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Title: Caricaturing Shapes in Visual Memory
When representing high-level stimuli, such as faces and animals, we tend to emphasize salient features—such as a face’s prominent cheekbones or a bird’s pointed beak. Such mental caricaturing leaves traces in memory, which exaggerates these distinctive qualities. How broadly does this phenomenon extend? Here, in six experiments ( N = 700 adults), we explored how memory automatically caricatures basic units of visual processing—simple geometric shapes—even without task-related demands to do so. Participants saw a novel shape and then immediately adjusted a copy of that shape to match what they had seen. Surprisingly, participants reconstructed shapes in exaggerated form, amplifying curvature, enlarging salient parts, and so on. Follow-up experiments generalized this bias to new parameters, ruled out strategic responding, and amplified the effects in serial transmission. Thus, even the most basic stimuli we encounter are remembered as caricatures of themselves.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2021053
PAR ID:
10559100
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Psychological Science
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Psychological Science
Volume:
35
Issue:
7
ISSN:
0956-7976
Page Range / eLocation ID:
722 to 735
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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