The use of reaction time is ubiquitous in behavioral research. It has been applied in studies of perception, memory, language, reasoning, and action. Patterns of reaction time have revealed aspects of the detailed structure of human cognitive architecture. However, the use and interpretation of reaction time in behavioral research requires an appropriate metamodel of the dynamic properties of information processing. In particular, use of reaction-time methodologies and detailed modelling of cognitive processes require knowledge of whether the movement of information between processes involves the transmission of discrete quanta of information or a continuous flow of information. The disposition of this dichotomy has profound consequences for the interpretation of reaction time data and for the temporal properties of information processing architectures. Conventional reaction time techniques are not sufficient to distinguish between the discrete and continuous models. The proposed research overcomes the limitations of previous procedures in directly addressing the discrete/continuous problem. Two domains of visual information processing are isolated and an adaptive priming procedure is used to study visual information processing dynamics. The procedure involves providing subjects with partial advance (priming) information relevant to an imperative task. Reaction times are then measured as a function of the nature of the partial advance information and the moment in time that it is provided in advance of the imperative stimulus. Under models postulating discrete transmission of information between processes, reaction times from certain priming conditions should form a family of mixture distributions. Continuous models predict the absence of mixture distributions. Through the mathematical analysis of reaction time distributions in different conditions, discrete and continuous models can be tested. Two related but distinct series of experiments are proposed, concerned with (a) the dynamics of manual response preparation and (b) the dynamics of visual attention allocation. The experiments will advance our knowledge of the dynamic properties of these substantive domains, and test the predictions of the discrete and continuous classes of models. The importance of information-processing models and the interpretations they afford for reaction time procedures are central to research on mental health. The results of the proposed research concerning the structure and properties of normal human cognition will contribute substantially to the construction of models of mental health disorders and to the development of diagnostic instruments and treatment procedures.
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