Accuracy of perceptual recall: An analysis of organization

Abstract

A series of investigations was carried out to analyze the determinants of the difficulty of perceptual recall of a systematically varied set of stimuli. The stimuli were arrays of eight shapes that were each either black or white. In Part I, the accuracy with which Ss could reproduce these arrays under .5-sec. exposure was determined. In Part II, another method involving discrimination between arrays yielded a similar ranking of accuracy scores. This indicated that the scores obtained in Part I were not a function of the particular method used. The accuracy scores of Part I were then subjected to various types of analysis. An analysis based on information measure showed some success in accounting for the difficulty of individual arrays. For several reasons this analysis was found to be unsatisfactory. Another type of analysis was constructed, based on the verbal-loop hypothesis—the hypothesis that the Ss' perceptual processing includes a covert verbalization and that the length of the verbalization determines the difficulty of the stimulus for perceptual tasks. Empirically derived measures based on this hypothesis were shown to account for a major part of the variance in array difficulty. The relevance of the assumption and the findings to the general problem of perceptual organization and encoding is discussed. The verbal-loop hypothesis is presented as an alternative to gestalt and information theory analyses of organization.