ABSTRACT

Reviewing photographs of the past influences our memories, but there is minimal research examining the influence of the viewpoint during photographic review of memories. In the current study, we examined how reviewing photographs from first-person versus third-person perspectives influences visual and spatial perspective in subsequent memories. Participants formed memories for mini-events performed in the lab, reviewed photographs of these events one week later from first-person and third-person perspectives, and then two days later memories for these events were tested against no photographic review. We found that third-person photographs increased observer-like perspectives during subsequent remembering, suggesting that photographic review of novel viewpoints changes the location from which the rememberer views the past event. Reviewing third-person photographs also reduced the accuracy of the spatial location of objects, indicating that photographic review can also update spatial perspective. In sum, these findings show that the viewpoint of photographs can powerfully influence memories.

摘要

回顾过去的照片会影响我们的记忆，但很少有研究检查在照片回顾记忆过程中观点的影响。在当前的研究中，我们研究了从第一人称与第三人称视角查看照片如何影响后续记忆中的视觉和空间视角。参与者对在实验室中进行的小事件形成记忆，一周后从第一人称和第三人称的角度查看这些事件的照片，然后两天后对这些事件的记忆进行测试，而不是照片评论。我们发现第三人称照片在随后的记忆过程中增加了类似观察者的视角，这表明对新观点的照片回顾会改变记忆者查看过去事件的位置。审查第三人称照片也降低了物体空间位置的准确性，表明照相审查也可以更新空间视角。总而言之，这些发现表明，照片的观点可以有力地影响记忆。