Telling the wood from the trees: Effects of local and global processing on eye-witness memory
Catrin Phillips
Swansea University
Memory for faces can improve following a task
that encourages global processing as opposed to following tasks that require
local processing (e.g. verbalisation, or Navon letter identification; Schooler
& Schooler, 1990, and Macrae & Lewis, 2002, respectively). One question
arising is whether this global superiority effect only occur for faces, or,
whether it also improve memory for other stimuli. The current study examined
the effects of global and local processing on subsequent memory for central and
peripheral events viewed during a ‘mugging-at-knifepoint’ scene. Local or
global processing was manipulated as in Macrae and Lewis (2002), before viewing
the mugging scene. Memory recall for central (i.e. attacker, weapon, victim)
and peripheral (e.g. background objects) details following local and global
processing was contrasted with memory recall of a control group (no prior
letter identification). The findings are discussed in the context of the
interaction between memory and attention.
