The Inferential Basis of Perceptual Performance

Abstract

<p>Prior exposure to a stimulus often speeds responding to that stimulus on a future occasion. Moreover, under some conditions, a previous encounter with a stimulus actually leads to slower responding to that stimulus. These "positive" and "negative" repetition effects are frequently interpreted as directly reflecting the activation state of abstract representations of knowledge (e.g., Paap & Noel, 1991; Tipper, 1985). This view has been challenged by other research suggesting that the effect of repetition depends on the appropriateness (or inappropriateness of prior processing for meeting current task demands (e.g., Jacoby, 1983; Neill & Mathis, 1998). In a series of experiments, I demonstrate that interferences people make about the source of fluent processing can also modulate the effect of repetition on perceptual performance. These findings establish that the same inferential process that is known to guide decision-making in other cognitive task domains, such as memory and categorization, contributes to performance on simple perceptual tasks as well.</p>