Do domain-general visual recognition abilities predict memory for when and where meaningful visual stimuli were seen?

Individuals differ in the level of detail they can visually encode. Prior work (Gronau et al., 2026) found that a domain-general subordinate-level object discrimination ability (Op) predicted memory for where an object was encountered. Additionally, Op predicted a meaningfulness effect on location – locations of objects considered to be familiar were better remembered than locations of objects considered to be novel. Here, we again tested whether Op predicted the meaningfulness effect on memory for location but also tested whether Op predicted a meaningfulness effect on memory for when an image was encountered. Unlike in Gronau et al. (2026), a levels-of-processing definition of meaningfulness was employed. Storybook images were encoded while participants attended to either the semantic content or the artist style. Other predictor variables included intelligence, working memory, and low-level perception. Preregistered structural equation models found no unique relationship between Op and memory for either when or where storybook images were encountered. They suggested that Op and intelligence had a shared relationship with memory for spatial location and sequence position, and with the meaningfulness effect on spatial location memory. Non-preregistered multiple regression models suggested that Op uniquely predicted spatial location memory and the meaningfulness effect on spatial location memory. Scene perception explained additional variance in memory for spatial location and sequence position, as well as in the meaningfulness effect on spatial location memory. These findings may suggest that domain-general visual abilities contribute to memory for when and where stimuli appeared, but that meaningfulness modulates this contribution only for spatial location.