Have you been to Paris?

Benny Shanon*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Two experiments examined how people answer questions of the form 'Have you been to X?' where X is a city or a country abroad. In the natural experiment subjects were not given any material to memorize, and were timed as they indicated whether they themselves had been to the place in question. In the artificial experiment subjects were given places to memorize and were asked to imagine they had been to them. The test was similar to that of the natural experiment. The natural experiment supports a hierarchical search proceeding first on the level of countries and then on that of cities. The results of the artificial experiment reflect the structure of the memorized information. The comparison between the two experiments is made from a general methodological perspective.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)313-327
Number of pages15
JournalActa Psychologica
Volume43
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1979

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