Hick's Law versus a power law: Reply to Welford.

Longstreth, Langdon E.; Alcorn, Mark B.

doi:10.1037/0096-3445.116.3.315

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…They submitted a power curve as a replacement for fitting the data: In response to Longstreth et al's model, Welford (1987) pointed out that when the model is applied to certain data sets, negative intercepts are derived, which is illogical for the dependent measure of time, and that the equation predicts a decreasing RT variability as a function of the number of alternatives, when empirically, the opposite has been observed. Longstreth and Alcorn (1987) offered their rebuttal but Longstreth (1988) may have relented when he conceded that the linearity as predicted by the law is true but is bounded by an upper limit of 3 bits.…”

Section: Theoretical Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Information Theoretic Models of HCI: A Comparison of the Hick-Hyman Law and Fitts' Law

Seow¹

2005

Human-Comp. Interaction

102

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The Hick-Hyman Law and Fitts' Law are two surviving human performance principles based on Shannon and Weaver's (1949) Information Theory. In the early 1980s, Card, Moran, and Newell (1983) presented the laws as design principles for developers to maximize usability in the design of human-computer interfaces. A search of the current human-computer interaction (HCI) literature, however, will reveal that the Hick-Hyman Law failed to gain momentum in the field of HCI, whereas Fitts' Law received, and continues to receive, substantial attention. This article begins with a discussion the common information theoretical concepts of the two laws, and then examines each law with respect to its origins, theoretical formulation, theoretical development, research, and applications and examines the possible contributing factors responsible for the failure of Hick-Hyman Law to gain momentum in the field.

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Section: Theoretical Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Information Theoretic Models of HCI: A Comparison of the Hick-Hyman Law and Fitts' Law

Seow¹

2005

Human-Comp. Interaction

102

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“…This is now referred to as Hick's Law (Hellyer, 1963;Hick, 1952;Hyman, 1953). Some exceptions to this law have been noted in specific experimental situations (e.g., Kveraga, Boucher, & Hughes, 2002;Alcorn, 1987 andLongstreth, El-Zahhar, &Alcorn, 1985; but see also Welford, 1987 for a view that disputes the conclusions of Longstreth et al), that have been referred to as ''boundary conditions'' (Wagenmakers & Brown, 2007). Beyond these, the main empirical claim of this law is still widely accepted, and it is of great importance for models of cognitive processing (e.g., McMillen & Holmes, 2006;McClelland, 2001 andUsher, Olami, &McClelland, 2002), research on cognitive ageing (e.g., Allen et al, 2004), or Human-Computer Interaction (see Seow, 2005 for a review).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Macroscopic thermodynamics of reaction times

Martín¹

2011

Journal of Mathematical Psychology

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“…Welford reported that a linear fit was much closer than a power fit, with amount of variance accounted for equaling 0 .976 and 0 .533 , respectively . Longstreth and Alcorn (1987) discounted this study because of the unique definition of response latency: the time between release of a home button and its subsequent depression, with the choice response sandwiched between these two events . We are aware of two other studies (Siebel, 1962(Siebel, , 1963.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%