Failure to detect meaning in RSVP at 27 ms per picture

Abstract

The human visual system has the remarkable ability to rapidly detect meaning from visual stimuli. Potter, Wyble, Hagmann, and McCourt (Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 76, 270–279, 2014) tested the minimum viewing time required to obtain meaning from a stream of pictures shown in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) sequence containing either six or 12 pictures. They reported that observers could detect the presence of a target picture specified by name (e.g., smiling couple) even when the pictures in the sequence were presented for just 13 ms each. Potter et al. claimed that this was insufficient time for feedback processing to occur, so feedforward processing alone must be able..