In four experiments, task-switching processes were investigated with variants of the alternating runs paradigm and the explicit cueing paradigm. The classical diffusion model for binary decisions (Ratcliff, 1978) was used to dissociate different components of task-switching costs. Findings can be reconciled with the view that task-switching…

Recent evidence suggests that the recognition of an object's presence and its explicit recognition are temporally closely related. Here we re-examined the time course (using a fine and a coarse temporal resolution) and the sensitivity of three possible component processes of visual object recognition. In particular, participants saw briefly…

Variations in perceptual and cognitive demands (load) play a major role in determining the efficiency of selective attention. According to load theory (Lavie, Hirst, Fockert, & Viding, 2004) these factors (a) improve or hamper selectivity by altering the way resources (e.g., processing capacity) are allocated, and (b) tap resources rather than…

The conditions for serial search are described. A multiple target search methodology (Thornton & Gilden, 2007) is used to home in on the simplest target/distractor contrast that effectively mandates a serial scheduling of attentional resources. It is found that serial search is required when (a) targets and distractors are mirror twins, and…

Observers can recognize other people from their movements. What is interesting is that observers are best able to recognize their own movements. Enhanced visual sensitivity to self-generated movement may reflect the contribution of motor planning processes to the visual analysis of human action. An alternative view is that enhanced visual…

Secondary task performance was used to evaluate the attentional demands of encoding the first letter in a sequential letter-match task. Unlike earlier studies, comparing secondary task performance between two primary task conditions indicated that letter encoding involves attention. Performance during the intertrial interval varied with subjects'…

The encoding mechanism involved in perceptual recognition of words and pictures was investigated. Latencies in naming targets were analyzed as a function of several characteristics of a preceding prime. Results indicated that a common semantic code is available that can represent the meaning of either a word or a picture. (Author/RD)

Subjects decided whether sentences as "The treaty passed" were "true" or "false," given number of votes cast for the bill and criterion that determined its status. An additive-stages model was applied to verification times from the present and prior studies, and was used to describe certain markedness and congruity…

In three experiments, this study addressed two basic questions about the detection of multiletter patterns: (1) How is the detection of a multiletter pattern related to the detection of its individual components? (2) How is the detection of a sequence of letters influenced by the observer's familiarity with that sequence? (Author/BW)

Three experiments employed rectangles in stimulus identification tasks. It was concluded that the initial perceptual processing of rectangles is accomplished by separate dimensional analyzers operating in parallel. Observers adopt different decision strategies for negatively correlated sets and for single dimension sets when the number of…

Intraperceptual theories of attention allow for the selective modulation of amount of nonconscious, perceptual processing of concurrent stimuli. Previous research is inconclusive because of the lack of an appropriate measure of perceptual processing. This experiment provides such a measure. The data support a broad version of intraperceptual…

The influence of frequency of occurrence of a visual stimulus on encoding processes is investigated, to discover what mechanisms allow cognitive processes to modify perceptual processes. Six experiments are described and the results are discussed. (MH)

Two experiments tested the limiting case of a multiple resources approach to resource allocation in information processing. Results contradict a single-capacity model, supporting the idea that the hemispheres' resource supplies are independent and have implications for both cerebral specialization and divided attention issues. (Author/PN)

In four experiments, college students were presented with lists of either Armenian or English letters on a tachistoscope. The data indicate that extensive practice may be a necessary condition for capacity-free processing but may not be a necessary condition for involuntary processing. (Author/RD)

Reaction time and accuracy do not always reflect the same perceptual processes; therefore, the convergence of reaction time with accuracy within the context of a specific information processing model should be demonstrated empirically rather than assumed a priori. (Author/PN)