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Humanlike Characteristics of Visual Mnemonic System in Macaques

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Cellular Mechanisms of Conditioning and Behavioral Plasticity

Abstract

Although there is still significant controversy as to whether in man each memory endures indefinitely in unaltered form (Bahrich et al., 1975; Hall and Loftus, 1984), any normal human being can unequivocally attest to a vast inventory of remembered material that is retained lifelong. The accuracy of this mnemonic store can seldom be assessed, but common experience suggests that the great majority of it is valid. In a few cases in which something approaching formal testing was achieved in, admittedly, possibly unique individuals (e.g., Luria, 1968; Hunter, 1977), trivial, unrehearsed material could be retrieved with astonishing accuracy after a lapse of 15 to 30 or more years (and see Neisser, 1982, for a collection of other examples). In tests of undergraduate college students, Standing (1973) was able to demonstrate, using 10,000 photographic slides that took several days to view, that a very large proportion of constantly changing visual scenes could still be recognized after a lapse of several days. Thus, the human mnemonic system can be characterized as being highly resistant to saturation (Nickerson, 1965) and capable of permanent retention and retrieval of information acquired in a single, brief exposure.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Brain Research, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, 14642, USA

    Robert W. Doty, James L. Ringo & Jeffrey D. Lewine

Authors
  1. Robert W. Doty
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  2. James L. Ringo
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  3. Jeffrey D. Lewine
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Mental Retardation Research Center, Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, 90024, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Charles D. Woody

  2. Section on Neural Systems, Laboratory of Biophysics, IRP, National Institute of Neurological Communicative Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health at the Marine Biological Laboratory, 02543, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

    Daniel L. Alkon

  3. Center for Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California, USA

    James L. McGaugh

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© 1988 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Doty, R.W., Ringo, J.L., Lewine, J.D. (1988). Humanlike Characteristics of Visual Mnemonic System in Macaques. In: Woody, C.D., Alkon, D.L., McGaugh, J.L. (eds) Cellular Mechanisms of Conditioning and Behavioral Plasticity. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9610-0_29

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9610-0_29

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-9612-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-9610-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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