Figure 1.

Stimuli and conditions used in the experiment. Each stimulus consisted of a digitized picture, composed of an object superimposed on a landscape. During a study phase, subjects had to mentally place the object in the landscape. During a subsequent test phase, subjects had to decide whether or not they had seen the object before during the experiment. Some of the old objects were paired with the same background as at study (Same pairs), others were paired with a studied background different from that at study (Rearranged pairs), and some old objects were paired with contexts that had not been presented at study (Old–New pairs). New objects were paired either with studied (New–Old pairs) or unstudied (New–New pairs) contexts.