Procedural differences in processing intact and degraded stimuli

In three experiments, the extent to which the processing of a visual stimulus profits from equal processing demands of a preceding stimulus was examined. Subjects identified two subsequently presented digits (S1 and S2) that were either intact or degraded by noise, yielding four combinations of stimulus quality. In Experiments 1 and 2, S1 and S2 differed with respect to the values of the digits, so that stimulus quality was the only dimension of possible agreement. The results revealed a faster response to S2 when the stimulus pairs were homogeneous (both intact or both degraded stimuli) than when they were not homogeneous (degraded-intact pairs and intact-degraded pairs, respectively). The occurrence of equal values of S1 and S2 (Experiment 3) tended to magnify this homogeneous-stimulus effect, but was not a prerequisite for its occurrence. Relative to conditions considered to be neutral, the homogeneous-stimulus effect proved to be due to deviant behavior following the processing of a degraded S1. The suggestion that this reflects the involvement of controlled processing is discussed.