Information Processing

Question 1

What is information processing?

Answer 1

When signals or information in the environment are taken in by humans and processed for the purposes of perception, decision-making, and action

Question 2

What are the two common approaches to conceptualize information processing?

Answer 2

Ecological approach and cognitive approach

Question 3

Describe the ecological approach to information processing

Answer 3

• How motor systems interact with the environment to perform goal-oriented behavior
• Perception of available affordances requires experience specific to the task and environment

Question 4

What is meant by “affordances” in the ecological approach?

Answer 4

The possible actions available to an individual based on their environment

Question 5

Describe the cognitive approach to information processing

Answer 5

• The traditional black box model (stimulus > human > response)
• What occurs in the human (brain) to turn sensory input into motor output cannot be directly observed

Question 6

What are the three stages of information processing?

Answer 6

Stimulus identification stage
Response selection stage
Response programming stage

Question 7

The stimulus identification stage, response selection stage, and response programming stage can be added together to make up …..

Answer 7

Reaction time

Question 8

What occurs during the stimulus identification stage?

Answer 8

Neural encoding of sensory information from visual, auditory, vestibular, and touch/proprioceptive systems

Question 9

What are the two substages of the stimulus identification stage?

Answer 9

Stimulus detection: environmental signal stimulates neurological impulses and memory is contacted to associate current signal with past experiences

Pattern recognition: decipher patterns from both static (recognizing a persons face) and dynamic (identify general speed of ball coming towards you) conditions

Question 10

What occurs in the response selection stage?

Answer 10

Person determines which action to take in response to the stimulus

Question 11

What occurs in the response programming stage?

Answer 11

Translation of response selection into action which requires retrieval of a motor program, preparation, and initiation

Question 12

What do you call the interval between stimulus presentation and the initiation of a response?

Answer 12

Reaction Time

Question 13

True or False
A reaction time experiment includes manipulating a single variable while holding other conditions constant to measure changes in reaction time

Answer 13

True

Question 14

How can we vary experiments to test reaction time?

Answer 14

Simple reaction time: includes one stimulus and one response option
Go no go: includes two stimuli and one response option
Choice reaction time: includes 2 stimuli and two response options

Question 15

How do you determine the time spent in the stimulus identification stage

Answer 15

(go-no-go experiment time) minus (simple reaction time experiment time)

Question 16

How do you determine the time spent in response selection stage?

Answer 16

(choice reaction time experiment time) minus (go-no-go experiment time)

Question 17

How will very clear or very intense signals impact reaction time?

Answer 17

Reaction time will decrease (quicker)

Question 18

How does modality of stimulus influence reaction time?

Answer 18

• We are slower to respond to visual stimuli than auditory or tactile
• Reaction times are quicker when a stimulus is presented in more than one modality (go when the light turns green and the horn blows)

Question 19

What variables influence response selection?

Answer 19

• Amount of response choices (Hick’s Law)
• Practice/experience
• Stimulus response compatibility (John is supposed to put his arms up when he hears the command “down”)
• Predictability (anticipation causes a response to be selected before stimulus is received)

Question 20

What is the main principle of Hick’s Law?

Answer 20

The more choices available, the longer it will take to select a response to a stimuli (= increased reaction time)

Question 21

What variables influence response programming?

Answer 21

• Complexity of response selected (more complex = slower RT)
• Anticipation
• Automaticity (habitual)
• Arousal (interest/attention)

Question 22

What is receptor anticipation?

Answer 22

Detection of upcoming event based on sensory information

Question 23

What is effector anticipation?

Answer 23

Estimation of the amount of time it will take to perform movement (selected response)

Question 24

What is perceptual anticipation?

Answer 24

Can be predicted from experience but cannot be directly perceived (ex. military drill)

Question 25

What is spatial anticipation?

Answer 25

Anticipation of the type of stimulus and the required response, this allows some response programming before the stimulus arrives which will decrease reaction time (quicker)

Question 26

What is temporal anticipation?

Answer 26

Anticipation of when the stimulus will arrive which can largely decrease reaction time (quicker) and is common when stimulus is constant and has a short fore period (short amount of time between stimuli)

Question 27

What are the costs and benefits to anticipating a stimulus?

Answer 27

Costs: increased reaction time and increased errors (if anticipated incorrectly)
Benefits: decreased reaction time (if anticipated correctly)

Question 28

What is serial processing?

Answer 28

A single channel of processing, one process must be completed before the next can begin

Question 29

What is parallel processing?

Answer 29

Multiple channels of processing, some or all processes can occur at the same time

Question 30

What is controlled processing?

Answer 30

Processing that requires selective attention, slow and serial in nature, and usually occurs during a skill that is not well learned

Question 31

What is automatic processing?

Answer 31

Processing that needs limited attention, quicker and parallel in nature, and usually occurs during a well-learned skill

Question 32

What can happen if arousal is too high?

Answer 32

Perception narrows due to increased focus on stimuli relevant to the task and decreased focus on stimuli outside of the task

Question 33

What can happen if arousal is too low?

Answer 33

May not be attentive enough to identify relevant stimuli and trigger information processing

Question 34

What does the inverted U principle apply to?

Answer 34

Performance based on level of arousal

Question 35

What three variables determine the optimal level of arousal?

Answer 35

Task: low arousal may be more suitable for fine motor tasks while high arousal may be more suitable for gross motor tasks (ex. writing a letter vs kicking a ball)

Environment: high arousal may be more optimal for busier environments

Individual: beginners may need wider focus, while experts benefit from a narrowed focus

Question 36

What can occur in cases of high arousal (hypervigilance/panic)?

Answer 36

Severe stress conditions can disrupt actions and cause “freezing”

Question 37

What is feed forward control?

Answer 37

Described as anticipatory or proactive, use of previous experience to predict the consequences of received sensory information

Question 38

What is feedback control?

Answer 38

Described as compensatory or reactive, sensory information is compared to the desired state (reference signal), the difference between the two states (desired state vs actual state = error signal) is used to updated the output

Question 39

What is a central pattern generator?

Answer 39

• Complex neural circuitry located in the spinal cord
• Capable of producing oscillating movement
• Can be triggered to produce stepping behavior without control from higher centers