Abstract
Subjects read aloud words presented once at the rate of one per second. A perceptual identification task, involving 30- or 50-msec presentations, followed. Some of the words presented for identification had been read previously; others were new. After each presentation, in addition to identifying the word, the subjects judged its duration. The data indicate that a single presentation of a word affects its later perception, as revealed by enhanced perceptual identification, longer duration judgments, and better temporal discrimination. A second experiment showed that a single presentation influenced duration judgments even when identification was not required. The final experiment addressed the issue of what is preserved in memory from a prior presentation. The results from the three experiments indicate that duration judgments provide a valuable dependent measure of memory in the perceptual identification task and support the misattribution hypothesis: A prior presentation enhances perceptual identification, and this increase in relative perceptual fluency is incorrectly attributed to a longer presentation duration.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allan, L. G. (1979) The perception of time.Perception & Psychophysics,26, 340–354.
Allan, L. G (1983) Magnitude estimation of temporal intervalsPerception & Psychophysics,33, 29–42.
Avant, L. L., &Lyman, P. J. (1975) Stimulus familiarity modifies perceived duration in prerecognition visual processing.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,1, 205–213
Avant, L L., Lyman, P J., &Antes, J. R (1975). Effects of stimulus familiarity upon judged visual duration.Perception & Psychophysics,17, 253–262.
Broadbent, D. E, &Broadbent, M H. P. (1975). Some further data concerning the word frequency effectJournal of Experimental Psychology: General,104, 297–308.
Cantor, N E., &Thomas, E. A. C. (1977). Control of attention in the processing of temporal and spatial information in complex visual patterns.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,3, 243–250.
Dember, W. N. &Warm, J S. (1979).Psychology of perception. Holt, Rinehart & Winston
Dfvane, J. R. (1974). Word characteristics and judged duration for two response sequences.Perceptual and Motor Skills,38, 525–526.
Feustel, T. C., Shiffrin, R. M., &Salasoo, A. (1983). Episodic and lexical contributions to the repetition effect in word identificationJournal of Experimental Psychology General,112, 309–346.
Gomez, L. M., &Robertson, L. C. (1979) The filledduration illusion: The function of temporal and nontemporal set.Perception & Psychophysics,25, 432–438.
Green, D. M., &Swets, J A. (1966)Signal detection theory and psychophysics New York Wiley.
Haber, R. N. (1965). The effect of prior knowledge of the stimulus upon word recognition processes.Journal of Experimental Psychology,69, 282–286
Haber, R. N. (1966). Repetition as a determinant of perceptual recognition processes In J. C Mott-Smith, W. Wathen-Dunn, H. Blum, & P. Lieberman (Eds),Symposium on models for the perception of speech and visual form. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
Haber, R N., &Hershenson, M. (1965). The effects of repeated brief exposures on growth of a percept.Journal of Experimental Psychology,69, 40–46
Haber, R. N, &Hillman, E. R. (1966) The effect of repetition on the perception of single letters.Perception & Psychophysics,1, 347–350
Hershenson, M., &Haber, R. N. (1965). The role of meaning in the perception of briefly exposed wordsCanadian Journal of Psychology,19, 42–46.
Jacoby, L. L. (1983a) Perceptual enhancement: Persistent effects of an experience.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,9, 21–83.
Jacoby, L. L. (1983b). Remembering the data: Analyzing interactive processing in reading.Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior,22, 485–508.
Jacoby, L. L. (1984). Incidental vs. intentional retrieval: Remembering and awareness as separate issues. In N. Butters & L. R. Squire (Eds.),The neuropsychology of memory. New York: Guilford Press.
Jacoby, L L., &Dallas, M. (1981). On the relationship between autobiographical memory and perceptual learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,3, 306–340.
Jacoby, L. L., &Witherspoon, D. (1982). Remembering without awarenessCanadian Journal of Psychology,36, 300–324.
Morton, J. (1979) Facilitation in word recognition: Experiments causing change in the logogen model. In P. A. Kolers, M. E. Wrolstal, & H. Bouma (Eds),Processing of visible language (Vol. 1). New York, Plenum Press
Murrell, G. A., &Morton, J. (1974) Word recognition and morphemic structure.Journal of Experimental Psychology,102, 963–968
Robertson, L C, &Gomez, L. M (1980). Figurai vs. configurai effects in the filled duration illusionPerception & Psychophysics,27, 111–116.
Thomas, E. A C. &Cantor, N E. (1975). On the duality of simultaneous tune and size perceptionPerception & Psychophysics,18, 44–48.
Thomas, E. A C., &Cantor, N. E (1976). Simultaneous time and size perceptionPerception & Psychophysics,19, 353–360.
Thomas, E. A C, &Cantor, N. E (1978) Interdependence between the processing of temporal and nontemporal information In J. Requin (Ed.),Attention and performance VII. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum
Thomas, E. A. C., &Weaver, W. B. (1975). Cognitive processing and time perception.Perception & Psychophysics,17, 363–367.
Thorndike, E. L., &Lorge, I. (1944).The teacher’s word book of 30,000 words. New York: Teacher’s College Press, Columbia University.
Warm, J. S., Greenberg, L. F., &Dube, C. S., II (1964). Stimulus and motivational determinants in temporal perception.Journal of Psychology,58, 243–248.
Warm, J. S., &McCray, R E. (1969). Influence of word frequency and length on the apparent duration of tachistoscopic presentations.Journal of Experimental Psychology,79, 56–58.
Weintraub, D. J., &McNulty, J. A. (1973). Clarity versus indentifiability of repeatedly flashed patterns.Journal of Experimental Psychology,99, 293–305.
Witherspoon, D. (1982).Effects of physical similarity in words for perceptual identification. Unpublished manuscript, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Witherspoon, D. (1983).The dissociation between tacit and reflective measures of memory. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Witherspoon, D., Allan, L.G. The effect of a prior presentation on temporal judgments in a perceptual identification task. Memory & Cognition 13, 101–111 (1985). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197003
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197003