| Abstract: | Investigated previous findings which suggest that a patterned masking stimulus, presented immediately following tachistoscopic presentation of letter rows, produces large decrements in the recall of letters from the central positions in the rows but has little effect on recall from either end of the displays. 4 experiments with 92 undergraduate Ss confirm the existence of a selective masking effect. The effect was obtained following exposure durations which varied from 30-200 msec. and with both full- and partial-report techniques. Also the selective masking effect was limited to multiletter displays in that it was shown that single letters were masked equally well across the positions used for an entire row. Results suggest that both ends of multiletter displays are processed and identified before the center positions of the displays are processed. (French summary) (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
