The effects of foreperiod duration upon discrimination and choice reaction time.
Item
-
Title
-
The effects of foreperiod duration upon discrimination and choice reaction time.
-
Identifier
-
AAI9732952
-
identifier
-
9732952
-
Creator
-
Neiderbach, Harvey D.
-
Contributor
-
Adviser: Andrew R. Delamater
-
Date
-
1997
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Psychology, Cognitive | Psychology, Experimental
-
Abstract
-
The current experiments explored the effects of fixed foreperiod (FP) training upon an auditory choice task. Groups of White Carnaux Pigeons were given training at fixed FPs using two sound intensity levels of white noise presented in a random order. The pigeons were then required to identify the intensity through a peck on one of two side keys.;Three separate training groups were used in the experiments. The first group was trained with a short duration FP and the second group with a longer duration FP. A third training group was trained with both of these FPs presented in a random order. The latency and accuracy of the training groups were recorded. Upon the completion of training, each of the birds was tested in a generalization test with an extensive series of new FPs which contained embedded within them the original training FPs. The training FPs were presented in a random order. The white noise intensities remained the same as during the original training.;The results of the first experiment were difficult to interpret because of a response key bias in the Group trained with the long FP. Modifications were made to the procedure in order to eliminate the response key bias and a second experiment was run.;In the second experiment each of the training groups displayed a different pattern of results. Group Short performed accurately and with short latencies at the shorter FPs, however, its performance on each of the measures was increasingly impaired as the FPs lengthened. Group Long's performance was somewhat ambiguous. Its latencies did decrease close to the training FP, however, its accuracy performance was level across the range of test FPs. The performance of Group Mixed approximated somewhat Group Short. In that, Group Mixed's performance gradually weakened with increasing FP duration.;The results were initially discussed with respect to the human alertness and timing experiments. In addition two nonattentional accounts of the results, response incompatibility, and generalization decrement are also used to interpret the findings.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
