Abstract
A set of procedures implemented in Microsoft BASIC is described that creates fragmented versions of pictures scanned into the Apple Macintosh, stores them as resource files, and presents them in a computerized perceptual memory test. A total of 150 pictures were selected from the Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) set for fragmentation. The perceptual memory test provides for five forms of 30 pictures each, divided into two sets of 15 that serve alternately as the training or old set and the new set. A training set of 15 pictures is presented for identification during the first (training) phase of the test. The second (test) phase presents the training pictures again, randomly mixed with 15 new pictures for identification. The performance of 100 subjects on the memory test is presented, along with results for each form. Overall, subjects showed improvement on the task with practice (skill learning), indexed by a decrease in thresholds from the training set to the new set. Subjects also showed large savings for the repeated pictures (perceptual learning), indexed by a decrease in thresholds from the new to the old set.
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This research was supported in part by a Challenge Grant From New York University, in part by a University Research Initiative Program grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and in part by the Veterans Administration.
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Snodgrass, J.G., Smith, B., Feenan, K. et al. Fragmenting pictures on the apple macintosh computer for experimental and clinical applications. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 19, 270–274 (1987). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203798
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203798