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Abstract

In a test of Sternberg's (1969) additive-factor method of reaction time (RT) analysis, stimulus quality (intact, degraded), relative stimulus frequency (70:15:15), and S-R compatibility (naming, naming-plus-one), each had significant effects on RT in a number-naming task. Additivity of the means, variances, and third cumulants of RT for the quality and compatibility factors showed the RT components attributable to the two stages influenced by these two variables to be stochastically independent. Relative stimulus frequency interacted with both quality and compatibility in determining RT. It was concluded that the effect of stimulus quality arose at the stimulus encoding stage, and the effect of compatibility at the S-R translation stage, while the duration of both stages was influenced by relative stimulus frequency.

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Test of the Additive-Factor Method of Choice Reaction Time Analysis

Abstract

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References