Impact of mental operation instructions.
Experiments were conducted to test the impact of embedding mental action verbs within instructions. Experiment 1 examined the instructional effects of these verbs on response time to a visual stimulus. Significant response time differences resulted from instructing participants to engage in different mental actions. Using Multidimensional Scaling, Experiment 2 explored how people understand the relationships amongst mental action verbs, resulting in a single "level of processing" dimension. Experiment 3 was designed to further explore the relationship of these verbs to cognition and behaviour. Signal detection analysis was used to determine if participants were shifting their criterion depending on the level of processing suggested in the instruction. Results showed an effect of instruction on response time, but not on criterion, sensitivity, or accuracy. Response time effects were found that were consistent with differences in word characteristics, including meaning.
Dickinson
Joël
J
Department of Psychology University of New Brunswick, Canada. jdickinson@laurentian.ca
Szeligo
Frank
F
D000328:Adult; D001519:Behavior; D003071:Cognition; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes; D009509:New Brunswick; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D011930:Reaction Time; D017603:Signal Detection, Psychological