LOCATION CODING WITH LETTERS VERSUS UNFAMILIAR, FAMILIAR, AND LABELEDLETTER-LIKE FORMS

Errors in reporting a postcued target within a string of several lette rs more often involve a letter appearing elsewhere in the string (misl ocation error) than one not appearing in the string (intrusion error). However, mislocation errors are not more frequent than intrusion erro rs with strings of relatively unfamiliar symbols or forms, and two exp eriments were conducted to determine the reason for this difference. T he first experiment showed that the difference is not an artifact: of different overall accuracy levels or exposure durations for the two ch aracter types. The second experiment revealed that, relative to no exp erience, initial experience with the forms through familiarization or learning labels for them produced mislocation and intrusion frequencie s that were more similar to those for letters. This change was related to the development of stored representations for forms that are simil ar to those for letters and are subject to the same influences that pr oduce mislocation and intrusion patterns for them.