Stimulus- response compatibility and the rate of gain of information

Abstract

Fifty-four Ss responded vocally at three levels of stimulus uncertainty to visually presented Arabic numerals. Responses were paired with stimuli in three ways to create ensembles that demonstrated high, intermediate, and low S-R compatibility effects. RT was found to be an increasing linear function of the amount of information transmitted (Ht); the degree to which RT is influenced by Ht was found to be an inverse function of the degree of S-R compatibility. IntroductionSince Hick (1952) initially pointed out that the rate of gain of information is a constant, several researchers have found that disjunctive reaction time (RT) is an increasing linear function of the amount of information transmitted (Ht) per S-R event (e. g., Crossman, 1953;Gregg, 1954). Others, however, have found conditipns under which RT has failed to increase with either Ht or stimulus uncertainty (Leonard, 1959; Mowbray & Rhoades, 1959; Mowbray, 1960), or under which various factors apparently influence the degree of increase (Brainard et aI., 1962;Fitts & Switzer, 1962). The present experiment was intended as a general test of the notion that the rate of gain of information varies as a function of S-R compatibility.~Icthod Fifty-four undergraduates at Emory University served as volunteer Ss. Each S responded vocally at one of three levels of stimulus uncertainty (Hs) to visually presented Arabic numerals with one ofthree S-R ensembles (representing high, intermediate, and low degrees of S-R compatibility). The three levels of Hs were combined factorially with the three degrees of S-R compatibility, and six Ss were assigned at random to each of the nine conditions with the sole restriction that the male-tofemale ratio in each group was 4/2.The stimuli for the Hs levels ofl, 2, and 3 bits/ stimulus were the Arabic numerals 1 and 2, 1 through 4, and 1 through 8, respectively. The numerals were projections of photographic reproductions of the AND-10400 numerals. They appeared as dark figures on an illuminated field at the center of a 3-in diameter circular display area about 28 in from S. As projected, each stimulus figure was 1.5 in high; brightness contrast was high and the figures were quite legible.The display screen was mounted near the center of a display surface (about 1 yd sq), and both were tilted 30 deg from vertical so that S's line of sight was normal to the screen. A green warning light, 3.5 in below the center of the screen, was lit during the 2-sec. period Poyclwn. Sci., 1964, Vol. 1.immediately preceeding the onset of any stimulus. The display board and the interior of the 5 x 7-ft experimental booth were painted a flat gun-metal gray.In the high-compatibility condition, S responded with typical number-naming: "one" to the numeral 1, "two" to the numeral 2, etc. Essentially the same number names were used in the low-compatibility condition ("nine" and "ten" were also used), but the names were paired with the Arabic numerals at random and differently for each S. In one case, for example, S was instructed to respond to t...

Análisis empírico del Modelo de Elección Secuencial en Humanos

“…Es posible que esta inconsistencia sea debida a que los sujetos responden de manera diferente ante alternativas novedosas que ante alternativas preferidas. Este efecto ha sido reportado en estudios donde se analiza la latencia hacia estímulos incompatibles (Alluisi, Strain & Thurmond, 1964) y situaciones de conflicto entre estímulos (Gonzalez-Rosa et al, 2013), condiciones que provocan incremento en las latencias.…”

Hick’s law for choice reaction time: A review

“…Brainard, Irby, Fitts, and Alluisi (1962) showed a similar result of no significant influence of set size on visual digit stimuli that were to be named, but this could have been due in part to coding the stimulus set as the complete set of digits in all cases because the sets of two (Digits 4 and 7) and four (Digits 3, 4, 7 and 8) were not familiar subsets (Fitts & Switzer, 1962). However, Alluisi, Strain, and Thurmond (1964) obtained a null effect of set size in the digit-naming task when the subsets were familiar (Digits 1 and 2; Digits 1-4; Digits 1-8), providing evidence that lack of familiarity with the subsets could not be the whole story.…”

Locus of the single-channel bottleneck in dual-task interference.

“…It is well established that some stimulus-response mapping arrangements are more natural or compatible than others (Fitts & Deininger, 1954;Fitts & Seeger, 1953). A large number of experiments using the additive factors method (Sternberg, 1969) support the commonsense view that stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility effects are confined to the response selection stage (e.g., Alluisi, Strain, & Thurmond, 1964;Frowein & Sanders, 1978;Hasbroucq, Guiard, & Kornblum, 1989;Inhoff, Rosenbaum, Gordon, & Campbell, 1984;Schwartz, Pomerantz, & Egeth, 1977;Shulman & McConkie, 1973;Spijkers & Walter, 1985;Whitaker, 1979). A manipulation of S-R compatibility in the locus-of-slack paradigm should distinguish central-bottleneck models from late-bottleneck models.…”