Lecture 4 - Factors that Affect Information Processing

Question 1

when is reaction time used

Answer 1

RT is used in reference to the length of time (the distance between two discrete time points) as well to the speed/rate of information processing

Question 2

relate reaction length to reaction time

Answer 2

shorter/decreased reaction length are faster reaction times

longer/increased reaction length are slower reaction times

try and use shorter and longer terminology

Question 3

factors that effect the response selection phase of reaction time/information processing

Answer 3

1. # of stimulus-response choices (SRT vs CRT)
2. Stimulus response compatibility
3. Practice

Question 4

factors that effect the response programming stage of reaction time

Answer 4

1. Response complexity
2. Response duration

Question 5

simple reaction time (SRT) vs Choice reaction time (CRT)

Answer 5

SRT

• > single (only) response to a single possible stimulus (WHEN)

CRT

• > separate and distinct response required to a particular stimulus from one of more than one possible stimuli (WHEN & WHAT)
• > CRT increases as the # of stim-resp alternatives/pairings increases

Question 6

typically human reaction time

Answer 6

around half a second/ 500ms

Question 7

how does the number of stimulus-response choices effect response selection

Answer 7

when the number of S-R choices doubles (1-2-4-8), the choice reaction time increases by an approx. constant amount

• > around 150-200ms

Question 7

N

Answer 7

of S-R choices