The effects of stimulus structure and familiarity on same-different comparison (original) (raw)
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Symmetry and similarity effects in the comparison of visual patterns
Attention Perception & Psychophysics, 1983
University 0/Parma, Parma, Italy Models to explain same-different RT disparity have variously emphasized encoding or comparison processes. Of the latter, a dual-process holistic-analytic model that bears a similarity to a putative distinction between hemispheric processes has been proposed. Here two experiments test the models by employing simultaneous and successive matching whilevarying letter similarity, symmetry, and visual field of presentation. Same-different disparity is found regardless of delay, although it can be eliminated with appropriate similarity and symmetry manipulations. While visual field interacts with the same-different factor, it fails to do so in a manner consistent with the proposed hemispheric dichotomy. These and other results argue against encoding models of letter matching, and support a revised visual comparison model that incorporates dual processing and response criterion elements. However, the role of lateralized processes remains unclear.
Differential effects of familiarity on judgments of sameness and difference
Perception & Psychophysics, 1971
Ss indicated whether pairs of simultaneously presented objects were "same" or "different." In Experiments 1, 2, and 3 the stimuli were pairs of letters, and familiarity was manipulated by showing the letters in either an upright or an upside-down orientation. In Experiments 4 and 5 the stimuli were pairs of trigrams, and familiarity was manipulated either by rotation or by selection according to rated meaningfulness. Analysis of reaction times indicated that familiar pairs were responded to more quickly than were unfamiliar pairs; however, this was true only for "same" judgments, not for "different" judgments. In addition, Experiment 3 indicated that familiarity influenced discrimination accuracy under conditions of tachistoscopic exposure. Finally, in Experiment 6 an effort was made to disentangle the effects of meaningfulness from the effects of pronounce ability . The present results stand in contrast to previous research using perceptual comparison tasks, since the earlier work failed to indicate any effect of familiarity.
Same"-"different" judgments: A review of current controversies in perceptual comparisons
Psychological Bulletin, 1985
A commonly used experimental paradigm for studying human information processing asks subjects to classify two stimuli with respect to their similarities and differences. The "same"-"different" judgment task, in particular, has useful applications in a variety of studies. The interpretation of "same"-"diiferent" reaction time data, however, is complicated by the existence of two seemingly anomalous effects, the fast-"same" effect and the criterion effect. This article examines explanations of these effects and brings evidence from the literature to bear on them. Current models of "same"-"different" judgments, two of which are widely accepted, can be rejected on the evidence of data reviewed here. Among the disconfirming data are several results that offer suggestions both for improving current models and for questioning some of their fundamental presuppositions.
Stimulus familiarity and the delayed emergence of stimulus equivalence or consistent nonequivalence
Psychological Record, 1998
Stimulus equivalence, defined as C-A matching, was tested in 80 adults following training in a matching-to-sample task involving arbitrary A-B and B-C matching. In Experiment 1, 50 subjects, successively assigned to one of five groups, were exposed to specific stimulus material. The stimuli for subjects in the first group were Greek letters only. In the remaining groups, pictures were incorporated as A-, B-, and/or C-stimuli. The probability of equivalence was low when the stimulus material consisted only of Greek letters. For the remaining groups, the probability of equivalence varied considerably depending upon whether the A-, B-, and/or C-stimuli were pictures. The results indicate that seemingly minimal procedural variations can yield markedly differential outcomes not predicted by any existing model. The results also showed that responding gradually may become consistent with a pattern other than the predicted equivalence pattern. Experiment 2 replicated the results of Experiment 1 showing (a) differential probabilities of equivalence in individual subjects, depending upon the configuration of Greek letters and pictures during training/testing, (b) consistent patterns of responding even when the responding was not in accord with equivalence, and (c) higher reaction times to comparison stimuli initially during testing. Probabilities of equivalence increased in a second exposure to the tasks involving only Greek letters, whether or not the subjects were exposed to a task with pictures prior to the second Greek-letter task. Higher reaction times initially during testing may indicate precurrent problem solving behavior prior to the selection of a comparison stimulus. The finding of delayed emergence of consistent responding suggests that even the slightest tendency toward responding that partitions the stimuli into the experimenter-planned equivalence classes may evolve into consistent responding in accord with those classes. The authors gratefully acknowledge Charles Catania for his comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.
