Size and Shape of the Subliminal Window

The subliminal psychodynamic activation method: A critical review.

“…What can be said of this method? A number of writers have already addressed such difficulties as, for example, the lack of a fixation point in the blank field (Fudin, 1986; Porterfield & Golding, 1985); inattention to the visual angle subtended by the stimulus and the degree to which a syntactically complex stimulus can be processed subliminally (Fudin, 1986; Spence, Klein, & Fernandez, 1984); the need for control stimuli to be more psychologically neutral and structurally similar to the experimental stimuli (Condon & Allen, 1980; Fudin, 1986; Porterfield & Golding, 1985); and statistical problems created by using change scores (Porterfield & Golding, 1985). Finally, Silverman himself drew attention to the problem of uncontrolled illumination levels in the tachistoscopic fields when he discovered that this factor had contributed to the variable results in a set of experiments (Silverman, Ross, Adler, & Lustig, 1978).…”

Response to Balay and Shevrin: Constructive critique or misguided attack?

“…However, the visual angles subtended by Heilbrun's stimuli were anywhere from 10% to 30% higher than those of Silverman et al (Heilbrun misreported visual angle in his 1980 article;see "Correction to Heil-brun," 1982). Because Balay and Shevrin stressed the potential importance of visual angle, citing Fudin (1986) and Spence, Klein, and Fernandez (1984), they must have seen this as an important difference. Thus, of six alleged failures to replicate, only one (Ungaro,198 l) qualifies under Balay and Shevrin's exact replication criterion.…”

“…They were willing to cite published non-Silverman papers when they attempted to refute established findings (Condon & Allen, 1980; Emmelkamp & Straatman, 1976; Haspel & Harris, 1982; Heilbrun, 1980; Porterfield & Golding, 1985). They were also willing to cite unpublished papers and dissertations (Balay, 1987; Spence, Klein, & Fernandez, 1984; Ungaro, 1981). Their selection procedure is therefore obscure.…”