Getting a clue: Gist extraction from scenes and causal systems

Abstract

Numerous studies in basic cognitive research have shown that the gist in realistic scenes is extracted after very short presentation times. So far, the investigation of gist extraction has been limited to pictures of scenes. The present study investigates whether the gist in diagrams of causal systems, which are typically used as instructional material, is extracted as fast as the gist in pictures of scenes, and whether more than just the gist is extracted from a causal system (i.e., information concerning its details and functioning) at slightly longer presentation times. Schematic and realistic pictures of scenes and causal systems were presented to subjects (N = 24) at different presentation times. Results showed that the gist in causal systems is extracted as fast as in scenes, but not much more than the gist is extracted after slightly longer presenting a diagram of a causal system. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.