The investigator proposes to bring theoretical modeling from the reaction time domain to bear on the domain of aging and reaction time. Random walk and diffusion models are able to fit a range of experimental data beyond mean reaction time, and there appears to be a consensus that these models are setting new standards in accounting for reaction time phenomena. Five lines of experiments are proposed, each requiring two-choice decisions about simple cognitive and perceptual stimuli. Each kind of experiment places different limits on cognitive processes: the first two require subjects to learn stimulus-to-response mappings; the second two limit perceptual processes by limiting encoding time and stimulus discriminability; and the third requires memory. For all five tasks, performance will be examined with standard reaction time tasks, speed versus accuracy instructions, and deadlines that limit the time subjects have to respond. Models will be fit to all of the data from each task, including reaction times for correct and error responses, response accuracy, the relations among reaction time and accuracy, and the shapes of the reaction time distributions. Parameters of the models will be used to interpret aging deficits. For example, the parameters of the diffusion model allow the quality of the information entering decision processes to be separated from other components of the processes. The investigators anticipate that this theoretical approach will provide a more complete picture of processing than the Brinley plot analyses that currently dominate explanations of aging effects on reaction time.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AG017083-03
Application #
6372379
Study Section
Human Development and Aging Subcommittee 3 (HUD)
Program Officer
Wagster, Molly V
Project Start
1999-09-01
Project End
2004-08-31
Budget Start
2001-09-15
Budget End
2002-08-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$254,178
Indirect Cost
Name
Northwestern University at Chicago
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Evanston
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60201
Ratcliff, Roger; McKoon, Gail (2015) Aging effects in item and associative recognition memory for pictures and words. Psychol Aging 30:669-74
Gomez, Pablo; Ratcliff, Roger; Childers, Russ (2015) Pointing, looking at, and pressing keys: A diffusion model account of response modality. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 41:1515-23
Ratcliff, Roger (2013) Parameter variability and distributional assumptions in the diffusion model. Psychol Rev 120:281-92
Gomez, Pablo; Perea, Manuel; Ratcliff, Roger (2013) A diffusion model account of masked versus unmasked priming: are they qualitatively different? J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 39:1731-40
McKoon, Gail; Ratcliff, Roger (2013) Aging and Predicting Inferences: A Diffusion Model Analysis. J Mem Lang 68:240-254
Ratcliff, Roger; Starns, Jeffrey J (2013) Modeling confidence judgments, response times, and multiple choices in decision making: recognition memory and motion discrimination. Psychol Rev 120:697-719
Starns, Jeffrey J; White, Corey N; Ratcliff, Roger (2012) The strength-based mirror effect in subjective strength ratings: the evidence for differentiation can be produced without differentiation. Mem Cognit 40:1189-99
Starns, Jeffrey J; Ratcliff, Roger; McKoon, Gail (2012) Evaluating the unequal-variance and dual-process explanations of zROC slopes with response time data and the diffusion model. Cogn Psychol 64:1-34
Starns, Jeffrey J; Ratcliff, Roger; McKoon, Gail (2012) Modeling single versus multiple systems in implicit and explicit memory. Trends Cogn Sci 16:195-6
Starns, Jeffrey J; Rotello, Caren M; Ratcliff, Roger (2012) Mixing strong and weak targets provides no evidence against the unequal-variance explanation of ýýROC slope: a comment on Koen and Yonelinas (2010). J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 38:793-801

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