Do redundant visual and auditory target variables facilitate control behavior?
The compensatory tracking paradigm has been used extensively in pioneering work on Control Theory, a cybernetic model of behavior. In most studies subjects have been asked to control or maintain at a steady state a single variable or aspect of the stimulus display. The present study utilized three groups of subjects, comparing their performance effectiveness in controlling: (1) a visual stimulus (cursor) versus (2) an auditory stimulus (tone) versus (3) a combined, redundant-cue condition employing both cursor and tone. Freshman volunteers responded to a computer display using a joystick controller; their task was to keep stationary a stimulus that was subject to a smoothed, quasirandom disturbance. Contrary to predictions, subjects in the cursor-alone group performed more effectively than subjects in the combined cursor-tone group. While speculative interpretations are offered, further research is needed to clarify these results.
Department of Psychology, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC.
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McCord
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010898:Pitch Perception; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D014796:Visual Perception