Frequency judgments: The problem of defining a perceptual event.

Abstract

In four experiments the conditions under which frequency judgments reflect the relative frequency of complex perceptual events were explored. Subjects viewed a series of 4 x 4 grids each containing seven items, which were letters and numbers in one of four typefaces. Later judgments of the relative frequency with which particular letters appeared in particular typefaces were unaffected by a warning about an upcoming frequency judgment task, but were affected by both the time available for processing the stimuli and the nature of the cover task subjects engaged in while viewing the grids. Frequency judgments were poor when exposure durations were less than 2 s and when the cover task directed subjects' attention merely to the locations of the items within the grids. Frequency judgments improved when the cover task directed subjects' attention to the identity of the stimuli, especially to the conjunction of letter and typeface. The results suggest that frequency estimation of complex stimuli may be possible only for stimuli that have been processed as phenomenal objects.Largely prompted by Zack's (1979, 1984) proposal that certain attributes of events are automatically encoded, there has been considerable recent interest in people's ability to judge the relative frequency of events (e.g., Barsalou & Ross, 1986;Begg, Maxwell, Mitterer, & Harris, 1986;Birnbaum, Taylor, Johnson, & Raye, 1987;Fisk & Schneider, 1984;Greene, 1984Greene, , 1986Hanson & Hirst, 1988;Kausler, Lichty, & Hakami, 1984;Maki & Ostby, 1987;Naveh-Benjamin & Jonides, 1986;Williams & Durso, 1986). The available studies collectively highlight a number of important aspects of frequency judgments that are not yet well understood. One of the most central is the relation between encoding processes and sensitivity to differential frequency. The present experiments were concerned with this question. Specifically, we were interested in determining the minimal processing conditions necessary for discrimination of relative frequency.It has been established that sensitivity to frequency is affected by the type of orienting task subjects engage in (e.g.,

Input-Driven Language Learning

“…You are not able to provide an estimate of the number of red cars that passed you on the way to work this morning, but you were aware of them enough not to let any of them hit you. Research that has attempted to identify minimum levels of attention suggests that the individual must attend to a specific object for more than two seconds for it to register in such settings (Johnson, Peterson, Yap, & Rose, 1989). Input-driven approaches need to incorporate an attentional component in cue learning and specify how it interacts with frequency information.…”

Are judgments of the positional frequencies of letters systematically biased due to availability?

“…A large amount of literature suggests that memory is often (but not always) excellent in storing frequency information from various environments. In particular, several authors have documented that participants' judgments of the frequency of letters and words generally show a remarkable sensitivity to the actual frequencies (e.g., Hock, Malcus, & Hasher, 1986;Johnson, Peterson, Yap, & Rose, 1989;Naveh-Benjamin & Jonides, 1986;Watkins & LeCompte, 1991). The registering of event occurrences for frequency judgments is assumed to be a fairly automatic process; that is, it requires little to no attentional capacity (e.g., Hasher & Zacks, 1979.…”

The Moderating Role of Category Salience and Category Focus in Judgments of Set Size and Frequency of Occurrence

“…For instance, if VIOLET is encoded and stored as a color name, it normally cannot be retrieved as an instance of the category of flowers, or girls ' names. (p. 359) In a number of studies, category salience was manipulated during encoding of frequency information (e.g., Greene, 1989;Hanson & Hirst, 1988;Johnson, Peterson, Chua Yap, & Rose, 1989). All of these studies jointly demonstrate that category salience can strongly influence which aspect from the cluster of stimulus attributes is focused and tagged for frequency.…”