What is evidence that long-term memories are not pictures?

• A. Degraded memories are blurred
• B. Retrieval can be based on word queries
• C. Missing objects are blank spaces
• D. Memories are photographic

Answer: (B)

Memories are stored and accessed in ways that include linguistic or semantic representations, not just as fixed pictures. The fact that you can trigger a long-term memory using a word cue shows that memory traces can be activated through language and meaning, not solely through visual imagery. If memories were purely photographic, verbal prompts would be less effective at pulling up the details, since the retrieval would have to map words to an image without a flexible linguistic pathway. Being able to retrieve information with words demonstrates a non-visual, coded organization of long-term memory.

The other options aren’t as informative about the format of memory. Degraded memories being blurred, missing objects as blank spaces, or memories being photographic would either reflect different types of memory errors or imply an imagery-based representation, respectively, rather than provide clear evidence that memories are not pictures.