Showing papers in "Journal of Experimental Psychology in 1953"

Stimulus information as a determinant of reaction time.

Abstract: In the typical reaction-time experiment, S's reaction time is greater when he has to respond differentially to one of two equally probable stimuli instead of to just one stimulus. In fact, Merkel (2), using one to ten alternatives, has demonstrated that when S has to respond to one stimulus chosen from a number of equally probable alternatives, his reaction time increases with the number of alternatives. The fact that S's response to stimulus A takes more time when A is one of several rather than one of two equally probable alternatives is of intrinsic interest. But it becomes even more significant when looked at from the standpoint of modern communication theory. In communication theory the amount of information which a message conveys is an increasing function of the number of possible messages from which that particular message could have been selected. The S's reaction time seems to behave,

S-R compatibility : spatial characteristics of stimulus and response codes

Abstract: The present paper reports the results of two experiments designed to demonstrate the utility of the concept of stimulus-response compatibility in the development of a theory of perceptual-motor behavior. A task involves compatible S-R relations to the extent that the ensemble of stimulus and response combinations comprising the task results in a high rate of information transfer. Admittedly, degree of compatibility can be defined in terms of operations other than those used to secure a measure of information, for example, it could be specified in terms of measures of speed or accuracy. However, the present writers prefer the preceding definition because of the theoretican interpretation that they wish to give to compatibility effects. This interpretation makes use of the idea of a hypothetical process of information transformation or recoding in the course of a perceptual-motor activity, and assumes that the degree of compatibility is at a maximum when recoding processes are at a minimum. The concept of compatibility can be

The kinetic depth effect.

Abstract: The problem of how three-dimensional form is perceived in spite of the fact that pertinent stimulation consists only in two-dimensional retinal images has been only partly solved. Much is known about the impressive effectiveness of binocular disparity. However, the excellent perception of threedimensional form in monocular vision has remained essentially unexplained. It has been proposed that some patterns of stimulation on the retina give rise to three-dimensional experiences, because visual processes differ in the spontaneous organization that results from certain properties of the retinal pattern. Rules of organization are supposed to exist according to which most retinal projections of three-dimensional forms happen to produce three-dimensional percepts and most retinal images of flat forms lead to flat forms in experience also. This view has been held mainly by gestalt psychologists. Another approach to this problem maintains that the projected stimulus patterns are interpreted on the basis of previous experience, either visual

The development of noncontinuity behavior through continuity learning.

Abstract: Tested the hypothesis that as a rat learns to make a specific discrimination he also learns the response of discriminating by noting whether there is a more rapid learning of a discrimination reversal by rats given an excessive amount of overlearning in the original discrimination problem. Even though the Ss which overlearned the original response to the black card “continued to run longer to the black stimulus card upon reversal, they also learned the reversal to white at a far more rapid rate than did Ss of the other groups.” (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

The achievement motive and recall of interrupted and completed tasks.

Abstract: One important obstacle to satisfactory integration of the studies of motivation that have utilized the interruption-of-tasks method has been the lack of an adequate measure of individual differences in strength of motivation. The present investigation was an attempt to determine the effect of strength of achievement motivation on recall of interrupted and completed tasks and to determine whether the measure of the achievement motive developed by McClelland and his coworkers (14, 16) fills the need for a measure of strength of motivation. Several recent reviews (20), particularly Glixman's (7), Alper's (2), and Rosenzweig's (18), treat the literature in a comprehensive manner. The present experiment attempts specifically to resolve the conflicting results of studies in which either presumed indi-

The memory effect of visual perception of three-dimensional form.

Abstract: The kinetic depth effect that has been discussed in a preceding paper (2) enables monocular Ss to perceive three-dimensional form as directly as do persons with serviceable binocular vision by means of retinal disparity. Yet this effect alone does not, of course, solve the entire problem of the perception of solid form. Threedimensional form is seen monocularly also when the observer does not move in relation to the object and it is also perceived in photographs and drawings. It has been mentioned in the preceding paper that an empiristic explanation of these cases of threedimensional form perception becomes more feasible through the demonstration of the kinetic depth effect. This is so because no empiristic explanation can be termed successful until it is made clear how the original process •or experience is brought about under whose influence current experience is supposed to occur. Prior to the demonstration of the kinetic depth effect (KDE) no process was known which could account in a satisfactory way for the \"original\" perception of threedimensional form in monocular Ss. Two different approaches have been made to explain the perception of three-dimensional form that occurs in the absence of retinal disparity or of other specific cues for visual depth. It has been proposed that threedimensional forms are seen under these circumstances because the corresponding retinal patterns have the power to evoke them directly. Gibson (1), who holds such a view, believes that such retinal patterns have geometric characteristics which are specific stimuli for depth just as there are specific stimuli for color, pitch, etc. A'lany Gestalt psychologists believe that visual processes are spontaneously organized so that certain patterns of stimulation lead to three-dimensional forms and others to plane forms in perception and they have tried to formulate the principles which underlie such organization. When three-dimensional objects are seen as threedimensional forms, it is due to the fact that their retinal projections have properties which favor organization as three-dimensional forms. The other approach is, of course, the empiristic one. It is believed that previous experiences can cause a present perception in three dimensions. For a number of reasons, one of which—the nature of the KDE itself— will be discussed below, we came to believe that an influence of past experience plays an important role in the perception of three-dimensional form and set out to demonstrate such an effect in a stringent way. Such a demonstration requires that a retinal pattern, which at the outset is seen as a plane figure, gives rise under identical external conditions to the perception of a three-dimensional form after an intervening exposure of the same pattern given under conditions which cause it to be seen as three-dimensional.