Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Blind Procedures

Blind Procedures

Ideally, the people who observe and record the children’s behavior are unaware of who was assigned to the experimental or control group, in order to control for experimenter bias. Experimenter bias refers to the possibility that a researcher’s expectations might skew the results of the study. Remember, conducting an experiment requires a lot of planning, and the people involved in the research project have a vested interest in supporting their hypotheses. If the observers knew which...

Blinding

Blinding

Blinding is a commonly used method of not telling participants which treatment a subject is receiving. Blinding is a critical part of a randomized control trial or RCT. It reduces the bias that affects the results. In an RCT, blinding is used in the form of a placebo. A placebo effect occurs when untreated subjects falsely believe they have received the treatment and report improved symptoms. A placebo or a dummy treatment is administered to subjects to negate the bias caused by such an effect.

Parallel Processing

Parallel Processing

The brain processes sensory information rapidly due to parallel processing, which involves sending data across multiple neural pathways at the same time. This method allows the brain to manage various sensory qualities, such as shapes, colors, movements, and locations, all concurrently. For instance, when observing a forest landscape, the brain simultaneously processes the movement of leaves, the shapes of trees, the depth between them, and the various shades of green. This enables a quick and...

Subliminal Perception

Subliminal Perception

Subliminal perception refers to the processing of sensory information that occurs below the level of conscious awareness. Researchers study subliminal perception by presenting a stimulus, such as a word or image, very quickly, typically around 50 milliseconds. This rapid presentation is often followed by another stimulus, such as a pattern of dots or lines, which blocks further mental processing of the initial stimulus. As a result, if participants cannot identify the initial stimulus better...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

The spontaneous prioritization of "unfinishedness" in perception: A visual Zeigarnik effect.

Journal of experimental psychology. General·2026

Same author

Dynamic categorical memory distortion from "visual verbs".

Cognition·2025

Same author

Cognitive and affective processes mediate the effects of environmental factors on life history outcomes.

The Behavioral and brain sciences·2025

Same author

The El Greco Fallacy, this Time with Feeling: How (not) to Measure Group Differences in Emotional Intensity.

Affective science·2025

Same author

Pouring, scooping, bouncing, rolling, twisting, and rotating: Does spontaneous categorical perception of dynamic event types reflect verbal encoding or visual processing?

Attention, perception & psychophysics·2025

Same author

How to show that a cruel prank is worse than a war crime: Shifting scales and missing benchmarks in the study of moral judgment.

Cognition·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 5, 2025

Development of a Gaze-Contingent Display Framework Designed for Perceptual and Oculomotor Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

Development of a Gaze-Contingent Display Framework Designed for Perceptual and Oculomotor Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

Published on: April 11, 2025

The Blindfold Test: Helping to decide whether an effect reflects visual processing or higher-level judgment.

Benjamin F van Buren¹, Brian J Scholl^2,3

¹Department of Psychology, The New School, New York City, NY, 10011, USA. vanburenb@newschool.edu.

Attention, Perception & Psychophysics

|December 4, 2024

Summary

The Blindfold Test distinguishes visual perception from higher-level reasoning. If results remain consistent with display descriptions alone, they likely stem from judgment, not visual processing.

Keywords:

Cognition Motion-induced blindness Perception Perception of animacy Perception of causality

More Related Videos

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Published on: January 23, 2017

Assessing Binocular Central Visual Field and Binocular Eye Movements in a Dichoptic Viewing Condition

Assessing Binocular Central Visual Field and Binocular Eye Movements in a Dichoptic Viewing Condition

Published on: July 21, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 5, 2025

Development of a Gaze-Contingent Display Framework Designed for Perceptual and Oculomotor Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

Development of a Gaze-Contingent Display Framework Designed for Perceptual and Oculomotor Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

Published on: April 11, 2025

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Published on: January 23, 2017

Assessing Binocular Central Visual Field and Binocular Eye Movements in a Dichoptic Viewing Condition

Assessing Binocular Central Visual Field and Binocular Eye Movements in a Dichoptic Viewing Condition

Published on: July 21, 2020

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Visual Perception
Experimental Psychology

Background:

Studies often use subjective ratings of visual displays for high-level properties like animacy.
Distinguishing between genuine visual impressions and judgments based on perceived features is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

Introduce and validate the 'Blindfold Test' to differentiate perception from judgment in visual studies.
Evaluate whether experimental effects arise from visual processing or higher-level reasoning.

Main Methods:

The 'Blindfold Test' involves comparing responses to visual stimuli with responses to mere descriptions of those stimuli.
Applied the test to three prior studies involving subjective reports on visual displays.

Main Results:

Two studies on animacy and physical forces showed replicated findings with descriptions, suggesting judgment, not perception.
A third study on motion-induced blindness yielded different responses to descriptions versus visual stimuli, supporting a perceptual basis.

Conclusions:

The Blindfold Test can help determine if observed effects reflect visual perception or higher-level reasoning.
Results indicate that some prior studies on visual properties may have captured judgment rather than pure perception.