Scientists from Dartmouth College have found that people remember the colors of real objects better than abstract ones. Previously, it was believed that visual memory was permanent and not conditional. The results of the research were published in the journal Psychological Science.
The authors’ previous work has shown that people are better at remembering real-world objects more strongly than abstract ones. In a new study, they set out to see if this applies to remembering colors. In one experiment, participants were shown images of four objects in different colors on a computer screen: real and differently “encoded” versions.
“Our results show that participants’ memory of colors is better when they have a meaningful context. For example, people were better able to remember the blue color than the crumpled blue shape when part of a blue teapot,” the scientists explain.
Human visual working memory allows the brain to keep visual information active for a short time, such as when searching for a lost item. Previous research has shown that visual working memory capacity is directly related to other important cognitive abilities, including academic performance.
In the past, scientists assumed that a person’s visual working memory capacity was fixed. New experiments have shown that the amount of visual working memory is flexible.
“Many measures of working memory are used as diagnostic tools to identify memory deficits, but they are based on the assumption that there is a fixed capacity for this type of memory. Scientists say it is perhaps time to reconsider testing methods to get a more accurate assessment of human memory.” said.
ancient scientists to create A way to detect early signs of dementia in a person’s eyes.