Perceptual groups as coding units in immediate memory

Abstract

The relation between memory and perceptual unitization was investigated. Serial strings of 12 letters were presented for S’s immediate recall. According to one grouping of successive letters, the string was a series of four familiar acronyms such as YMCA-PHD-FBI-TV; according to a different grouping, the same string appeared to be utter nonsense. A prior study had investigated recall as related to groupings determined by temporal proximity of elements. The present studies examined two bases for grouping by visual similarity—the physical size of letters and the color of successive letters. Adjacent letters tended to be grouped together (and unitized in recall) if they were the same size or the same color. If the letters grouped together formed familiar acronyms, recall was greatly facilitated. Thus, whether a string of letters is perceived as meaningful and familiar depends greatly on how stimulus variables determine the groupings within the string. © 1972, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.