Abstract: Stimuli can be remembered based on their exact perceptual details (i.e., verbatim memory) or global/categorical meaning (i.e., gist memory). According to Construal Level Theory, the level of abstraction people use to process a stimulus is dependent on its perceived psychological distance: a more abstract, high-level construal for a more psychologically distal stimulus and vice versa. The present study examined how psychological distance affects verbatim vs. gist memory. During encoding, participants made distance judgments for objects that appeared at a proximal or distal position on a background with clear depth-cues. They then completed a free recall test and a recognition test in which they had to identify whether given objects were the same as the ones they had seen before, similar, or new. Psychological distance did not significantly affect recall accuracy. In recognition, a significant gist memory advantage emerged for objects encoded in the distal condition while a significant verbatim memory advantage emerged for those encoded in the proximal condition. Our findings suggest that psychological distance influences the specificity with which information is remembered.
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