Some physical determinants of viewing time under three instructional sets

Abstract

One-hundred fifty human Ss viewed 32 patterns under neutral (N), pleasingness (P), or interestingness (l) instructional sets. An analysis of variance indicated that patterns with larger areas were viewed longer than patterns with smaller areas under all conditions; however, this effect was more pronounced under the P and I conditions than under the N condition. Patterns containing 9-sided shapes were viewed longer than those containing 3-sided shapes under the N and I conditions, while the reverse was true for the P condition. © 1966 Psychonomic Society, Inc.