Long-term perceptual memory for briefly exposed words as a function of awareness and attention

Abstract

Two experiments investigated the possibility that perceptual memory for words is dependent on level of awareness of those words. In Experiment 1, subjects attempted to report briefly exposed words in a study phase and then identify words that faded into view in a test phase. Old words appeared in both the study and test phases, whereas new words appeared only in the test phase. Perceptual memory, indexed as the faster identification of old vs. new words, was observed only for words correctly reported in the study phase. In the study phase of Experiment 2, words were flanked by digits, and the distribution of attention between words and digits was varied. Perceptual memory increased from nil to high levels as more attention was allocated to the words. These findings suggest that long-term perceptual memory is dependent on level of awareness of words in the study phase.