This project will explore a paradoxical perceptual impairment sometimes referred to as the Bruner-Potter interference effect: Preceding a less degraded image by more degraded images impairs recognition of the less degraded item. Three related series of experiments will investigate 1) whether verbal processing plays a role in causing the interference, 2) the perceptual attributes that characterize the stimuli that cause the greatest interference, and 3) whether there are theoretically meaningful differences among types of stimuli and methods of degrading them. This work may shed light on little studied aspects of the role of higher cognitive processes in perception, especially possible circumstances of conflict between verbal and perceptual approaches to a task. This work is part of the larger research goal of better understanding the interaction between high- and low-level cognitive processes.
