ABSTRACT

While some argue that emojis are processed like words, opponents note dissimilarities. We used a divided attention (DA) technique to examine whether memory for emojis, relative to words, engages primarily verbal or visuo-spatial cognitive representations. We compared the decline in memory output experienced when participants freely recalled a list of studied words or emojis under dual-task conditions with a concurrently performed distracting task. Participants encoded either words or emojis (between-subjects) under full attention (FA), and later recalled them under FA or while concurrently performing a 1-back task to words (DA Words), emojis (DA Emojis), or stars (DA Stars), manipulated within-subject. Emoji memory was higher overall compared to words. Word recall was unaffected by the DA Stars condition, but significantly worse in the DA Words-and to a lesser degree DA Emojis-condition, relative to FA. Results suggest that memory for words relies primarily on reactivation of verbal representations, which is hampered when the distracting task also requires verbal, but not visuo-spatial, processing. In contrast, small but significant declines in recall were observed for emojis across all DA conditions relative to FA. Results suggest that unlike words, representing and retrieving emojis engages both verbal and visuo-spatial processing.

摘要

虽然有些人认为表情符号像文字一样被处理，但反对者指出了不同之处。我们使用分散注意力 (DA) 技术来检查表情符号的记忆，相对于单词，是否主要参与口头或视觉空间认知表征。我们比较了参与者在双重任务条件下自由回忆学习过的单词或表情符号列表与同时执行的分心任务时所经历的记忆输出下降。参与者在全神贯注 (FA) 下对单词或表情符号（受试者之间）进行编码，然后在 FA 下或同时对单词 (DA Words)、表情符号 (DA Emojis) 或星星 (DA) 执行 1-back 任务时回忆它们星），在对象内被操纵。与文字相比，表情符号的记忆力总体上更高。单词回忆不受 DA Stars 条件的影响，但相对于 FA，DA Words 和程度较轻的 DA Emojis 条件明显更差。结果表明，单词记忆主要依赖于语言表征的重新激活，当分散注意力的任务也需要语言而非视觉空间处理时，这会受到阻碍。相比之下，相对于 FA，在所有 DA 条件下，emojis 的回忆率都有小幅但显着的下降。结果表明，与文字不同，表示和检索表情符号涉及语言和视觉空间处理。相对于 FA，在所有 DA 条件下，emojis 的回忆率都有小幅但显着的下降。结果表明，与文字不同，表示和检索表情符号涉及语言和视觉空间处理。相对于 FA，在所有 DA 条件下，emojis 的回忆率都有小幅但显着的下降。结果表明，与文字不同，表示和检索表情符号涉及语言和视觉空间处理。