Abstract
The effect of spatially repeated stimulus elements on the speed of discrimination, measured in a sorting task, was determined under conditions of low stimulus visibility (state limitation) and high stimulus similarity (process limitation). A significant increase in speed of sorting stimuli was found when the stimuli were state limited but not when process limited, even though base speeds were the same in both cases. It is concluded that element redundancy will improve discrimination performance only when the need for the improvement is a state limitation.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
BIEDERMAN, I., & CHECKOSKY, S. F. Processing redundant information. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1970, 83, 486–490.
Eriksen, C. W., & Hake, H. W. Multidimensional stimulus differences and accuracy of discrimination. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1955, 50, 153–160.
ERIKSEN, C. W., & LAPPIN, J. S. Internal perceptual system noise and redundancy in simultaneous inputs in form identification. Psychonomic Science, 1965, 2, 351–352.
GARNER, W. R. Speed of discrimination with redundant stimulus attributes. Perception & Psychophysics, 1969, 6, 221–224.
GARNER, W. R. The stimulus in information processing. American Psychologist, 1970, 25, 350–358.
GARNER, W. R., & FELFOLDY, G. L. Integrality of stimulus dimensions in various types of information processing. Cognitive Psychology, 1970, 1, in press.
GARNER, W. R., & FLOWERS, J. H. The effect of redundant stimulus elements on visual discrimination as a function of element heterogeneity, equal discriminability, and position uncertainty. Perception & Psychophysics, 1969, 6, 216–220.
KEELEY, S. M., & DOHERTY, M. E. Simultaneous and successive presentations of single-featured and multi-featured visual forms: Implications for the parallel processing hypothesis. Perception & Psychophysics, 1968, 4, 296–298.
LOCKHEAD, G. R. Effects of dimensional redundancy on visual discrimination. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1966, 72, 95–104.
MORTON, J. The use of correlated stimulus information in card sorting. Perception & Psychophysics, 1969, 5, 374–376.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported by Grant MH 14229 from the National Institute of Mental Health to Yale University.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Flowers, J.H., Garner, W.R. The effect of stimulus element redundancy on speed of discrimination as a function of state and process limitation. Perception & Psychophysics 9, 158–160 (1971). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212620
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212620