Wide-angle memories of close-up scenes: A demonstration of boundary extension

Boundary extension refers to a tendency to remember seeing a greater expans e of a scene than was shown in a photograph. It is hypothesized that the vi ew shown in the stimulus activates expectations about the scene's layout ju st outside the picture's borders. Following presentation, the viewer rememb ers having seen this expected information, and this yields boundary extensi on. We provide photographs and instructions for conducting two brief demons trations of the phenomenon and provide materials for a related class experi ment on the journal's World-Wide Web site. These demonstrations of boundary extension provide graphic illustrations of the role of schematic expectanc ies in the representation of scenes and help to illustrate the role of real -world knowledge in cognition.