Iconic memory
The iconic memory ( Iconic sensory memory ) is a model of imagination from the memory psychology. It describes the part of sensory memory (also sensory register or ultra-short-term memory ) that is responsible for visual perception . The iconic memory temporarily stores all incoming visual information and makes it accessible for further processing. This process of pre-attentive perception takes place unconsciously.
An experiment by Johann Andreas von Segner (1740) is often cited as an early investigation : a glowing coal mounted on a wheel is rotated faster and faster in a dark room until the observer sees a continuous track without a gap, i.e. a steady image. The estimated duration of persistence was around 100 ms (duration of one revolution to renew the visual stimulus).
Iconic memory has a far greater capacity than short-term memory , which could be shown with the partial report method according to George Sperling (1960). It is specified with 12 (7-17) chunks . The visual sensory memory, however, breaks down very quickly. The first memory traces disintegrate after less than 200-400 ms.
See also
literature
- David G. Myers, C. Grosser, S. Hoppe-Graff: Psychology . Springer 2004, ISBN 978-3-540-21358-1 , p. 384 ( limited online version in the Google book search)