Perceptual defense—down but not out.

Explored taboo-word recognition thresholds in an impromptu investigation of perceptual defense with 14 Ss. 7 Ss served in the experimental group, and 7 Ss were controls. The experimental Ss could not recall the acronym PISS but the control Ss remembered their acronym PASS without difficulty. All 7 experimental Ss substituted the letter "S" for "P." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)