Outstanding memories: the positive and negative effects of nudes on memory

Abstract

A picture of a nude isolated in a series of pictures of clothed models was quite memorable, but when compared with a clothed picture, the nude impaired memory for background picture derails as well as pictures immediately following the nude (anterograde amnesia). Recall of details given picture-gist recall, as well as recognition of person details, were equivalent in the clothed and nude conditions. A clothed picture isolated in a series of nudes did not hurt memory for background information, nor did it produce anterograde amnesia. Apparently, distinctiveness supports good memory for the gist of the nude or clothed pictures. However, distinctiveness is not responsible for the anterograde amnesia and poor memory for background details found with nudes.