title: Stimulus intensity, catch trial effects, and the speed-accuracy tradeoff in reaction time: A variable criterion theory interptation.
abstract: Ss responded to a 1,000-Hz tone of 50, 80, or 100 dB. Catch trial conditions were none, blank trials, a red light, a noise, and an 1,800-Hz tone. Auditory catch signals were of the same intensities. RT distributions in the first three conditions were well described by a family of exponential growth functions dependent upon stimulus intensity and by the parameters of normal criterion distributions dependent upon catch trial conditions and between-session variability. Performance in the auditory catch trial conditions was not dependent upon the same set of sensory growth functions. Performance in these conditions was described by a two-dimensional analysis of information transmitted as a function of time and interpreted in terms of variable criterion theory. The speed-accuracy tradeoff in this situation appears to depend upon differential rates of growth of intensity and associative information and the criterion used in responding to this information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, 87131, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
authors.forename: G R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Grice
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Brunt
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Kushner
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morrow