@unpublished{cogprints1173, title = {Generation of Conceptual Gists of Abstract Patterns}, author = {John Beeckmans}, year = {2001}, keywords = {perception, vision, gist, information, conceptual short-term memory, image.}, url = {http://cogprints.org/1173/}, abstract = {A short study was made on the generation of conceptual gists of two abstract stimuli containing either 66 or 200 circles in a range of sizes arranged in symmetric patterns. Distributions of estimates the numerousness of the circles, made by groups of subjects following either 95 ms or 2 s exposures had realistic average values, and were comparable between groups, indicating that gists of the principal geometrical features of the stimuli were captured and consolidated into long-term memory on the basis of a single fixation. Implications of this finding for the controversy on the nature of the coding of images and for the minimalist vision hypothesis are discussed.} }