The thermodynamics of human reaction times

Biology – Quantitative Biology – Neurons and Cognition

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Submitted manuscript

Scientific paper

I present a new approach for the interpretation of reaction time (RT) data from behavioral experiments. From a physical perspective, the entropy of the RT distribution provides a model-free estimate of the amount of processing performed by the cognitive system. In this way, the focus is shifted from the conventional interpretation of individual RTs being either long or short, into their distribution being more or less complex in terms of entropy. The new approach enables the estimation of the cognitive processing load without reference to the informational content of the stimuli themselves, thus providing a more appropriate estimate of the cognitive impact of different sources of information that are carried by experimental stimuli or tasks. The paper introduces the formulation of the theory, followed by an empirical validation using a database of human RTs in lexical tasks (visual lexical decision and word naming). The results show that this new interpretation of RTs is more powerful than the traditional one. The method provides theoretical estimates of the processing loads elicited by individual stimuli. These loads sharply distinguish the responses from different tasks. In addition, it provides upper-bound estimates for the speed at which the system processes information. Finally, I argue that the theoretical proposal, and the associated empirical evidence, provide strong arguments for an adaptive system that systematically adjusts its operational processing speed to the particular demands of each stimulus. This finding is in contradiction with Hick's law, which posits a relatively constant processing speed within an experimental context.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

The thermodynamics of human reaction times does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The thermodynamics of human reaction times, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The thermodynamics of human reaction times will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-667013

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.