Perceptual Attributes in Memory Research

Abstract The close linkage between perception and memory allows them to influence one another in numerous ways. Improved understanding of this linkage will enhance the reach and quality of research in both fields. This chapter emphasizes short-term memory, the form of memory for which perception’s influence is clearest. The chapter begins with a brief overview of key perceptual attributes that enable memory to impact perceptual judgment, offering examples of perceptual phenomena that clearly bear memory’s stamp. It then discusses four ways in which memory research benefits when researchers design memoranda with perceptual factors firmly in mind. First, the chapter considers stimulus similarity because it impacts memory in multiple ways, including its usefulness for framing and testing theoretical insights. Second, it examines how connections between perception and memory make it difficult to evaluate memory without some confound from one or more perceptual influences. These include individual or group differences in perception that can masquerade as differences in memory. Third, the chapter considers how verbal representations can distort or support memory for what was seen, and it summarizes research in which both visual and auditory memory have been probed with random or quasi-random stimuli. Finally, the chapter briefly describes how careful stimulus choice can aid modeling and understanding of memorial processes.