Collective memory for American leaders: Measuring recognition for the names and faces of the US presidents.

ABSTRACT: Collective memory studies show that Americans remember their presidents in a predictable pattern, which can be described as a serial position curve with an additional spike for Abraham Lincoln. However, all prior studies have tested Americans' collective memory for the presidents by their names. How well do Americans know the faces of the presidents? In two experiments, we investigated presidential facial recognition and compared facial recognition to name recognition. In Experiment 1, an online sample judged whether each of the official portraits of the US presidents and similar portraits of nonpresidents depicted a US president. The facial recognition rate (around 60%) was lower than the name recognition rate in past research (88%), but the overall pattern still fit a serial position cur

SUBMITTER: Putnam AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8313295 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature