Foreknowledge as a factor affecting perceptual defense and alertness.

Abstract

Fifteen obscene taboo words and 15 infrequently seen nontaboo words were tachistoscopically presented to 30 university graduate students under varying conditions of expectation. Recongition thresholds were detd. in an effort to test the hypothesis that the speed with which words are reported depends on the nature of the subjects expectations at the time of presentation and that this dependence is more marked in the case of taboo than nontaboo words. Conditions were developed such that the taboo words were less easily recognized than the nontaboo words when the subject had no reason to expect to see emotion arousing stimuli, but such that when this expectation did exist the taboo words were the more easily recognized. A replication of the original expt. was conducted with 30 different subjects, and essentially the same results were obtained. A brief discussion of the theories which may account for the results is included.