Extending systems factorial technology to errored responses.

Abstract

Systems factorial technology (SFT) is a theoretically derived methodology that allows for strong inferences to be made about underlying processing architectures (e.g., whether processing occurs in a pooled, coactive fashion or in serial or in parallel). Measures of mental architecture using SFT have been restricted to the use of error-free response times (RTs). In this article, through formal proofs and demonstrations, we extended the measure of architecture, the survivor interaction contrast (SIC), to RTs conditioned on whether they are correct or incorrect. We show that so long as an ordering relation (between stimulus conditions of different difficulty) is preserved, we learn that the canonical SIC predictions result when exhaustive processing is necessary and sufficient for a response. We further prove that this ordering relation holds for the popular Wiener diffusion model for both correct and error RTs but fails under some classes of a Poisson counter model, which affords a strong potential experimental test of the latter class versus the others. Our exploration also serves to point to the importance of detailed studies of how errors are made in perceptual and cognitive tasks.

Composite Schematic Faces are Processed Analytically

“…As shown, error rates were high for some items across the four upright and inverted, aligned and misaligned conditions (e.g., UA1 shows high error rates of 25% for item HL, 42% for item LL, and 78% for item Ey) although the Upright Misaligned condition displayed much lower error rates in comparison. We proceed with the analyses as the SIC is robust to errors in the AND condition (i.e., for the target items) so long as stochastic dominance is preserved (Little, Yang, Eidels, & Townsend, 2022).…”

Unifying approaches to understanding capacity in change detection.

“…A second theoretical goal is to understand how the SIC performs as accuracy decreases across set size. Little et al (2022) demonstrated that the OR SIC, conditioned on accuracy, may be affected by violations of stochastic dominance at higher error rates. In a nutshell, OR double target decisions are correct when either target change is identified accurately or if both target changes are identified accurately.…”

“…We will assess the first question by examining the SIC predictions from the group data across each set size. We have recently shown that in global detection tasks (i.e., OR tasks), the SIC can be affected when errors are high (Little et al, 2022); hence, we additionally examine parametric versions of each of the relevant processing models fit to individual participants. We extend these models by incorporating constraints imposed by the sample size model, hence, extending Blunden et al (2022) and allowing an answer to our second question.…”

Reinventing the redundant target paradigm to distinguish serial and parallel processing of written words

“…This work complements other recent effects to generalize pure response time models. In particular, Little et al (2022) extended part of the theory of systems factorial technology to include errors. They examine the prediction of the doublefactorial paradigm to distinguish serial and parallel processes.…”