Perceptions of past research.

Publication records were determined for 17 research topics in learning, memory, and perception. Topics varied in the initial and median years of publications, longevity, and size and shape of the distributions of publications. A total of 237 research scholars indicated their knowledge, perceptions, and evaluations of the issues. Familiarity with a problem depended on its age and when one was trained: Earlier PhDs were more familiar with older issues, and later PhDs with more recent issues. Topics perceived as the demonstration of a phenomenon were judged as less important, and those perceived as the investigation of a cognitive process as more important. Problems viewed as resolved were accorded more significance, and those abandoned because of paradigm shifts or intractability as less significance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)