Meaning Does Not Affect Consonant Discrimination Accuracy or Response Time in A Same-Different Segment Comparison Task / O significado não afeta a precisão da discriminação de consoantes ou o tempo de resposta em uma tarefa igual-diferente de comparação de segmentos

This investigation examined the response strategies and discrimination accuracy of adults and children aged 5–10 as the ratio of same to different trials was varied across three conditions of a “change/no-change” discrimination task. The conditions varied as follows: (a) a ratio of one-third same to two-thirds different trials (33% same), (b) an equal ratio of same to different trials (50% same), and (c) a ratio of two-thirds same to one-third different trials (67% same). Stimuli were synthetic consonant-vowel syllables that changed along a place of articulation dimension by formant frequency transition. Results showed that all subjects changed their response strategies depending on the ratio of same-to-different trials. The most lax response pattern was observed for the 50% same condition, and the most conservative pattern was observed for the 67% same condition. Adult response patterns were most conservative across condition. Differences in discrimination accuracy as measured by P(C) were found, with the largest difference in the 5- to 6-year-old group and the smallest change in the adult group. These findings suggest that children’s response strategies, like those of adults, can be manipulated by changing the ratio of same-to-different trials. Furthermore, interpretation of sensitivity measures must be referenced to task variables such as the ratio of same-to-different trials.

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Neuroticism and Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff in Self-Paced Speeded Mental Addition and Comparison

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001/a000021 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 130-137 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Hagen C. Flehmig ◽

Michael B. Steinborn ◽

Karl Westhoff ◽

Robert Langner

Keyword(s):

Reaction Time ◽

Response Speed ◽

Time Variability ◽

Reaction Time Variability ◽

Comparison Task ◽

Processing Efficiency ◽

Mental Addition ◽

Speed Accuracy ◽

The Relationship ◽

Accuracy Tradeoff

Previous research suggests a relationship between neuroticism (N) and the speed-accuracy tradeoff in speeded performance: High-N individuals were observed performing less efficiently than low-N individuals and compensatorily overemphasizing response speed at the expense of accuracy. This study examined N-related performance differences in the serial mental addition and comparison task (SMACT) in 99 individuals, comparing several performance measures (i.e., response speed, accuracy, and variability), retest reliability, and practice effects. N was negatively correlated with mean reaction time but positively correlated with error percentage, indicating that high-N individuals tended to be faster but less accurate in their performance than low-N individuals. The strengthening of the relationship after practice demonstrated the reliability of the findings. There was, however, no relationship between N and distractibility (assessed via measures of reaction time variability). Our main findings are in line with the processing efficiency theory, extending the relationship between N and working style to sustained self-paced speeded mental addition.

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Temporal Prediction Errors Affect Short-Term Memory Scanning Response Time

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000339 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 63 (6) ◽

pp. 333-342

Author(s):

Roberto Limongi ◽

Angélica M. Silva

Keyword(s):

Response Time ◽

Short Term Memory ◽

Estimation Error ◽

Predictive Coding ◽

Time Estimation ◽

Prediction Errors ◽

Memory Scanning ◽

Short Term ◽

Term Memory ◽

Temporal Prediction

Abstract. The Sternberg short-term memory scanning task has been used to unveil cognitive operations involved in time perception. Participants produce time intervals during the task, and the researcher explores how task performance affects interval production – where time estimation error is the dependent variable of interest. The perspective of predictive behavior regards time estimation error as a temporal prediction error (PE), an independent variable that controls cognition, behavior, and learning. Based on this perspective, we investigated whether temporal PEs affect short-term memory scanning. Participants performed temporal predictions while they maintained information in memory. Model inference revealed that PEs affected memory scanning response time independently of the memory-set size effect. We discuss the results within the context of formal and mechanistic models of short-term memory scanning and predictive coding, a Bayes-based theory of brain function. We state the hypothesis that our finding could be associated with weak frontostriatal connections and weak striatal activity.

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Exploring the Boundaries of the Number–Temporal Order Association

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000285 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 62 (3) ◽

pp. 198-205 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Dana Ganor-Stern

Keyword(s):

Embodied Cognition ◽

Mental Representation ◽

Temporal Order ◽

Past Research ◽

Numerical Comparison ◽

Negative Number ◽

Comparison Task ◽

Negative Numbers ◽

The Past

Past research has shown that numbers are associated with order in time such that performance in a numerical comparison task is enhanced when number pairs appear in ascending order, when the larger number follows the smaller one. This was found in the past for the integers 1–9 ( Ben-Meir, Ganor-Stern, & Tzelgov, 2013 ; Müller & Schwarz, 2008 ). In the present study we explored whether the advantage for processing numbers in ascending order exists also for fractions and negative numbers. The results demonstrate this advantage for fraction pairs and for integer-fraction pairs. However, the opposite advantage for descending order was found for negative numbers and for positive-negative number pairs. These findings are interpreted in the context of embodied cognition approaches and current theories on the mental representation of fractions and negative numbers.

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