Abstract
Forty-eight Ss responded in a paper-and-pencil figure-cancellation task to both solid and outlined histoforms and polygons. Three levels of complexity were provided by use of four-, six-, and eight-element constrained metric figures. Perceptual performance, in terms of speed of figure identification, was generally better on polygons than on histoforms, and better on outlined than on solid figures. More importantly, figural complexity was found to interact significantly with these variables: perceptual performance was relatively better on outlined than on solid figures at low levels of complexity, and increases in complexity were less disturbing with polygons than with histoforms.
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Supported in part by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, Department of the Army, under Contract No. DA-49-193-MD-2567, “Behavioral Effects of Infectious Diseases.” This paper is based, in part, on a master’s thesis submitted by the junior author at the University of Louisville; the thesis was prepared under the direction of the senior author. The authors wish to thank Thomas J. Rebbin for technical assistance and Dr. Glynn D. Coates for consultation. An abridged report of this research was presented at the ninth annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, October 1968, St. Louis, Missouri.
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Thurmond, J.B., Hancock, J.B. Effects of figural complexity on the identification of different solid and outlined shapes. Psychon Sci 15, 315–317 (1969). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336318
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336318