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Investigations of perception and imagery using CAEs: The role of experimental design and psychophysical method

Perception & Psychophysics volume 35, pages 155–164 (1984)Cite this article

Abstract

Orientation-contingent color aftereffects (CAEs) were measured using 174 observers ran-domly allocated to one of eight experimental conditions formed by the factorial combination of three two-level factors. These were experimental design (pretest and posttest measures taken vs. posttest measures taken alone), psychophysical method (forced-choice vs. magnitude estimation), and inspection procedure (inspection of real contours vs. inspection of imagined contours). In addition to color responses, written introspective reports of the strategies used in providing color responses were obtained. As a basis for the rejection of observers using inappropriate strategies, reported strategies were coded as appropriate or inappropriate. An analysis of the color reports of all observers was performed, as well as two analyses of the color reports of only those observers identified as using appropriate response strategies. In all cases, the results showed that CAEs were reported after inspection of real contours irrespective of the experimental design or psychophysical method used. There were no significant CAEs reported in any conditions that involved the imagination of contours. A separate analysis of the relationship between observers’ response strategies, the coding of these strategies, and observers’ actual color reports revealed some problems concerning the use of such introspective techniques. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of theoretical assumptions about the nature of imagery and perception.

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    Article  Google Scholar 

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    Article  Google Scholar 

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    Article  Google Scholar 

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    Article  Google Scholar 

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    Article  Google Scholar 

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    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Special Education, Brisbane College of Advanced Education, P.O. Box 82, 4122, Mount Gravatt, Queensland, Australia

    Jack Broerse

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, 4067, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia

    Boris Crassini

Authors
  1. Jack Broerse
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  2. Boris Crassini
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Broerse, J., Crassini, B. Investigations of perception and imagery using CAEs: The role of experimental design and psychophysical method. Perception & Psychophysics 35, 155–164 (1984). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203895

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203895

Keywords

  • Magnitude Estimation
  • Pretest Score
  • Color Score
  • Psychophysical Method
  • Color Aftereffect