Individual differences in the verbal coding of familiar visual stimuli
Memory & Cognition, 1975
Two experiments were performed both of which involved the same-different comparison of pairs of alphabet letters. "Same" reaction times were obtained for both physical matches (e.g., AA) and name matches (e.g., aA). The results of both experiments supported the hypothesis that individual subjects would differ with respect to whether or not they based their physical matches on a comparison of verbal codes. In Experiment I, subjects differed in the size of their reaction time difference between physical and name matches, and in Experiment II, individuals differed with respect to whether or not the frequency of usage of the letters affected their reaction time for physical matches. In both experiments, the individual differences in verbally coding physical matches were related to Hock's (1973) individual differences distinction between subjects emphasizing analytic processes and subjects emphasizing structural processes.
Two experiments were carried out to study the effect of prior knowledge on cognitive processes related to human intelligence by examining its role in defining task novelty. In Experiment 1, Ss performed a letter-matching task involving same-different judgments based on 4 rules of sameness: physical identity, form, system, and name. When the stimuli were unfamiliar, performance on the name classification task was correlated with measures of fluid abilities, whereas when the stimuli were familiar, performance on this task was not correlated with measures of fluid abilities. In Experiment 2, Ss performed 3 different forms of a mental rotation task. When the stimuli were unfamiliar, the slope of the rotation function was correlated with a test of fluid ability, whereas when the stimuli were familiar, the slope of the rotation function was not correlated with a test of fluid ability. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the nature of task complexity and the way knowledge and processing interact in the development of skilled performance.
Varieties of sameness: The impact of relational complexity on perceptual comparisons.
The fundamental relations that underlie cognitive comparisons-"same" and "different"-can be defined at multiple levels of abstraction, which vary in relational complexity. We compared response times to decide whether or not two sequentially-presented patterns, each composed of two pairs of colored squares, were the same at three levels of abstraction: perceptual, relational, and system (higher order relations). For both 150 ms and 5 s inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs), both with and without a masking stimulus, decision time increased with level of abstraction. Sameness at lower complexity levels contributed to decisions based on the higher levels. The pattern of comparison times across levels was not predictable solely from encoding times. The results indicated that relations at multiple levels of complexity can be abstracted and compared in working memory, with higher complexity levels requiring more processing time. We simulated the impact of relational complexity on response time using Learning and Inference with Schemas and Analogies (LISA), a computational model of relational comparisons based on dynamic binding of elements into roles in a relational working memory.
Acta Psychologica, 2013
Are different magnitudes, such as Arabic numerals, length and area, processed by the same system? Answering this question can shed light on the building blocks of our mathematical abilities. A shared representation theory suggested that discriminability of all magnitudes complies with Weber's law. The current work examined this suggestion. We employed comparative judgment tasks to investigate different types of comparisonsconceptual comparison of numbers, physical comparison of numbers and physical comparison of different shapes. We used 8 different size ratios and plotted reaction time as a function of these ratios. Our findings suggest that the relationship between discriminability and size ratio is not always linear, as previously suggested; rather, it is modulated by the type of comparison and the type of stimuli. Hence, we suggest that the representation of magnitude is not as rigid as previously suggested; it changes as a function of task demands and familiarity with the compared stimuli.
On ignoring irrelevant dimensions of common familiar stimuli
1981
Line drawings of four animals, each differing in size and orientation, were paired with each other in all possible combinations and presented in a successive matching task. In the first experiment, the subjects responded "same" if the stimuli had the same name. The "same" RT was faster for physically identical stimuli than for stimuli that differed on one or two dimensions but still had the same name. "Same" responses were about twice as slow as "different" responses, a finding confirmed in the second experiment, in which subjects responded "same" only to physically identical stimuli. It was suggested that slower "same" responses may result from a general picture-processing strategy in which differences were noticed faster than similarities. This research was conducted when both authors were affiliated with the University of Rochester. We thank Dennis Fisher for his kind permission to use the tachistoscope at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds and, when it was on loan at the University of Rochester, Alfred O. Dick for his substantial help in programming and data analysis, and James Qark for drawing superb stimuli. Requests for reprints should be sent to: lla Parasnis,