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A tachistoscope (tə-′kis-tə-,skōp; Greek tachistos, very rapid and skopein, to view) is a device that presents visual stimuli for a precisely controlled period of time, typically milliseconds. The basic idea is that a fixation point is provided for the subject to focus his or her gaze. Then the fixation point is very briefly (e.g., milliseconds) supplanted by an image chosen by the experimenter. The presentation of the image may be followed by the presentation of a visual mask, followed by the reappearance of the fixation point, and then the next stimulus and so on. Presentation is usually by projection, but computer monitors have been used. Projection methods usually involve some form of slide projector with an aperture timing device such as a camera shutter; alternatively, stimulus presentation timing can be controlled by a computer. Compared to computer monitor methods, projection display methods have the capability of presenting large or life-sized...
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References and Readings
Benschop, R. (1998). What is a tachistoscope? Historical explorations of an instrument. Science in Context, 11(1), 23–50.
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Correia, S. (2011). Tachistoscopic Presentation. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_1405
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