Abstract
Induced visual afterimages endure for very short periods of time (about 15 sec-2 min). In an attempt to prolong the perceived duration of afterimages, an experiment was conducted to examine the roles of stimulus codability (the degree of intersubject agreement on the name of an inducing stimulus object) and stimulus complexity (the number of elements in the inducing object) on afterimage duration. We found that stimulus codability affected afterimage duration: A highly codable stimulus produced the most enduring afterimage. Stimulus complexity, on the other hand, did not affect afterimage duration. We conclude that, in addition to physiological factors that affect the production and prolongation of an afterimage, cognitive factors may play a role as well. One such factor may be stimulus codability.
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This experiment is based in part upon a master’s thesis by the senior author, conducted under the supervision of the junior author. A portion of these data were also presented at the meetings of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Detroit, May 1981.
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Smith, L.D., Wallace, B. The role of a cognitive factor in the prolongation of an induced visual afterimage. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 19, 145–147 (1982). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330214
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330214