Decoding of Electrocutaneous Signals: Effects of Dimensionality on Rates of Information Transmission 1

Abstract

Each of four electrocutaneous codes, alike with respect to the number of code signals, but different with respect to the dimensions used in composing the signals, was learned by 10 Ss. When response time (RT) was used as the index of performance after practice, the codes were ranked in order of increasing difficulty (or RT) as follows: the location code, location-by-intensity, location-by-duration, the location-by-intensity-by-duration codes. When errors were taken as the index of performance and when Ss had received a moderate amount of practice, the codes were arranged in order of increasing difficulty (or errors) as follows: the location-by-intensity code, location-by-duration, the location code, and the location-by-intensity-by-duration code. When the rate of information transmission (which takes into account both time and errors) was employed as the index of performance, the codes were ranked in order of increasing difficulty (or decreasing efficiency) as follows: the location-by-intensity code, the location code, location-by-duration, and the location-by-intensity-by-duration code.