Vendetti Michael, Castel Alan D, Holyoak Keith J
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Atten Percept Psychophys. 2013 May;75(4):636-43. doi: 10.3758/s13414-013-0448-7.
People typically remember objects to which they have frequently been exposed, suggesting that memory is a by-product of perception. However, prior research has shown that people have exceptionally poor memory for the features of some objects (e.g., coins) to which they have been exposed over the course of many years. Here, we examined how people remember the spatial layout of the buttons on a frequently used elevator panel, to determine whether physical interaction (rather than simple exposure) would ensure the incidental encoding of spatial information. Participants who worked in an eight-story office building displayed very poor recall for the elevator panel but above-chance performance on a recognition test. Performance was related to how often and how recently the person had used the elevator. In contrast to their poor memory for the spatial layout of the elevator buttons, most people readily recalled small distinctive graffiti on the elevator walls. In a more implicit test, the majority were able to locate their office floor and the eighth floor button when asked to point toward these buttons when in the actual elevator, with the button labels covered. However, identification was very poor for other floors (including the first floor), suggesting that even frequent interaction with information does not always lead to accurate spatial memory. These findings have implications for understanding the complex relationships among attention, expertise, and memory.
人们通常会记住他们经常接触的物体，这表明记忆是感知的副产品。然而，先前的研究表明，人们对某些他们多年来一直接触的物体（如硬币）的特征记忆非常差。在这里，我们研究了人们如何记住常用电梯面板上按钮的空间布局，以确定身体互动（而非简单接触）是否能确保空间信息的附带编码。在一栋八层办公楼工作的参与者对电梯面板的回忆很差，但在识别测试中的表现高于随机水平。表现与人们使用电梯的频率和最近使用时间有关。与他们对电梯按钮空间布局的糟糕记忆形成对比的是，大多数人能轻松回忆起电梯壁上小而独特的涂鸦。在一个更隐性的测试中，当被要求在实际电梯中指向这些按钮（按钮标签被盖住）时，大多数人能够找到他们办公室所在楼层和八楼的按钮。然而，对其他楼层（包括一楼）的识别非常差，这表明即使频繁接触信息也并不总是能产生准确的空间记忆。这些发现对于理解注意力、专业知识和记忆之间的复杂关系具有启示意义。
