Decision-making II: Compatibility

Review: Decision-making I

• Discuss how reaction time can be used an index of motor preparation.

• Identify and describe the 3 stages of information-processing.

• Describe how the property of a stimulus can influence reaction time.

• Explain how Hick’s Law describes the relationship between the number of response choices and reaction time using examples.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE:
Although reaction time is one of the simplest performance measures, its use has had a profound influence on the development of motor behaviour research.

Lecture objectives

• Describe stimulus-response compatibility and how it affects reaction time

• Explain the spatial and anatomical accounts for stimulus-response compatibility effects

• Discuss how an irrelevant stimulus feature can influence reaction time

• Understand the role of anticipation in minimizing processing delays

Stimulus-response compatibility

• refers to the “naturalness” of the mapping between the stimulus and required response

Stimulus-response compatibility

• when compatibility is high, we typically get…
  • faster learning
  • faster reaction times
  • fewer errors
  • lower mental workload
  • higher user satisfaction
• most common type is spatial compatibility

An everyday example

Studying stimulus-response compatibility in the lab

Stimulus-response compatibility: Normal Hands

Hypothetical data for illustrative purposes

Why do we see this pattern of results?

Spatial relationship explanation

Why do we see this pattern of results?

Anatomical or neural advantage explanation

Left: Tresilian (2012); Right: Kandel et al. (2021)

How can we dissociate between these explanations?

Which explanation is supported by this data?

Hypothetical data for illustrative purposes (but also see Brebner et al. 1972)

Which explanation is supported by this data?

The Simon effect

• a type of stimulus-response compatibility effect in which irrelevant directional or location information (i.e., the stimulus) interferes with the required action

The Simon effect

Approximate data from Simon and Rudell (1967) through plot digitization

A compatibility effect occurs even when stimulus location is irrelevant to the task

Compatibility and complex actions

Video based on Weiss et al. (2007): https://www.youtube.com/embed/9hK7iD0Gg4E?si=ppwfxbz67QU1EhtD

Compatibility and complex actions

• when responding to stimuli that involve more “complex” actions:
  • the relationship between response selection and stimulus-response compatibility appears to be more related to the intentions of the action (Rosenbaum et al. 1990)
• for the upside down glass example:
  • compatibility between the stimulus (i.e., the glass) and the person’s response (i.e., initial hand posture) is not determined by this initial interaction with the glass, but instead in terms of the efficiency of the intended final position (Rosenbaum 2022)

Anticipation as a way to minimize processing delays

• SPATIAL ANTICIPATION: the anticipation of which of several possible stimuli will occur (sometimes referred to as event anticipation)

• TEMPORAL ANTICIPATION: the anticipation of when a given stimulus will arrive or when a movement is to be made

Anticipation as a way to minimize processing delays

• correct anticipation reduces RT
• incorrect anticipation causes increased RT to inhibit response and launch correct response

Lecture objectives

• Describe stimulus-response compatibility and how it affects reaction time

• Explain the spatial and anatomical accounts for stimulus-response compatibility effects

• Discuss how an irrelevant stimulus feature can influence reaction time

• Understand the role of anticipation in minimizing processing delays

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE:
Although reaction time is one of the simplest performance measures, its use has had a profound influence on the development of motor behaviour research.