Perceptual fluency contributes to effects of stimulus size on judgments of learning

We presented stimuli that were initially so small as to be entirely unrecognizable but that gradually increased in size. Stimuli were pictures of common objects (Experiment 1), faces (Experiment 2), and words (Experiments 3 and 4). People indicated when they could identify the stimulus and then made a JOL. The time required for participants to identify each stimulus was our measure of perceptual fluency. In Experiments 1 to 3, we manipulated the speed of the clarification process across trials. Results showed that the less time it took to identify the clarifying stimuli, independent of clarification speed, the higher one’s JOLs. Moreover, fast clarification increased JOLs indirectly by decreasing identification time. In Experiment 4, one group of participants (learner group) could base JOLs on both perceptual fluency and beliefs about how stimulus size affects memory performance, while the other group (observer group) could base JOLs only on beliefs. Inverse relations between identification time and JOLs occurred only in the learner group. These results demonstrate that perceptual fluency may produce size effects on JOLs and support the idea that fluency is an important factor in JOLs.
Source: Journal of Memory and Language - Category: Speech Therapy Source Type: research