The role of familiar size in the visual judgment of size and distance was investigated using reduced conditions of observation and instructions that called for either objective or apparent size and distance judgments. Each observer was presented with one object at one distance (56, 107, or 149 cm). This object, which was of constant physical size, was either a normal-sized playing card or a blank rectangle of the same size as the playing card. Distance responses were verbal and size responses were tactual. For the blank rectangle, reported distance remained constant, whereas judged size decreased as physical distance increased for both objective and apparent instructions. For the playing card, reported distance increased as physical distance increased for both objective and apparent instructions. The judged size for the playing card, however, remained constant with objective instructions but decreased with apparent instructions as the physical distance increased. This pattern of results is consistent with the theory that, to a substantial degree, familiar size contributes to spatial responses by means of a cognitive process based upon familiar objects’ appearing as smaller or larger than normal. Under conditions in which the familiar objects are normal in size (as in the present experiment), this process acts to correct a direct response to distance for any errors that might be present in the perception of distance.