Abstract
Can undetected changes in visual scenes influence subsequent processing? This issue—implicit change detection—is currently very controversial. Using a simple change detection task involving vertical and horizontal stimuli, Thornton and Fernandez-Duque (2000) showed that the implicit detection of a change in the orientation of an item influences performance in a subsequent color change detection task. However, Mitroff, Simons and Franconeri (2002) were not able to replicate this result and attributed Thornton et al's findings to methodological biases. We believe that Mitroff et al.'s failure to replicate might stem from several methodological differences between their study and that of Fernandez-Duque. In this study, we offer a conceptual replication of the Thornton and Fernandez-Duque's experiment in which we attempted to address all the methodological issues that we could identify. We found that implicit change detection does not appear to be artefactual, as we could replicate Thornton and Fernandez-Duque (2000) findings after having corrected all the potential biases identified so far in a single experiment. We end by discussing the implications of this new evidence in the debate about implicit change detection.
Both authors are supported by the National Fund for Scientific Research (belgium).