Abstract
Each of four Ss were shown brief flashes of four letters. They were required on some trials to name as many as they could (memory); on others they were told one letter before the flash and asked if the letter had been among the four in the stimulus (search). Both tasks were tested under two conditions: degraded, in which the duration of the stimulus was varied from 10 to 300 msec; and masked, in which the duration was held constant but visual noise followed after a 0 to 140 msec delay. Masking and degrading affected the relative performance in the two tasks identically, although after correction for chance, search accuracy slightly exceeded memory accuracy. To search or to recall brief visual displays apparently involves similar information-processing mechanisms-most likely a serial item-by-item order.
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This research was partially supported by a grant from the United States Public Health Service, MH 10753, and a Grant from the National Science Foundation, GB 5910, both to the second author.
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Standing, L., Haber, R.N. Visual search and memory under degraded and masked presentation. Psychon Sci 13, 81–82 (1968). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342420
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342420