Processing Information and Making Decisions Chapter 2

Objectives Understand the nature of at least three information-processing stages Be familiar with the concept of reaction time and the factors that affect it Identify the primary information-processing demands of various tasks Understand how arousal and attention influence performance Appreciate how three discrete components of human memory affect people’s motor performance

Preview A basketball player dribbles down the court and spots an open teammate breaking for the basket. He immediately attempts a long pass but an opponent intercepts the pass. Why? Did he throw a poor pass? Did he not see the defender? Did the excitement affect the decision? Was the best choice made? Was the best choice made?

Overview Principles of information processing related to skilled performance Coding, storing, and using information in the decision-making process Themes dealing with processing information under various restraints such as reaction time, arousal, and attention

Information-Processing Approach A computer analogy is often used to explain the concept of information processing. Input → information processing → response → output

Three Stages of Information Processing Stimulus identification Response selection Response programming

Reaction Time The amount of time that passes from the presentation of a stimulus until the beginning of a person’s response, when the movement is initiated

Factors That Influence Reaction Time Number of possible stimuli Choice reaction time Practice Response compatibility

Choice Reaction Time The interval of time between the presentation of one of several stimuli and the beginning of one of several responses

Simple Reaction Time Shortest reaction time One stimuli and one response

Hick’s Law There is a stable relationship between the number of stimulus-response options and choice reaction time. As the number of S-R pairs increases, choice reaction time increases in a linear fashion.

Effect of Practice on Reaction Time Greater practice time results in shorter reaction times. Practice keeps reaction time from increasing, even when stimulus- response alternatives increase. Skills often become automatic. If the same stimulus always leads to the same response, choice RT becomes quicker.

Decision Making Skilled vs. unskilled Skilled –Anticipate better –Predict earlier –Use different cues –Quicker choice reaction time

Types of Anticipation Spatial—the ability to anticipate performance movement Temporal—the ability to predict the time course of an event

Cost of Anticipation Delays the speed of responding Costs more if incorrect movement is started

Strategies for Preventing Anticipation Anticipation is best with randomization. Anticipation is best if opponent anticipates incorrectly and pays extra movement cost.

Decision Making and Performance Anxiety—a person’s interpretation of a particular situation; perception of threat Arousal—the level of excitement of a person’s CNS

Inverted U Arousal varies from low to high, depending on the situation. People can be too up; the right level of up is based on the requirements of the skill. Performance is degraded when arousal levels are too high. (continued)

Inverted U (continued) It is believed that moderate arousal results in the best performance when compared with low and high levels of arousal. As arousal increases, performance improves—up to a certain point.

Trait Anxiety Trait anxiety is a person’s general disposition to perceive situations as threatening. –High trait — person feels some level of threat in most situations –Low trait — person rarely finds situations threatening

Zone of Optimal Functioning Range of arousal level associated with a person’s maximum performance Based on person’s trait Based on nature of the task

Information Processing Under High Arousal Fewer stimuli detected Focus narrows to most pertinent information Attention shifts RT slows

Cue Utilization and Arousal Low arousal—attentional focus is wide; a great deal of information is picked up High arousal—attentional focus narrows to most relevant cues; performance improves up to a point (continued)

Cue Utilization and Arousal (continued) According to the cue-utilization hypothesis, an optimal level of arousal is one that produces an attentional focus narrow enough to exclude irrelevant cues and wide enough to gather the most important cues.

Managing Arousal Levels Muscle-to-mind skills are techniques that regulate arousal. They involve somatic activities such as breathing exercises, progressive relaxation, and contraction and relaxation techniques. Mind-to-muscle skills are techniques that regulate arousal. They involve cognitive activities such as relaxation, meditation, and visualization (creating a mental picture).

Attention Limitation in Information Processing Attention is a limited mental resource that is related to information- processing capabilities and limits on human skilled performance. Limited Limited Serial Serial

When Tasks Compete With Each Other Parallel processing—when two or more stimuli enter the system and are processed together without interference Stroop effect—a mental experiment showing that humans are able to process two stimuli in parallel during the stimulus- identification stage and that processing more than one stimulus results in longer information-processing time (continued)

When Tasks Compete With Each Other (continued) Controlled processing—deliberate and requires consciousness, slow, serial, attention demanding, voluntary, and more prominent during the early stages of learning Automatic processing—quick, parallel, not attention demanding, involuntary, prominent during later stages of learning, takes lots of practice, most beneficial in stable and predictable environments (continued)

When Tasks Compete With Each Other (continued) Double-stimulation paradigm Bottleneck theory

Three Memory Systems 1.Short-term sensory store 2.Short-term memory 3.Long-term memory

Short-Term Sensory Store Held according to sensory modality (auditory, visual, kinesthetic) Very short duration Very little processing Very little attentional processing

Short-Term Memory Composed of a temporary workspace where relevant information is processed Information may be retrieved, rehearsed, processed, and transferred A small amount of information may be held, which uses 7 ± 2 items or chunks Attention is held in STM as long as it is being rehearsed.

Long-Term Memory Considered the storage space for experiences over a lifetime Characterized as having unlimited capacity and duration Information reaches LTM through effortful processing of information in STM, which transfers it to LTM.