The relationship between word frequency and perceptibility with a forced-choice technique.

"A number of studies have suggested that word thresholds obtained from the ascending method of limits are particularly susceptible to linguistic biases and hence may indicate little about perception. In the present investigation a forced-choice technique was employed in which S was presented with several words and required to identify the spatial location of a given word. With this technique, which reduces or eliminates response bias, the same positive relationship between frequency of prior usage and performance as had been found with the ascending method of limits was obtained. The implications of a perceptual interpretation of these findings were discussed." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GG91T. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)