The effect of inattention on form perception.

A state of inattention was achieved by having subjects selectively attend to one of two overlapping novel figures in a series of such overlapping figures. Recognition of form directly afterward was good for figures that had been attended to but was essentially nil for the unattended figures. Recognition failed to occur even if a familiar figure was in the unattended series and even if that figure was presented 1 sec before the test. A further experiment showed that certain general characteristics of the unattended figures other than form were recognized. The results are interpreted as indicating that attention is necessary for form perception, not merely for memory of form. It is suggested that a cognitive process of description constitutes the essence of form perception. Diverting attention eliminates the cognitive operation of describing the spatial relations that characterize a figure.