AGE, INFORMATION TRANSMISSION AND THE POSITIONAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SIGNALS AND RESPONSES IN THE PERFORMANCE OF A CHOICE TASK

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Abstract
Four multiple-choice reaction time experiments are reported. In the first, S-K compatibility is maintained at a high level by requiring subjects to respond by making a movement indicated directly by the position of the signal. In the second, subjects are required to respond in the direction indicated by the position of the ‘ mirror image ’ of the signal, and hence S-R compatibility is reduced. Rates of information transmission are calculated from the slope constants of the regression equations fitted to data on mean reaction times. It is found that whilst oil subjects show a lower rate of information transmission in the second task than in the first, the reduction in the case of older subjects is not proportionally different from that shown by younger subjects. The third experiment tests predictions about the moan reaction times of subjects in tasks involving incomptatible S—B relationships which are limited to certain sub-arrays of signals: the prediction is that mean reaction time will be proportional to (log2 N) + (log2 N’), whore N = the total number of signals in the array, and ;N’ = the number of signals in the sub-arrays within which incompatibility occurs. Of four specific predictions which are made, three are confirmed. The fourth experiment investigates individual differences by repeating the third experiment on a sample of subjects drawn from a population radically different from that employed, in the third experiment. In this case only two predictions out of four are confirmed, and all observed mean reaction times seem to be proportional to (log2 N) + (log2 2).