Directional Uncertainty in Visually Guided Pointing
Studies of the relationship between stimulus-response uncertainty and reaction times indicate three qualitatively different functions: Hick's law, simple-choice step function, or flat curve (no effect at all). The extent of stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility appears to interact with the effe...
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Published in | Perceptual and motor skills Vol. 102; no. 1; pp. 125 - 132 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Los Angeles, CA
SAGE Publications
01.02.2006
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Studies of the relationship between stimulus-response uncertainty and reaction times indicate three qualitatively different functions: Hick's law, simple-choice step function, or flat curve (no effect at all). The extent of stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility appears to interact with the effects of uncertainty on response times. One possible hypothesis regarding these various S-R uncertainty functions is that uncertainty will have an effect whenever the stimuli and their associated responses are not within the same egocentric spatial coordinates. We tested this hypothesis in 5 undergraduate participants (2 men, M age 18.7 yr., range 18–20) by investigating the time-course of pointing to peripherally located visual targets under four different levels of uncertainty (1, 2, 4, or 8 possible locations). Surprisingly, the resulting response function does not match any of those previously reported. Visually guided pointing produced a quadratic reaction time function as S-R uncertainty increases in log2 steps from 1 to 8. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0031-5125 1558-688X |
DOI: | 10.2466/pms.102.1.125-132 |