tachistoscope

American  

[tuh-kis-tuh-skohp] / təˈkɪs təˌskoʊp /

noun

Psychology.

1. an apparatus for use in exposing visual stimuli, as pictures, letters, or words, for an extremely brief period, used chiefly to assess visual perception or to increase reading speed.

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tachistoscope British  

/ təˌkɪstəˈskɒpɪk, təˈkɪstəˌskəʊp /

noun

1. an instrument, used mainly in experiments on perception and memory, for displaying visual images for very brief intervals, usually a fraction of a second

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Other Word Forms

• tachistoscopic adjective
• tachistoscopically adverb

Etymology

Origin of tachistoscope

1905–10; < Greek táchist ( os ), superlative of tachýs swift + -o- + scope

Example Sentences

Gadi Geiger and Jerome Lettvin, cognitive scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, used a mechanical shutter, called a tachistoscope, to briefly flash a row of letters extending from the center of a subject’s field of vision out to its perimeter.

From Time

W.J. came into the Sperry lab from his home in Southern California to find Gazzaniga waiting with a tachistoscope, a device that could present visual stimuli for specific periods of time—and, crucially, could present a stimulus to the right side or the left side of each eye separately.

From Scientific American