Perceptual and memorial matching for shades of gray

This study follows up on prior research reporting a directional bias in achromatic matching tasks and parity across perception and memory conditions. It also investigates the possible impact of rehearsal on memory for such simple visual stimuli. In Experiment 1, as expected, participants performed best in the perception condition in which they moved the standard chip amongst comparison grays, and equally well across the immediate , three-hour, and three-day delay conditions in which participants selected the previously viewed gray from memory. A directional bias toward a darker shade was found when black backgrounds were used. However, a comparable bias toward a brighter shade was not found when white backgrounds were used. Experiment 2 showed that rehearsal improved memory for achromatic color, whereas additional exposure did not. Results are discussed within the context of memory for visual stimuli.