[Face-research-list] The Cambridge Car Memory Test

[Hugh Dennett]

Hi all,

Given that the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) has been very widely
used, I thought some of you may be interested to know that we have
just published a paper with young adult norms for a new non-face
object memory test (the CCMT) with the same format as the CFMT.

As with the CFMT, the CCMT has a range suitable for investigating
individual differences in the normal adult population.

You can access the paper at:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/c36317587643qt37/
I have also included the abstract below.

Regards,
Hugh Dennett

-- 

The Cambridge Car Memory Test: A task matched in format to the
Cambridge Face Memory Test, with norms, reliability, sex differences,
dissociations from face memory, and expertise effects

Hugh W. Dennett, Elinor McKone, Raka Tavashmi, Ashleigh Hall,
Madeleine Pidcock, Mark Edwards and Bradley Duchaine

Behavior Research Methods
DOI: 10.3758/s13428-011-0160-2

Many research questions require a within-class object recognition task
matched for general cognitive requirements with a face recognition
task. If the object task also has high internal reliability, it can
improve accuracy and power in group analyses (e.g., mean inversion
effects for faces vs. objects), individual-difference studies (e.g.,
correlations between certain perceptual abilities and face/object
recognition), and case studies in neuropsychology (e.g., whether a
prosopagnosic shows a face-specific or object-general deficit). Here,
we present such a task. Our Cambridge Car Memory Test (CCMT) was
matched in format to the established Cambridge Face Memory Test,
requiring recognition of exemplars across view and lighting change. We
tested 153 young adults (93 female). Results showed high reliability
(Cronbach's alpha = .84) and a range of scores suitable both for
normal-range individual-difference studies and, potentially, for
diagnosis of impairment. The mean for males was much higher than the
mean for females. We demonstrate independence between face memory and
car memory (dissociation based on sex, plus a modest correlation
between the two), including where participants have high relative
expertise with cars. We also show that expertise with real car makes
and models of the era used in the test significantly predicts CCMT
performance. Surprisingly, however, regression analyses imply that
there is an effect of sex per se on the CCMT that is not attributable
to a stereotypical male advantage in car expertise.

-- 

Hugh Dennett
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Psychology
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200

E:   hugh.dennett at anu.edu.au
T:   +61 2 6125 2716
W:  http://psychology.anu.edu.au/_people/people_details.asp?recId=177