Exceptions to Hick's law: Explorations with a response duration measure.

Longstreth, Langdon E.; El-Zahhar, Nabil; Alcorn, Mark B.

doi:10.1037//0096-3445.114.4.417

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

1985

DOI: 10.1037//0096-3445.114.4.417

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Exceptions to Hick's law: Explorations with a response duration measure.

Langdon E. Longstreth

Nabil El-Zahhar²,

Mark B. Alcorn³

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Cited by 14 publications

References 21 publications

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Motor planning: effect of directional uncertainty with discrete spatial cues

Pellizzer

Hedges

2003

Exp Brain Res

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We investigated the effect of spatial uncertainty on motor planning by using the cueing method in a reaching task (experiment 1). Discrete spatial cues indicated the different locations in which the target could be presented. The number of cues as well as their direction changed from trial to trial. We tested the adequacy of two models of motor planning to account for the data. The switching model assumes that only one motor response can be planned at a time, whereas the capacity-sharing model assumes that multiple motor responses can be planned in parallel. Both models predict the same relation between average reaction time (RT) and number of cues, but they differ in their prediction of the shape of the distribution of the reaction time. The results showed that RT increased with the number of cues independently from their spatial dispersion. This relation was well described by the function predicted by both models, whereas it was poorly described by the Hick-Hyman law. In addition, the distribution of RT conformed to the prediction of the capacity-sharing model and not to that of the switching model. We investigated the role that the requirement of a spatially directed motor response might have had on this pattern of results by testing subjects in a simple RT task (experiment 2) with the same cueing presentation as in experiment 1. The results contrasted with those in experiment 1 and showed that RT was dependent on the spatial dispersion of the cues and not on their number. The results of the two experiments suggest that the mode of processing of potential targets is dependent on the spatial constraints of the task. The processing resources can be either divided relative to the spatial distribution of possible targets or across multiple independent discrete representations of these targets.

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Motor planning: effect of directional uncertainty with discrete spatial cues

Pellizzer

Hedges

2003

Exp Brain Res

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Motor planning: effect of directional uncertainty with continuous spatial cues

Pellizzer

Hedges

2004

Experimental Brain Research

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We have investigated the effect of directional uncertainty on the planning of reaching movements. For this purpose, we have used sections of annuli as spatial cues to indicate the directional range within which the target would be presented. The results showed that the reaction time of the reaching response increased with cue range and with the angle between the center of the cue and the target. In addition, the initial direction of movement was biased toward the center of the cue. These results conformed to the predictions of the capacity-sharing model. This model assumes that the processing resources used for motor planning are limited and distributed as a function of the range of directions indicated by the cue, and that when the target appears, these resources are reallocated to represent the response to be executed.

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The roles of stimulus and response uncertainty in forced-choice performance: an amendment to Hick/Hyman Law

Wifall

Hazeltine

Mordkoff

2015

Psychological Research

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Hick/Hyman Law describes one of the core phenomena in the study of human information processing: mean response time is a linear function of average uncertainty. In the original work of Hick, (1952) and Hyman, (1953), along with many follow-up studies, uncertainty regarding the stimulus and uncertainty regarding the response were confounded such that the relative importance of these two factors remains mostly unknown. The present work first replicates Hick/Hyman Law with a new set of stimuli and then goes on to separately estimate the roles of stimulus and response uncertainty. The results demonstrate that, for a popular type of task-visual stimuli mapped to vocal responses-response uncertainty accounts for a majority of the effect. The results justify a revised expression of Hick/Hyman Law and place strong constraints on theoretical accounts of the law, as well as models of response selection in general.

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Exceptions to Hick's law: Explorations with a response duration measure.

Cited by 14 publications

References 21 publications

Motor planning: effect of directional uncertainty with discrete spatial cues

Motor planning: effect of directional uncertainty with discrete spatial cues

Motor planning: effect of directional uncertainty with continuous spatial cues

The roles of stimulus and response uncertainty in forced-choice performance: an amendment to Hick/Hyman Law

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