Abstract
The design of human-machine systems requires the consideration of a wealth of factors affecting human performance. One important factor concerns stimulus-response (S-R) compatibility effects. S-R compatibility refers to the finding that people respond faster when the relative spatial locations of stimuli and responses correspond (compatible S-R mappings) than when there is no correspondence (incompatible S-R mappings). For example, a visual stimulus that is presented to the right of a central fixation point is responded to more quickly by pressing a right key rather than a left key. In two experiments participants responded to compatible and incompatible S-R mappings. In Experiment 1 the stimuli were perceptually grouped while in Experiment 2 they were arbitrarily associated. Both perceptual grouping and arbitrary associations were found to result in the transformation of incompatible S-R pairs into compatible ones. The results are of practical use for tasks requiring human-machine interactions.
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