TEMPORAL FACTORS IN VISUAL-PERCEPTION - A DIFFERENTIAL APPROACH

The tradition in sensory and perceptual psychology is not to pay much attention to individual differences but to focus almost exclusively on normative or generic processes. Nevertheless, consistent individual d ifferences may exist in sensory and perceptual processes, just as they do in all other areas of human behavior where their existence has bee n investigated. A preliminary study was made of flicker fusion frequen cy, apparent movement, and three other perceptual tasks as differentia l measures. With one exception, Letter Search, all of the tests were p sychophysical rather than cognitive. All had to do with time; that is, perceptual speed mattered in all of them. The analysis focused on rel iability, in the sense of consistency from trial to trial. Four of the five tests showed good reliabilities in this sense, white the fifth w as borderline. In one test, Bistable Stroboscopic Motion, the dependen t measure, interstimulus interval, showed a consistent though shallow tendency to lengthen with practice. In the remaining four tests practi ce effects were largely confined to the first two administrations.