The encoding of perceptual information in the organization of individual stimulus patterns

Two experiments compared the effectiveness of variable physical dimensions and relationships among the components of individual stimulus patterns as means for encoding perceptual information. Four different codes were constructed in which letters (A through P) were represented by redundant combinations of the shape and brightness of the four component forms in each stimulus pattern. Three of the codes differed in terms of the physical variables that were redundant, and a fourth code was designed to simplify the relationships within individual stimulus patterns. Ss were asked to identify each pattern by naming its letter label as rapidly as possible. Differences in the speed of identification between codes and between individual patterns within codes indicated that perceptual information was effectively encoded by the organization of relationships within individual stimulus patterns. The representation of stimulation in terms of relationships among components has several implications for models of human information processing.

[1]  W. R. Garner,et al.  The effect of redundant stimulus elements on visual discrimination as a function of element heterogeneity, equal discriminability, and position uncertainty , 1969 .

[2]  D. Broadbent.  Perception and communication , 1958 .

[3]  J S Lappin,et al.  Attention in the identification of stimuli in complex visual displays. , 1967, Journal of experimental psychology.

[4]  J. Gibson.  The Senses Considered As Perceptual Systems , 1967 .

[5]  C. Pfaffmann.  The afferent code for sensory quality. , 1959 .

[6]  W. R. Garner.  To perceive is to know. , 1966 .

[7]  Frank Restle,et al.  Theory of Serial Pattern Learning: Structural Trees. , 1970 .

[8]  W. R. Garner,et al.  Response uncertainty and perceptual difficulty of auditory temporal patterns , 1966 .

[9]  C. Eriksen,et al.  Independence in the perception of simultaneously presented forms at brief durations. , 1967, Journal of experimental psychology.

[10]  S. Sternberg.  High-Speed Scanning in Human Memory , 1966, Science.

[11]  A B Kristofferson,et al.  Attention and psychophysical time. , 1967, Acta psychologica.

[12]  D. Norman,et al.  Memory And Attention , 1968 .

[13]  Joseph S. Lappin,et al.  The span of apprehension: Form Identification as a function of amount of information displayed , 1970 .

[14]  W. R. Garner,et al.  Perceptual independence: definitions, models, and experimental paradigms. , 1969, Psychological bulletin.

[15]  W. R. Garner.  Good patterns have few alternatives. , 1970, American scientist.

[16]  G. A. Miller.  THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW THE MAGICAL NUMBER SEVEN, PLUS OR MINUS TWO: SOME LIMITS ON OUR CAPACITY FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION 1 , 1956 .

[17]  Devalois Rl.  BEHAVIORAL AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF PRIMATE VISION. , 1965 .

[18]  W. Estes,et al.  Visual detection in relation to display size and redundancy of critical elements I , 1966 .

[19]  G. Sperling,et al.  Successive approximations to a model for short term memory. , 1967, Acta psychologica.

[20]  D. Jameson,et al.  Mach bands : quantitative studies on neural networks in the retina , 1966 .

[21]  J. Gibson.  The perception of the visual world , 1951 .

[22]  W. R. Garner,et al.  The Perception and Learning of Temporal Patterns , 1968, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.