Abstract
It is shown that in Sternberg's item recognition task Ss need not make a judgement of the absolute size or colour of the test item before comparing it with memory. However, Ss do use size or colour information, when possible, to reduce long reaction times for large memory loads. The results suggest that Ss are able to scan memory for form in parallel with testing for gross stimulus features, like size or colour. This finding has important implications for sequential two-stage theories of attention.