Different Levels in Processing Simple Geometrical Figures

Abstract

An experiment has been conducted in order to extend to geometrical figures Posner's (1969) findings of various levels of processing for alphabetical material. Pairs of simple figures (triangles and trapezoids) were tachistoscopically presented to subjects asked to judge if they were “same” or “different.” Subjects were instructed to respond “same” either if the two figures had the same shape or the same name, e.g., a scalene triangle paired with a right-angled one. The results support the theory of different levels of processing also for geometrical figures.