Memory for visual items of central or marginal interest in complex scene: Impact of eye movements and subject’s expertise.

In complex scene, memory for central interest items is better than memory for marginal interest items and this difference remains stable independently of the scene presentation duration (Melcher, 2006). However, without eye movement recording, it is not possible to know whether central interest items are better remembered because they are more fixated or because they are more meaningful. To answer this question, we analysed the memory of complex scenes (paintings) according to the eye movements and subjects’ expertise. 15 novice subjects and 15 art historians (experts) were asked to look at 6 paintings that were separately and randomly presented for 10 seconds. After each painting presentation, subjects were asked questions about pictorial details of 3 categories: details of central or marginal interest and background information. Although experts had prior knowledge about the paintings, the accuracy of answers about the pictorial details did not differ between both groups: all subjects showed best memory for central information while they failed to remember background information and marginal details. Despite a longest time spent in the background zone, memory for these details was poorer than for central interest items, suggesting the importance of the meaning over the fixation duration. Eye movement recordings also showed novice’s answers were more accurate when they looked longer at the asked detail and when this detail was watched early on in the presentation while in the expert group, the accuracy of the answer was not influenced by the duration and moment they watched the asked detail.