幾何学図形の種類により変容する視覚的短期記憶容量

抄録

Simple geometric shapes modulate performance in visual detection tasks. This phenomenon may be attributable to the emotional information conveyed by simple geometric shapes. On the other hand, emotional information affects visual short-term memory performance. However, it is unclear whether simple geometric shapes can modulate the memory process. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of simple geometric shapes using a memory task designed to resolve some experimental problems. Experiment 1 compared the visual short-term memory capacity for a circle (rated positively), inverted triangle (rated negatively), and triangle (rated neutrally). Memory capacity for the circle was larger than for the inverted triangle. Experiments 2A and 2B did not indicate that the advantage in memory capacity associated with the circle was attributable to redundancy. Experiment 3 showed that the advantage associated with the circle was replicable in the single probe paradigm. These results indicated that emotional information conveyed by simple geometric shapes modulate visual short-term memory capacity. Future work should investigate the relationship between the advantage associated with the circle and other mental impressions during memory tasks and clarify the mechanisms underlying the effects of simple geometric shapes on cognition.