Event Perception and the Word Repetition Effect

Abstract

Five experiments examined repetition effects on tachistoscopic word identification with masked and unmasked primes varying in lag (to the targets) and word frequency. Qualitative differences in lag effects were found between masked and unmasked primes, with only unmasked primes producing long-lasting repetition effects. Masked primes facilitated performance under conditions in which subjects did not discriminate the presence of prime letter strings; unmasked primes only facilitated target identification when there were visual cues segmenting primes from targets. These qualitative differences between masked and unmasked primes were attributed to effects occuring within a perceptual event (with masked primes) relative to those occurring across events (with unmasked primes). The relevance of the data for understanding both the word repetition effect and event perception in reading is discussed.