FORM PERCEPTION WITHOUT ATTENTION

Methods were devised which made it possible for human subjects [Ss] to look directly at novel forms without attending to them. In 1 method a state of inattention was achieved without the use of distracting or competing material; in a 2nd method Ss selectively attended to 1 series of moving figures rather than another simultaneously presented series. While recognition of form directly afterward was excellent even under incidental conditions with attention it was poor or at a chance level without attention. Without attention memory of the specific shape of a figure was not established although there was memory for certain other general characteristics of the figure. It was argued that this failure of adequate trace formation resulted from the failure to describe the spatial relations which characterize a figure. Such a process of description constituted the essence of form perception and did not occur without attention.