Jingyao Cheng¹ (), Yingtao Fu¹, Mowei Shen¹, Hui Chen¹; ¹Zhejiang University

Memorability refers to an intrinsic property of stimuli that influences their likelihood of being remembered or forgotten. Previous studies have consistently replicated the memorability effect and demonstrated that this effect is closely tied to the perceptual properties of stimuli. However, memory is not merely a collection of isolated entities but a complex system organized through the relationships between individuals. The present study aims to explore the distinct memorability effect on relational memory beyond individual items, encompassing time-related, space-related, and inter-item binding memory. Participants completed a sequential working memory task in which the memorability of scene images (memorable or forgettable) varied trial by trial. They were instructed not only to remember which item appeared but also to retain the temporal binding (Experiment 1), spatial binding (Experiment 2), and image-word binding (Experiment 3), allowing for the separate assessment of item memory and binding memory. We first replicated the effect of memorability on item memory, with memorable ones being remembered better than forgettable ones. More importantly, binding memory for memorable items was consistently better at all serial positions and across all types of binding. In Experiment 3, regardless of whether the cue recognition was image-based or word-based, memorable images showed superior binding memory, while the item memory for words was unaffected by memorability. Our findings provide robust evidence that memorable items are not only better remembered in terms of item memory, but also exhibit enhanced binding memory. This suggests that memorability is not merely a perceptual property confined to the item itself, but a mnemonic property that propagates item-related information.