AND 1-WK RETENTION INTERVALS WERE USED. IN EXP. III, IV, AND V, THE PICTURES WERE PRESENTED IN DEGRADED FORM IN THE ORIGINAL PRESENTATION, IN THE TEST, IN BOTH, OR IN NEITHER. DEGRADATION CONSISTED OF BLURRING THE FOCUS IN EXP. III, WHILE INVERSION WAS USED IN EXP. IV AND V. EXP. III AND IV INVOLVED IMMEDIATE TESTING. IN EXP. V SELECTED CONDITIONS WERE TESTED AFTER 48-HR AND 1-WK INTERVALS. BOTH FORMS OF DEGRADATION LOWERED RECOGNITION ACCURACY. DEGRADATION IN BOTH PRESENTATION AND TEST WAS LESS DAMAGING TO ACCURACY THAN DEGRADATION IN 1 PHASE ALONE. IF THE PICTURES WERE DEGRADED IN ONLY 1 PHASE OF THE EXPERIMENT, IT DID NOT MATTER WHICH PHASE. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT IT IS NO MORE DIFFICULT TO REMEMBER DEGRADED PICTORIAL INFORMATION THAN TO REMEMBER UNDEGRADED INFORMATION. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)