Module 13

OBJECTIVE: Determining RT for pattern recognition by subtracting out the RT for a simpler process.

How can we determine the time required for Anna to discriminate the pattern on each card, for example, to tell if the card has a diamond or a heart on it? Here, too, we will also use Additive Factors Methodology. Again we need a baseline. The baseline is the time against which you could compare this task to a similar but simpler task. Any ideas?

First, let Anna sort the deck of 52 cards into 4 piles randomly.

Then have Anna sort the cards by suit, that is, one pile for hearts, another for spades, another for diamonds, and another for clubs.

If she makes an error we'll have her start the whole process over again and reset the timer, so she needs to be careful. Let's call the time it takes her to sort by suit, T2.

Then we can say:
The time it takes Anna just to mechanically sort the cards without paying attention to color or suit + the time it takes her to recognize pattern as she's doing the sorting = the total time to sort the deck while paying attention to pattern (color and suit). Or, equivalently,

What we did here is:
The RT of a complex process (sorting by color and suit) is the sum of the reaction times for its individual component processes (mechanical sorting + attention to color and suit).