Remembering things seen: Experimental approaches to the process of information transmittal

The persistent problem of determining the factors that lead to continuity o r variation when information is transmitted in different kinds of cultural situations is addressed here experimentally in a series of reproduction tas ks. Art students were given varying degrees of exposure to different kinds of images and objects from different cultures and were asked to make reprod uctions. The results indicate that the most important factors leading to ac curate reproductions are length of exposure, meaningful associations, and e specially cultural knowledge. These factors can be used to develop more rea listic archaeological models that posit the kinds of information transmitte d in different kinds of contact situations.