Information retrieval from two rapidly consecutive stimuli: A new analysis

Data from an experiment in which Ss reported letters from two consecutive stimuli are analyzed by a nonmetric multiple regression analysis that permits the evaluation of nonlinear-e.g., quantal-hypotheses. The data are shown to contradict the hypothesis that total stimulus duration is the critical factor in response accuracy and the hypothesis of a quantal time period. Instead, they support the theory of visual persistence and continuous processing (Sperling, 1963): namely, visibility of a stimulus persists for a few lOths of a second after a stimulus has been turned off; the effect of a second stimulus exposure coming quickly after the first is to terminate visibility of the first stimulus and to substitute for it visibility of the second; information is retrieved at a rapid rate from whichever stimulus is visible.