Image Latency and Recall as Functions of Array Size

Abstract

A comparison of image latencies and recall as a function of increasing arrays of objects involved three groups of subjects listening to descriptions of arrangements of objects and responding when they had visualized each array as a whole. After each latency response, one group of subjects indicated if they had visualized all the objects, another group free recalled, and a third group had no additional task. A fourth group recalled the arrays immediately after the end of the description. Increasing array size, and hence the demands on the resources of the visual imagery system, produced a concomitant exponential-like deterioration in performance according to the latency and recall measures. However, the deterioration in recall only started above arrays of four objects compared with an increase in latencies across these array sizes; so the latency function is not produced by the unavailability of information, at least for smaller array sizes. The group who immediately recalled did not remember spatial positional information concerning the middle serial positions of six-object arrays as well as the group who underwent wholistic visualization prior to recall, indicating that the wholistic visualization process can facilitate the coding of spatial information.