Scanning: A Principle of Reality Contact 1

Abstract

Summary.–On the basis of results of earlier experiments, scanning had been defined as a system principle of cognitive behavior that represents individual differences in the investment of attention in objects. This formulation explained that, in earlier experiments, accuracy of size estimation was associated with responsiveness to relatively peripheral aspects of perceptual fields in a size estimation test. The present experiment demonstrates that accuracy in size estimation predicts the amount and quality of incidental recall in two test situations. The study extends the definition of extreme scanning to describe a relatively stable disposition to attend to tasks intensely and in a focussed manner, yet with extensive coverage of relatively incidental aspects of the field. The relevance of this cognitive control of scanning to need-cognition experiments and its possible relationship to the defense mechanism of isolation is noted.