Processing Information and Making Decisions

Question 1

What are models and what are they good for?

Answer 1

Models help understand complicated things through simplification and approximation
They are not the thing they are modeling

Question 2

Sensory stim.

Stimulus identification
Response selection
Response program

Motor Behavior

Answer 2

Sensory stim = input
Stimulus identification = perception
Response selection = decision
Response program = action
Motor behavior = output

Question 3

What happens when models are too simple?

Answer 3

They are wrong because they approximate everything

Question 4

What happens before movement even occurs

Answer 4

Stimulus response
Response selection
Response program

Question 5

What is the degrees of freedom problem?

Answer 5

Infinite number of ways to complete even the simplest skills

Question 6

How to optimize movement?

Answer 6

Maximum certainty, minimum energy, minimum movement time

Question 7

What is reaction time?

Answer 7

Elapsed time between the stimulus and response.

Does not include the time it takes to make the movement

Question 8

What is the time it takes to make the movement called?

Answer 8

Response time

Combination of reaction time and movement time

Question 9

What are the number of response alternatives?

Answer 9

Simple RT =one stimulus, one response (Fastest)
Choice RT = more than one stimulus and more than one response (Slower)
Go/No-Go = Multiple stimulus, one response

Question 10

What are Donder’s Stages of Processing and Subtraction Logic?

Answer 10

Go/No-Go - Simple RT = Stimulus Identification (recognize correct stimuli)
Choice RT - Go/No-Go = Response selection (Answer the stimuli)
Choice RT - Simple RT = Both identification and selection

Question 11

What are four things that make a good hypothesis?

Answer 11

1) Related to the research question
2) Specific
3) Directional
4) Makes a testable prediction

Question 12

What is Hicks Law?

Answer 12

The choice reaction time increases by the same amount every time the S-R pairs double
If S-R pairs double the amount of info double

Question 13

What is stimulus response compatibility?

Answer 13

The extent to which the stimulus and response it evoke are connected in a natural way

Question 14

What is population stereotype?

Answer 14

SR compatibility mappings that are learned

Question 15

What happens with practice?

Answer 15

Experience can reduce RT delays caused by increased SR pairs and SR compatibility

Question 16

What is anticipation?

Answer 16

Allows us to reduce RT delays
Predict what is going to happen and when it will occur
Almost like simple reaction time

Question 17

What is spatial anticipation?

Answer 17

Know what/where something is going to happen

Question 18

What is Temporal anticipation?

Answer 18

Knowing when something is going to happen

Question 19

What are the benefits of anticipation?

Answer 19

Reduce RT when events are predictable

Question 20

What are the risks of anticipation?

Answer 20

Plan a movement wrong and you end up in the wrong position that has to be corrected, which takes more time than not anticipating at all

Question 21

What is Short Term Sensory Storage?

Answer 21

Very brief (less than one sec) Holding cell for sensory information

Question 22

What is Short Term Memory?

Answer 22

Working memory. Holding cell for a few minutes and requires attention to retain

Question 23

What is Long Term Memory?

Answer 23

Well learned info collected over a lifetime. Limitless

Practice to move info from STM to LTM