In a recent theoretical paper (Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1990, 13
, 519-542), Previc argued that vertical asymmetries in perception may
largely result from the biases of the lower and upper visual :fields t
oward proximal and distal space, respectively. The present study exami
ned whether this same relationship may exist for visual scene memory,
by re-analyzing data from Intraub and Richardson (Journal of Experimen
tal Psychology: Learning Memory, and Cognition, 1989, 15, 179-187). In
that study, subjects remembered photographs of scenes as being farthe
r away than was actually the case and extended the boundaries of the s
cenes accordingly; in some cases, the remembered scenes were also shif
ted vertically. This study formally examined whether prominent landmar
ks in Intraub and Richardson's close-up and wide-angle photographs wer
e displaced vertically in subjects' reproductions of them from memory.
A total of 475 measurements in 210 drawings by 41 subjects were made.
The results were that 64% of the original landmark points were shifte
d downward in the drawings made from memory, whereas only 36% were shi
fted upward. Although most of the original points were located in the
upper-field and would have been expected to be shifted downward as the
original image contracted in memory, a chi-square analysis showed tha
t more upper-field points were shifted downward than were lower-field
points shifted upward in the remembered scenes. The downward shift cou
ld reflect an expansion of the upper-field in memory, consistent with
the scene being placed farther away, or it could reflect an elevation
of the assumed viewing (head) position in memory. Published by Elsevie
r Science Ltd.