Once in a blue Mooney! Using the effects of prior exposure to elicit qualitative differences in naming of multi-identity images
摘要
We investigated the extent to which repetition priming can elicit qualitative differences in identification of a stimulus with multiple identities. In an exposure phase, participants viewed images of objects from one of two stimulus sets (A or B). In a naming phase, participants viewed superMooney stimuli (for 6 s each), comprising perceptually degraded (Mooney) versions of the A and B images superimposed in distinct colours, and attempted to name both. Across four experiments with university students (Ns = 51, 60, 61, 59), rates of correct naming of previously exposed components exceeded those of components that were not. This was replicated when the stimulus exposure duration was self-paced, and with different stimulus sets. Our findings robustly demonstrate an I See it Differently effect— two people can experience the same stimulus in qualitatively different ways, depending on prior experience. Future research should address the possibility of contamination of the effect by explicit recall.