Summary a psychology experiment - Essay Example

Summary of a Psychological Experiment Summary of a Psychological Experiment The article details the experiment, results, and discussion about color repetitions that pertain to the functions of the perceptual organization and attentive processes while in a visual working memory. Through the color-sharing effect, color repetitions can boost memory elements in a visual scene. It occurs because of the enhanced perceptual organization that results in reduced informational load. The effects vary in the theoretical meaning of such an impact and its use in the design of visual elements and materials.

When repetitions reduce the display load, the non-repeated information has a higher chance of being remembered and attended. The researchers used sixty students, half of them from the University of Groningen and the other half from the College of Idaho in Caldwell. The researchers manipulated the accessibility of attention in a visual task by comparing participants who engaged in attention-demanding activities. They monitored eye movements as an indicator of specific attention. Results from previous studies by other researchers showed that color testing is limited to assessment of repeated colors.

The results support the concept that repetitions capture attention because of the omission of the other remaining elements. The researchers also swayed the attention of groups of healthy adults during a visual alteration detection study. In addition, they also tracked eye movements as an indicator of selective attention. With the help of the analysis of working memory capacity, the researchers calculated the time used fixating unique and duplicate colors. Finally, they calculated the speed of object fixation during retention periods and stimulus presentation.

The results of experiment one replicated what Quinlan and Cohen had found some years back. There were lesser working memories capacities when singletons were tested than when duplicates were assessed. Analysis done using Bayesian showed a small advantage for singletons from aspects such as repetition. Data on eye movement suggested that duplicates were not fixated frequently that singletons. As a result, the hypothesis that duplicates are well-remembered because participants can selectively encode them was ruled out.

Results from experiment two indicated that of color sharing bonus intensifies when attention is divided particularly during the back counting. Capacity estimates were higher during repetition assessment than when singletons were tested. This showed that perpetual grouping impacts were present regardless of the presence of divided attention. The researchers also observed that the bonus was somehow constrained to duplicate tests under the divided attention. Analysis of gaze revealed that with full attention, participants would glance early at duplicate colors and more on unique colors in the course of retention intervals.

Although the experiment seems complicated, it sheds light on the impacts of color sharing on the visual working memories and attentive processes. It gives scholars and researchers a perspective of rethinking practical guidance for enhancing the memorability of visual exhibitions. It also gives a platform for future and continuous experiment regarding visual working memory. In addition, the knowledge learned from the experiment helps to differentiate between continuous resource and six-slot models.

The research reaffirms my thinking and knowledge that visual feature redundancy enhances memory. It is true that the pattern of results shows that the color-sharing bonus is a reflection of the efficient perpetual organization.