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Is Visual Memory Holographic?

Abstract

CLAIMS by Longuet-Higgins1 and Greguss2 that memory might behave holographically are tested here in a situation of prompted visual recall. If a figure, of area f, is inspected by a subject (S) and subsequently a part (P) of that figure, of area p, is presented to him, the holographic theory implies that as the ratio p/f increases, the strength of the reconstituted whole figure and thus the accuracy of S's recall of the unshown parts of the figure will also increase. This should be true regardless of the shape or fragmentariness of P. Such a view, attributing equal importance to each point of the figure, is likely to be unrealistic because visual perception is characterized by organization (into figure and ground and so on) and selectivity (of “good” or meaningful figures and so on) both of which properties are related to the conceptual content of the figure. An alternative to holographic theory therefore is that, in remembering a figure, S is storing an inventory of the conceptual items which make it up, each such item being associated (at the simplest) with each other item.

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References

  1. Longuet-Higgins, H. C., Nature, 217, 104 (1968).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Greguss, P. Nature, 219, 482 (1968).

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VALENTINE, J. Is Visual Memory Holographic?. Nature 220, 474–475 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/220474a0

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