It is shown that in Sternberg's item recognition task Ss need not make a judgment of the absolute size or color of the test item before comparing it with memory. However, Ss do use size or color information, when possible, to reduce long reaction times for large memory loads. The results suggest that Ss are able to scan memory for form in parallel with testing for gross stimulus features, like size or color. This finding has important implications for sequential two-stage theories of attention.

R. J. Audley and C. P. Wallis have demonstrated the existence of what they call the "crossover" effect in the speed of relative judgments. They showed that 5s are faster at choosing the brighter than the darker of two stimuli when both are relatively bright, but for two dark stimuli the choice of the darker is quicker. The present study extends this finding for relative age judgments in which 5s must choose the younger or older of two pictured adults or children. A model to account for this effect is proposed which assumes that 5s encode the instruction at a first stage of processing, encode the stimuli at an independent second stage, and compare these encoded representations at an independent third stage. Several related studies are discussed which provide support for these assumptions.

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