Memorial psychophysics for visual area: The effect of retention interval

Abstract

Previous studies (e.g., Kerst & Howard, 1978) have shown that remembered visual areas are related to actual areas by a more compressive power function than are perceived visual areas. Experiment 1 useda between-groups design to replicate this effect for a map of Europe and showed that compression increased as the retention interval, the time between map inspection and area estimation, increased from 2 min to 1 week. Experiment 2 obtained similar results with a similar design, except that a simple two-region map was used to reduce uncertainty. Overall, the results suggest that two processes may be operating: uncertainty and gradual transformation of the representation of the map in memory.

Psychophysics in the field: Perception and memory for labor pain

“…There is a difference between perceptual and memory-based judgments, but once the latter is required, the extent of temporal delay matters little to the growth of remembered pain. This result is consistent with the prediction of the reperception theory (e.g., Algom, 1991Algom, , 1992bHubbard, 1991;Kemp, 1988), but it is incompatible with the uncertainty hypothesis, which predicts changes in the magnitude of the exponent due to the continuous increase in uncertainty over time. Thus, although the evidence is meager, the reperception hypothesis is the alternative favored by the data.…”

Uncertainty in estimating distances from memory

“…In such cases, the information that is available from the fine-grained portion of memory is augmented with information from a categorization process. Another, more recent, theory that has been advanced to account for distortions in distance estimation is the transformation hypothesis (Kemp, 1988). This theory accounts for distortions in distance estimation as a result of distortions that occur in a long-term-memory trace over time and is presumed to remain uniform across time.…”

“…A second potential explanation for the difference in the psychophysical functions for perception and memory is that the information in the memory trace itself is gradually transformed or compressed over time (Kemp, 1988). According to this transformation hypothesis, memory for spatial information is slowly changed so that it conforms to more schematically consistent values, such as Gestalt principles or hierarchical structures.…”

Using Morphed Images to Study Visual Detection of Cutaneous Melanoma Symptom Evolution

“…Finally, whereas one group completed the image series without interruption during a single, brief sitting (similar to Experiment 2), the other group viewed only one image per day over a 28-day period, thereby mimicking to a small extent the gradual evolution of symptoms that is expected in melanoma. We expected the Brief Group to detect smaller changes in symptoms than the 28-Day Group because previous research suggests that a major challenge in skin self-examination is that individuals may not recall what their skin looked like in the past (Hanrahan, Hersey, Menzies, Watson, & D'Este, 1997; for analogous psychophysical findings, see Kemp, 1988).…”