Rapid Serial Visual Presentation

Producers of music videos have often been known to include sequences where the images change 10 times per second or more. Despite the fact that each image is only present for about a 10th of a second, we typically have the impression of having seen the image clearly, even if we were asked to provide a complete list of all the images that were shown. This example leads to the topic of this entry, rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), which demonstrates the remarkable ability of the human visual system to process rapidly presented visual information.

The use of RSVP as a research tool started in the early 1970s. In typical experiments, stimuli such as letters, digits, words, or pictures are shown in rapid succession at rates ...