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Why is accurately labelling simple magnitudes so hard?
chapter
posted on 2023-05-22, 21:44 authored by Donkin, C, Rae, B, Heathcote, A, Brown, SDAbsolute identi cation is a deceptively simple task that has been the focus of empirical investigation and theoretical speculation for more than half a century. Observers are shown a set of N stimuli varying on a single dimension (e.g., length or loudness) and each stimulus is given a label (e.g.,1; ::;N). They then attempt to identify stimuli presented one at at time by producing the associated label. Since Miller's (1956) seminal paper the puzzle of why people are severely limited in their capacity to accurately perform absolute identi cation has endured. Despite the apparent simplicity of absolute identi cation, many complicated and robust effects are observed in both response latency and accuracy, including capacity limitations, strong sequential effects and effects of the position of a stimulus within the set. Constructing a comprehensive theoretical account of these benchmark effects has proven difficult, and existing accounts all have shortcomings in one way or another. We review classical empirical findings, as well as some newer fi ndings that challenge existing theories. We then discuss a variety of theories, with a focus on the most recent proposals, make some broad conclusions about general classes of models, and discuss the challenges ahead for each class.
History
Publication title
Oxford Handbook of Computational and Mathematical PsychologyEditors
JR Busemeyer, JT Townsend, Z J Wang, & A EidelsPagination
1-32ISBN
978-0-19-995799-6Department/School
Tasmanian School of MedicinePublisher
Oxford University PressPlace of publication
OxfordExtent
17Repository Status
- Restricted