Memory for Famous Faces: Role of Stimulus Clutter

Abstract

As visually dependent creatures, people are constantly affected by the visual context of their surroundings. When people are confronted with multiple views of an identical object, are they more or less likely to remember it than, say, multiple views of a different object? For example, is an advertisement more likely to attract attention when it presents 4 identical images of one product than when it presents 4 images of 4 different products? Previous data suggested that multiple presentation of the same stimulus increases activities in the ventral visual stream. To extend prior research, we incorporated short-term and long-term memory tests and presented only faces of well-known people. This study will impact future approaches to presenting important material.