Citation

Pellegrino JW, Doane SM, Fischer SC, Alderton D. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 1991; 17(3): 781-791.

Affiliation

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37203.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

1834790

Abstract

This study examined visual comparison performance for 6-24-point random polygon stimuli (Cooper & Podgorny, 1976). Stimulus complexity effects decreased with practice, consistent with Bethell-Fox and Shepard (1988). A difficult discrimination context produced greater complexity effects than an easy discrimination context, consistent with Folk and Luce (1987). The difficult discrimination context also led to more stimulus-specific learning and diminished stimulus complexity effects. Increased stimulus learning resulted in continued skill acquisition, better transfer, and less performance disruption when the task context was equated for all Ss. It is argued that improvements in performance in a perceptual comparison task are not solely a function of the amount of practice provided in responding to particular stimuli. The context in which responses are elicited is equally important and must be accommodated in theories of skill acquisition.

Language: en