Vividability

Why are some memories more vivid than others? The role of stimulus-driven factors in memory vividness

Overview

While it is well established that images differ in how likely they are to be remembered (memorability), we have found that the subjective vividness of a memory is also partly determined by properties of the stimulus itself. We call this stimulus-driven vividness vividability—the tendency for certain images to be remembered more vividly than others, consistently across individuals.

Key Questions

• Is memory vividness driven by properties of the remembered stimulus?
• What visual and semantic features predict how vividly an image will be recalled?
• How do vividability and memorability relate to one another?

Key Findings

• Real-world object images are rated with highly consistent vividness across participants, suggesting a stable stimulus-level property.
• Vividness is predicted by low-level visual complexity, semantic distinctiveness, and image memorability.
• The relationship between stimulus features and vividness depends on task context, highlighting the role of encoding conditions in shaping the phenomenological experience of remembering.

Reference

Barker, R., & Buchsbaum, B. R. (2025). Stimulus-driven vividness in visual memory: Introducing the concept of ‘vividability.’ Preprint.