Conceptually driven encoding episodes create perceptual misattributions

Abstract

Processing fluency caused by prior encoding of a word is shown to increase duration judgments about that word and to decrease brightness contrast judgments about its mask when the word is presented in a masked word identification task. These effects occurred following an encoding task that involved visual perception of the words (reading aloud) and a task that provided no direct visual experience (generation from a semantic cue). Analysis of judgments conditionalized on correct or failed identification of target words indicated that judgments were powerfully affected by successful identification. Subjective estimates of the proportion of targets that were previously studied suggested that awareness of prior occurrence followed as an attribution based on fluent word identification, rather than acting as a causal agent for identification or altered perceptual judgments. We conclude that prior perceptual and conceptual encoding episodes can contribute to fluent processing of target words on a subsequent masked word identification task and that, regardless of its source, this fluency is experienced in a generic form that is susceptible to attribution to various causes, including prior experience (creating a sense of recollection) and current stimulus conditions.