Robert W. Proctor

THE INFLUENCE OF IRRELEVANT LOCATION INFORMATION ON PERFORMANCE: A REVIEW OF THE SIMON AND SPATIAL STROOP EFFECTS

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of irrelevant location information on performance of visual choice-reaction tasks. We review empirical findings and theoretical explanations from two domains, those of the Simon effect and the spatial Stroop effect, in which stimulus location has been shown to affect reaction time when irrelevant to the task. We then integrate the findings and explanations from the two domains to clarify how and why stimulus location influences performance even when it is uninformative to the correct response. Factors that influence the processing of irrelevant location information include response modality, relative timing with respect to the relevant information, spatial coding, and allocation of attention. The most promising accounts are offered by models in which response selection is a function of (1) strength of association of the irrelevant stimulus information with the response and (2) temporal overlap of the resulting response activation with that produced by the relevant stimulus information.

Polarity Correspondence: A General Principle for Performance of Speeded Binary Classification Tasks.

Differences in performance with various stimulus-response mappings are among the most prevalent findings for binary choice reaction tasks. The authors show that perceptual or conceptual similarity is not necessary to obtain mapping effects; a type of structural similarity is sufficient. Specifically, stimulus and response alternatives are coded as positive and negative polarity along several dimensions, and polarity correspondence is sufficient to produce mapping effects. The authors make the case for this polarity correspondence principle using the literature on word-picture verification and then provide evidence that polarity correspondence is a determinant of mapping effects in orthogonal stimulus-response compatibility, numerical judgment, and implicit association tasks. The authors conclude by discussing implications of this principle for interpretation of results from binary choice tasks and future model development.

A review of contemporary ideomotor theory.

A framework for action planning, called ideomotor theory, suggests that actions are represented by their perceivable effects. Thus, any activation of the effect image, either endogenously or exogenously, will trigger the corresponding action. We review contemporary studies relating to ideomotor theory in which researchers have investigated various manipulations of action effects and how those effects acquire discriminative control over the actions. Evidence indicates that the knowledge about the relation between response and effect is still a critical component even when other factors, such as stimulus-response or response-response relations, are controlled. When consistent tone effects are provided after responses are made, performance in serial-reaction tasks is better than when the effects are random. Methodology in which acquisition and test stages are used with choice-reaction tasks shows that an action is automatically associated with its effect bilaterally and that anticipation of the effect facilitates action. Ideomotor phenomena include stimulus-response compatibility, in which the perceptual feature of the stimulus activates its corresponding action code when the stimulus itself resembles the effect codes. For this reason, other stimulus-driven action facilitation such as ideomotor action and imitation are treated as ideomotor phenomena and are reviewed. Ideomotor theory also implies that ongoing action affects perception of concurrent events, a topic which we review briefly. Issues concerning ideomotor theory are identified and evaluated. We categorize the range of ideomotor explanations into several groups by whether intermediate steps are assumed to complete sensorimotor transformation or not and by whether a general theoretical framework or a more restricted one is provided by the account.

