Specific Visual Transfer in Word Identification

Prior presentation of a word can serve to enhance its later perceptual identification. A series of three experiments was designed to determine if this effect of prior experience depends on preserving the visual details of a word between its prior presentation and test. A first experiment revealed evidence of specific visual transfer only for words that were tested in lowercase. Words tested in lowercase that had been previously presented in lowercase were more readily identified than were those that had been previously presented in uppercase. Later experiments used more extreme manipulations of the visual details of a word in an attempt to maximize specific visual transfer. Results of the experiments are discussed in terms of the role of memory for visual details in word identification along with the possibility that perception can rely on memory for prior episodes.