A model for conceptual processing of naturalistic scenes

Abstract Are there fundamental differences in the way in which a list of pictures and a list of words are processed? We report three experiments that examine serial position effects for rapidly-presented naturalistic scenes. The experiments provide a basis for comparison with the u-shaped serial position curve and list-length effect which typically result from verbal learning experiments. In contrast to the U-shaped verbal serial position function, our results show a flat function at the beginning serial positions and a recency effect which is small and limited to the last serial position. There is a set-size effect. Results suggest that the processing leading to a memory representation for visual stimuli such as pictures and linguistic stimuli such as words is qualitatively dissimilar. The findings can be accounted for by a serial processing model whose main parameter is the probability that the subject will switch attention from one picture to the next. Resume Y a-t-il des differences fondamentales dans la facon dont sont traitees une liste d'images et une liste de mots? A l'aide de trois experiences, nous avons examine les effets lies a la position seiielle d'images illustrant de