Stimulus-Response Compatibility Principles : Data, Theory, and Application

STIMULUS-RESPONSE COMPATIBILITY AND SELECTION OF ACTION: BASIC CONCEPTSIntroductionClassic StudiesTerminology and DistinctionsTechniques for Studying S-R CompatibilityModels for S-R Compatibility EffectsChapter SummaryFACTORS IN ADDITION TO S-R COMPATIBILITY THAT AFFECT RESPONSE-SELECTION EFFICIENCYIntroductionThe Speed-Accuracy TradeoffUncertainty and Number of AlternativesResponse-Precuing EffectsSequential EffectsInfluence of Practice on Set-Size Effects and Sequence LearningChapter SummaryBASIC STIMULUS-RESPONSE COMPATIBILITY EFFECTSIntroductionSpatial Stimuli and ResponsesVerbal and Nonverbal S-R ModesOther Element-Level S-R Compatibility EffectsChapter SummaryCORRESPONDENCE OF IRRELEVANT STIMULUS INFORMATION AND RESPONSES: THE SIMON EFFECTIntroductionSpatial Stimuli and ResponsesSimon-Type Effects for Other Stimulus and Response DimensionsChapter SummaryS-R COMPATIBILITY EFFECTS FOR MULTIDIMENSIONAL STIMULUS AND RESPONSE SETSIntroductionTwo-Dimensional Nonspatial Stimuli Mapped to Keypress ResponsesThe Right-Left Prevalence Effect for Two-Dimensional Spatial Stimuli and ResponsesSimon Effects for Two-Dimensional Spatial Stimuli and ResponsesStatic and Dynamic DimensionsJudgment and Decision-MakingChapter SummaryREVERSING THE SIMON EFFECT FOR IRRELEVANT LOCATIONIntroductionThe Hedge and Marsh ReversalManipulating Percentages of Corresponding and Noncorresponding TrialsEffects of Intermixed Location-Relevant MappingsTransfer from a Prior Spatial Mapping to the Simon TaskChapter SummaryCONSEQUENCES OF MIXED MAPPINGS AND TASKSIntroductionMixing Compatible and Incompatible Mappings in Spatial Choice TasksMixing Nonspatial S-R MappingsAccounts for Elimination of the S-R Compatibility Effect with Mixed MappingsMixing Location-Relevant and -Irrelevant Trials: The S-R Compatibility EffectAccounts for the Elimination of SRC Effects with Mixed Location-Relevant and -Irrelevant TrialsComparison of Mixed Mappings and Trial TypesA Negative Correspondence Effect for Masked StimuliChapter SummaryCOMPATIBILITY EFFECTS FOR ORTHOGONAL DIMENSIONSIntroductionUp-Right/Down-Left Mapping AdvantageInfluences of Hand, Hand Posture, and Response Eccentricity on Orthogonal S-R CompatibilityCorrespondence of Asymmetric Codes as a General Principle of Binary-Choice ReactionsTasks with More than Two AlternativesChapter SummaryPOPULATION STEREOTYPES FOR DIRECTION OF MOTION AND COLOR, WORD, AND PICTURE ASSOCIATIONSIntroductionLinear Display Indicators and their Relations to ControlsRotary Displays and their ControlsOther Population StereotypesChapter SummarySTIMULUS-RESPONSE COMPATIBILITY EFFECTS IN DUAL-TASK PERFORMANCEIntroductionThe PRP Effect and the Central Bottleneck ModelSimon Effects for Irrelevant Stimulus LocationConsistency of MappingsCrosstalk between TasksC

Stimulus-response compatibility and psychological refractory period effects: Implications for response selection

The purpose of this paper was to provide insight into the nature of response selection by reviewing the literature on stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) effects and the psychological refractory period (PRP) effect individually and jointly. The empirical findings and theoretical explanations of SRC effects that have been studied within a single-task context suggest that there are two response-selection routes—automatic activation and intentional translation. In contrast, all major PRP models reviewed in this paper have treated response selection as a single processing stage. In particular, the response-selection bottleneck (RSB) model assumes that the processing of Task 1 and Task 2 comprises two separate streams and that the PRP effect is due to a bottleneck located at response selection. Yet, considerable evidence from studies of SRC in the PRP paradigm shows that the processing of the two tasks is more interactive than is suggested by the RSB model and by most other models of the PRP effect. The major implication drawn from the studies of SRC effects in the PRP context is that response activation is a distinct process from final response selection. Response activation is based on both long-term and short-term task-defined S-R associations and occurs automatically and in parallel for the two tasks. The final response selection is an intentional act required even for highly compatible and practiced tasks and is restricted to processing one task at a time. Investigations of SRC effects and responseselection variables in dual-task contexts should be conducted more systematically because they provide significant insight into the nature of response-selection mechanisms.

