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Visual stimulus intensity and location probability: Interactive effects on choice reaction time
Author(s) -
NIEMI PEKKA,
KESKINEN ESKO
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1980.tb00357.x
Subject(s) - stimulus (psychology) , expectancy theory , psychology , alertness , cognition , cognitive psychology , audiology , social psychology , neuroscience , medicine , psychiatry
Three prevalent models predict different stimulus intensity effects on RT. These are: the serial‐stage model (additivity), the variable criterion model (larger intensity effects with slower responding), and the temporal overlap model (smaller intensity effects with slower responding). The predictions were tested in a dual‐response situation including oculomotor and manual responses (RT). Other variables were stimulus location probability (expectancy), foreperiod (alertness), and stimulus intensity (encoding. In Experiment I, an Intensity x Probability interaction was found such that the intensity‐effect was smaller at low stimulus probability. Three further experiments were performed in order to specify some of the conditions relevant for this phenomenon. The results are consistent with the temporal‐overlap interpretation. It was suggested that the obtained interaction results from a processing delay due to increased demands for cognitive and response processing (Stanovich & Pachella, 1977), or to the attention switch to an unexpected S‐R event.