Hey guys,

 

I'm new here, so please go easy on me if this has already been asked/answered elsewhere! I did a search but it didn't turn anything up.

 

I need some advice on what the human threshold for visual detection is in terms of stimulus duration. i.e. if I flash a word on a screen for 100ms will I be able to determine what word it was say 80% of the time? Can anyone direct me to any literature on this (again, I've done a search on ScienceDirect/PsycInfo/PubMed etc but couldn't get quality info).

 

Cheers!

 

Tl;dr - What is the shortest time I can flash a word on a screen, and people will be able to correctly report the word 90% of the time?

I'm unsure there is any common threshold. Other members and readers here might correct me if I'm mistaken, though.

 

From what I recall, it depends entirely on the individual doing the perceiving, the intensity and color of the image on the screen, how clear it is relative to the background ambient noise, as well as the sensitivity of the perceivers eyes and the reaction time of their system (how alert are they, how much adrenaline and cortisol are flowing through them at the time... what have they been eating/drinking... was it potassium-rich food and liquid with electrolytes or are they hungry and malnourished, etc.).

IIRC a video on youtube (name ?) shows a man viewing an image flashed for 50 ms with 60% recognition. It was a test of a man vs a computer vision system. However, they did not give any more details. Sorry I cannot remember more, and I am unsure of the details I have given.

This is not the video you mean (at least, I don't think it is), but you reminded me of it:

 

As mentioned, there are a lot of factors that go into word recognition. The familiarity of the word, length of the word, priming, phonological/orthographical complexity, etc. You could try a search on a psychological database like psyarticles for more information.