Improving password security and memorability to protect personal and organizational information

Personal information and organizational information need to be protected, which requires that only authorized users gain access to the information. The most commonly used method for authenticating users who attempt to access such information is through the use of username-password combinations. However, this is a weak method of authentication because users tend to generate passwords that are easy to remember but also easy to crack. Proactive password checking, for which passwords must satisfy certain criteria, is one method for improving the security of user-generated passwords. The present study evaluated the time and number of attempts needed to generate unique passwords satisfying different restrictions for multiple accounts, as well as the login time and accuracy for recalling those passwords. Imposing password restrictions alone did not necessarily lead to more secure passwords. However, the use of a technique for which the first letter of each word of a sentence was used coupled with a requirement to insert a special character and digit yielded more secure passwords that were more memorable.

On the advance preparation of discrete finger responses.

Most studies that examined the precuing of motor responses have been interpreted as indicating that response specification is a variable-order process. An apparent exception to this conclusion was obtained by Miller (1982) for the preparation of discrete finger responses. Precuing was beneficial only when the precued responses were on the same hand, suggesting that response specification occurs in a fixed order, with hand specified before other aspects of the response. Three experiments examined this discrepant finding for discrete finger responses. Experiment 1 demonstrated that with sufficient time (3 s), all combinations of responses can be equally well prepared. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the precuing advantage for same-hand responses at shorter precuing intervals is due to strategic and decision factors, not to an ability to prepare these responses more efficiently. Preparation of finger responses, thus, also appears to be variable. This conclusion poses problems for Millers extension of the precuing procedure to the evaluation of discrete versus continuous models of information processing.

A comparison of two response time models applied to perceptual matching

Two models, a Poisson race model and a diffusion model, are fit to data from a perceptual matching task. In each model, information about the similarity or the difference between two stimuli accumulates toward thresholds for either response. Stimulus variables are assumed to influence the rate at which information accumulates, and response variables are assumed to influence the level of the response thresholds. Three experiments were conducted to assess the performance of each model. In Experiment 1, observers performed under different response deadlines; in Experiment 2, response bias was manipulated by changing the relative frequency ofsame anddifferent stimuli. In Experiment 3, stimulus pairs were presented at three eccentricities: foveal, parafoveal, and peripheral. We examined whether the race and diffusion models could fit the response time and accuracy data through changes only in response parameters (for Experiments 1 and 2) or stimulus parameters (for Experiment 3). Comparisons between the two models suggest that the race model, which has not been studied extensively, can account for perceptual matching data at least as well as the diffusion model. Furthermore, without the constraints on the parameters provided by the experimental conditions, the diffusion and the race models are indistinguishable. This finding emphasizes the importance of fitting models across several conditions and imposing logical psychological constraints on the parameters of models.

Salient-features coding in the translation between orthogonal stimulus and response dimensions

The present study evaluated whether recent theoretical advances regarding cognitive coding render a translation-based account viable for orthogonal stimulus-response arangements

Processing irrelevant location information: Practice and transfer effects in choice-reaction tasks

Left or right keypresses to a relevant stimulus dimension are faster when the stimulus location, although irrelevant, corresponds with that of the response than when it does not. This phenomenon, called the Simon effect, persisted across 1,800 trials of practice, although its magnitude was reduced. Practice with the relevant stimulus dimension presented at a centered location had little influence on the magnitude of the Simon effect when irrelevant location was varied subsequently, and practice with location irrelevant prior to performing with location relevant slowed responses. After practice responding to stimulus location with an incompatible spatial mapping, the Simon effect was reversed (i.e., responses were slower when stimulus location corresponded with response location) when location was made irrelevant. When the response keys were labeled according to the relevant stimulus dimension (the Hedge and Marsh [1975] task variation), this reversal from practice with a spatially incompatible mapping was found for both the congruent and the incongruent relevant stimulus-response mappings. Thus, task-defined associations between stimulus location and response location affect performance when location is changed from relevant to irrelevant, apparently through producing automatic activation of the previously associated response.