Temporal limits of human information processing: A developmental study.

Wickens, Christopher D.

doi:10.1037/h0037250

Cited by 152 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…On both ends of the lifespan, information processing approaches have related changes in performance in a number of tasks, from simple sensory-motor to more cognitive tasks, to a reduction/increase of neural noise in the sensorymotor system (e.g., Kail, 1997;MacDonald, Nyberg, & Bäckman, 2006;Li, von Oertzen, & Lindenberger, 2006;Plude, Enns, & Brodeur, 1994;Wickens, 1974). The change of the signal-to-noise ratio during childhood has been attributed to the progressive myelination of the axons in the central nervous system (e.g., Klingberg, Vaidya, Gabrieli, Moseley, & Hedehus, 1999;Paus et al 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual identification across the life span: a dissociation of early gains and late losses

Waszak

Schneider

et al. 2008

Psychological Research

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The age-correlated gains and losses in visual identification under backward pattern masking were studied in a representative sample of 226 individuals ranging from 6 to 88 years of age. Participants identified masked symbols at leisure under high and low stimulus quality and at varying Stimulus Onset Asynchronies. Performance increased from childhood to early adulthood and then decreased, describing the common inverted U-shaped function. However, measures of general processing speed accounted for the gains in childhood and adolescence but not for losses in older age. This asymmetry between child development and aging is inconsistent with general-factor lifespan theories of cognitive development and suggests that specific mechanisms underlying visual identification during child development and aging are different.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual identification across the life span: a dissociation of early gains and late losses

Waszak

Schneider

et al. 2008

Psychological Research

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“…If Wickens' (1974) model is adopted and the response selection mechanism considered bypassed on highly compatible tasks, and if we further suggest that a deficit at the level of response selection is of primary importance in schizophrenic performance, the apparently contradictory findings are resolved. This is also consistent with the extensive data presented by Broen (1968) indicating that the schizophrenic's cognitive deficit is primarily a difficulty in response selection rather than in sampling input.…”

Section: *Eight Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The idea of the slope as an inverse measure of channel capacity is therefore difficult to maintain. Wickens (1974) has recently suggested that, with high stimUlus-response compatibility or prolonged practice, the response selection stage is bypassed by a direct stimUlus-response association or link. Similarly, Welford (1968) has indicated that in such circumstances the .…”

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confidence: 99%

Stimulus uncertainty, response uncertainty, and stimulus-response compatibility as determinants of schizophrenic reaction time performance

Hemsley

1976

Bull. Psychon. Soc.

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The results of studies investigating schizophrenic reaction time performance as a function of task complexity are contradictory. A distinction must be made between the effects of varying stimulus uncertainty and response uncertainty. It is also necessary to consider the stimulus-response compatibility of the task: With high compatibility, the effects of response uncertainty are minimized. A review of studies indicates that the slope function relating reaction time to task complexity is steeper in schizophrenics than in control subjects only where response uncertainty is varied and the task has low stimulus-response compatibility. The evidence is consistent with theories emphasizing a deficit at the stage of response selection in schizophrenia.The generalized slowness of schizophrenics, over a wide range of tasks, is well established (e.g., King, 1954). There are, however, contradictory fmdings concerning the extent of the schizophrenic deficit as a function of varying degrees of task complexity. The aim of the present article is to clarify these results.The degree of schizophrenic deficit as a function of task complexity is relevant to Yates ' (1966) suggestion that schizophrenics show a slowness ill processing information, a formulation based on Broadbent's (1958) concept of a limited-capacity decision channel. This, in turn, was influenced by the results of investigators such as Hick (1952), who demonstrated a linear relationship between reaction time and the logarithm of the number of equiprobable stimulus alternatives; the slope of this function was regarded as an inverse measure of the capacity of the decision channel. In Hick's (1952) study, stimulus and response uncertainty varied simultaneously; subsequent research has attempted to separate these effects. The results suggest that, while both influence reaction time, the effects of response uncertainty are greater (e.g., Garner, 1962). It will be argued that the distinction between stimulus and response uncertainty is relevant to the findings on the choice reaction time performance of schizophrenics.The model of choice reaction time suggested by communication theory has required considerable modification; it has been argued that there is a log/linear relationship between task complexity and reaction time, this relationship holding irrespective of whether the increase in complexity refers to stimuli, responses, or memory load (Briggs & Johnsen, 1973;Briggs & Swanson, 1970). While the usefulness of such models in understanding' response latency distributions has been seriously questioned (Laming, 1968), a recent review suggests that the quantitative expressions of the theory This paper is sponsored by Arthur L. Benton, who takes full editorial responsibility.

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“…Newell (1976), however, suggests that trainee ability to process complex KR varies with age as well as the difficulty of the task. Younger trainees are less apt to be able to process complex KR (Farnham-Diggory, 1972;Wickens, 1974), and the more difficult the training task, the less likely it will be that trainees will have sufficient processing capacity available to take full advantage of highly precise KR, especially if the post-KR delay is short (see above). Thus, the RC trainer should not give highly precise KR during the training of difficult tasks until a moderate level of learning has been reached.…”

Section: Type Of Krmentioning

confidence: 99%

Training Procedures for Enhancing Reserve Component Learning, Retention, and Transfer

Wells¹,

Hagman²

1989

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Temporal limits of human information processing: A developmental study.

Cited by 152 publications

References 55 publications

Perceptual identification across the life span: a dissociation of early gains and late losses

Perceptual identification across the life span: a dissociation of early gains and late losses

Stimulus uncertainty, response uncertainty, and stimulus-response compatibility as determinants of schizophrenic reaction time performance

Training Procedures for Enhancing Reserve Component Learning, Retention, and Transfer

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