Explicit and motoric dependent measures of geographical slant are dissociable: A reassessment of the findings of Durgin, Hajnal, Li, Tonge, and Stigliani (2010)

Durgin et al. (2010) argued that the apparent accuracy of the palmboard measure of geographical slant is accidental and reflects limitations in wrist flexion that reduce palmboard adjustments by just the right amount given the perceptual overestimations upon which they are based. This account is inconsistent with findings that verbal reports and palmboard adjustments are dissociable. In addition to previous evidence found for such dissociation, Durgin et al. also found verbal/palmboard dissociations in Experiment 2. Experiments 1 and 3 of Durgin et al. lacked verbal reports and instead compared palmboard adjustments to free-hand estimates in the context of small wooden surfaces. These experiments are not relevant to the issue of verbal/palmboard dissociability. Across studies, the accuracy of Durgin et al.'s palmboard implementation is far less than that found by others (Feresin & Agostini, 2007). The design of Durgin et al.'s Experiment 5 misrepresented the experimental conditions of Creem and Proffitt (1998), and consequently, the findings of this study have no bearing on the issue at hand.