Everyday attention, metamemory, and reconstructive memory for the Apple logo and Lancaster University Crest logo

Cassandra Bode. 2016

Abstract
Many of the brand logos we see every day are created with considerable precision to ensure we
remember and recognise them; this is done by making them appealing to the eye. Logos such as the Apple one have been explained to be among the most recognisable in the world (Farham, 2013). However, in the study reported recently by Blake, Nazarian and Castel (2015) participants have shown to struggle to recognise the correct Apple logo and to draw it from memory.
This study examines the recall and recognition of the Apple logo and the Lancaster University Crest – the scores will be compared to the confidence scores to determine whether they are influenced by metamemory. Participants showed poor memory for the details of both logos – this was measured through drawings (immediate recall) and forced-choice recognition (from an array of 9 logos, 8 of which were slightly altered). Both conditions showed differences in their metamemory. Strictly users of both Apple and PC and Mid exposed participants showed a slight advantage in all tasks, suggesting there may be something like the ideal exposure of logos. These results support previous findings, i.e., people don’t tend to attend to logos, and employ systems such as gist-like memory (Wolfe, 1998).