The Effects of Visual Masking on Recognition: A Replication of Westerman and Greene’s (1997) Study

Abstract

Masking is the impairment of perception of visual stimuli when they are quickly followed by other stimuli. The perceptual interference effect occurs when visual stimuli are obscured and the brain activates pathways to compensate for the lack of information, and in turn, improves later explicit memory. Many models of word recognition suggest that the speed and ease with which this higher-level information is attained is proportional to the word’s linguistic frequency and familiarity. The purpose of this study was to replicate Westerman and Greene’s (1997) study by testing the theory that there is a mnemonic benefit for masking high frequency, familiar words. A total of 71 psychology students from the University of New Brunswick Saint John Campus participated in an online pilot experiment that tested the familiarity of select words, and an additional sample of 41 students participated in a subsequent in-person replication experiment that tested their ability to recognize masked and unmasked words. Two repeated-measures analyses of variance were conducted. The results supported the hypothesis that there is a mnemonic benefit for masking high frequency, familiar words, and no effect for low frequency, unfamiliar words. The results are discussed in the context of the word frequency effect and automatic processing.