Experimenter naiveté and imaginal judgments

Area of Science:

• Cognitive psychology
• Visual perception and imagery

Background:

• Previous research suggested visual resolution fields increase with pattern diameter in both perception and imagination.
• These findings were based on studies where experimenters knew the hypotheses being tested.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of experimenter awareness on the relationship between pattern diameter and visual resolution fields in imagined stimuli.
• To re-evaluate the functional equivalence of perception and imagery at different visual processing levels.

Main Methods:

• Replicated Finke and Kurtzman's findings on perceptual resolution increasing with diameter and brightness.
• Conducted imagery experiments with trained subjects, varying experimenter awareness of hypotheses.
• Measured fields of resolution for imagined circular patterns of varying diameters.

Main Results:

• Confirmed that perceptual resolution increases with pattern diameter and brightness.
• Found no increase in the fields of resolution for imagined patterns when the experimenter was unaware of the study's predictions.
• Replicated the finding that imagery resolution does not increase with pattern brightness.

Conclusions:

• Experimenter naiveté significantly impacts findings on visual imagery resolution, suggesting prior results may be confounded.
• Challenges the notion of functional equivalence between perception and imagery, particularly at contrast-processing levels.
• Highlights the importance of blinding in psychological research involving subjective reports and visual imagery.