The temporal architecture of central information processing: Evidence for a tentative time-quantum model

Psychological Research - Tập 49 - Trang 99-106 - 1987
Hans-Georg Geissler1
1Sektion Psychologie, Karl Marx Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, German Democratic Republic

Tóm tắt

A new, elaborated version of a time-quantum model (TQM) is outlined and illustrated by applying it to different experimental paradigms. As a basic prerequisite TQM adopts the coexistence of different discrete time units or (perceptual) intermittencies as constituent elements of the temporal architecture of mental processes. Unlike similar other approaches, TQM assumes the existence of an absolute lower bound for intermittencies, the time-quantum T, as an (approximately) universal constant and which has a duration of approximately 4.5 ms. Intermittencies of TQM must be multiples T k=k·T * within the interval T *≤T k≤L·T *≤M·T * with T *=q·T and integer q, k, L, and M. Here M denotes an upper bound for multipliers characteristic of individuals, the so-called coherence length; q and L may depend on task, individual and other factors. A second constraint is that admissible intermittencies must be integer fractions of L, the operative upper bound. In addition, M is assumed to determine the number of elementary information units to be stored in short-term memory.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Allport, D. A. (1968). Phenomenal simultaneity and the perceptual moment hypothesis. British Journal of Psychology, 59, 365–406. Ansbacher, H. L. (1944). Distortion in the perception of movement. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 34, 1–23. Atkinson, R. C., & Juola, J. F. (1974). Search and decision processes in recognition memory. In D. M. Krantz, R. C. Atkinson, R. D. Luce, & P. Suppes (Eds.), Contemporary developments in mathematical psychology I. San Francisco, CA: W. H. Freeman. Baer, K. E. v. (1864). Welche Auffassung der lebendigen Natur ist die richtige? und wie ist diese Auffassung auf Entomologie anzuwenden? In Reden gehalten in wiss. Versammlungen und kleine Aufsätze vermischten Inhalts, pp. 237–283, St. Petersburg. Bekešy, G. von (1936) Low-frequency thresholds for hearing and feeling. Annalen der Physik, 26, 554–566. Brown, H. L., & Kirsner, K. (1980). A within-subject analysis of the relationship between memory span and processing rate in short-term memory. Cognitive Psychology, 12, 1977–1987. Buffart, H., & Geissler, H.-G. (1984). Task-dependent representation of categories and memory-guided inference during classification. In E. Degreef & J. van Buggenhaut (Eds.), Trends in mathematical psychology. Amsterdam: North-Holland. Buffart, H., Geissler, H.-G., & van Leeuwen, K. (1984). Unpublished experiments on quantized processing in perception. Nijmegen. Cavanagh, J. P. (1972). Relation between immediate memory span and the memory search rate. Psychological Review, 79, 525–530. Craik, K. J. (1948). Theory of human operators in control systems. I. The operator as an engineering system. British Journal of Psychology, 38, 56–61. Ganz, L. (1974). Temporal factors in visual perception. In C. Carterette & M. P. Friedman (Eds.) Handbook of perception: Vol. V, Seeing (Chapter 6, pp. 169–232). New York: Academic Press. Geissler, H.-G. (1985). Sources of seeming redundancy in temporally quantized information processing. In G. d'Ydewalle (Ed.), Cognitive information processing and motivation. Selected/Revised papers, Vol. 3, 23rd International Congress of Psychology. Amsterdam: North-Holland. Geissler, H.-G. (1986) Zeitquantenhypothese zur Struktur ultraschneller Gedächtnisprozesse. Zeitschrift für Psychologie, 193, 347–362. Geissler, H.-G., & Buffart, H. (1985). Task-dependency and quantized processing in classification. In G. d'Ydewalle (Ed.), Cognitive information processing and motivation. Selected/Revised papers, Vol. 3, 23rd International Congress of Psychology. Amsterdam: North-Holland. Geissler, H.-G., Schmidt, K.-D., & Ackermann, B. (1986). Temporally quantized processing in visual perception. In F. Klix (Ed.), In memoriam Herrmann Ebbinghaus. Amsterdam: North-Holland. Harter, M. R. (1967). Excitability cycles and cortical scanning: A review of two hypotheses of central intermittency in perception. Psychological Bulletin, 68, 47–58. Hendrickson, A. E. (1972). An integrated molar/molecular model of the brain. Psychological Reports, 30, 343–368. Hendrickson, D. E., & Hendrickson, A. E. (1980). The biological basis of individual differences in intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences, 1, 3–33. Holt-Hansen, K. (1970). Perception of a straight line briefly exposed. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 31, 59–69. Holt-Hansen, K. (1973). Experienced lengthening and shortening of a straight line fixated in the middle and briefly exposed. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 36, 1023–1029. Holt-Hansen, K. (1974). Duration of experienced lengthening and shortening of straight lines. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 39, 987–996. Holt-Hansen, K. (1975). Duration of experienced expansion and contraction of a circle. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 41, 507–518. Klix, F., & Hoffmann, J. (1978). The method of sentence-picture comparison as a possibility for analysing representation of meaning in human long-term memory. In F. Klix (Ed.), Human and artifical intelligence, Berlin: VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften. Klix, F., & van der Meer, E. (1978). Analogical reasoning — an approach to mechanisms underlying human intelligence performances. In F. Klix (Ed.), Human and artificial intelligence, Berlin: VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften. Köhler, W., Held, R., & O'Connell, D. N. (1952). An investigation of cortical currents. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 96, 290–330. Köhler, W., & O'Connell, D. N. (1957). Currents of visual cortex in the cat. Journal of Cellular and Comparative Physiology, 49, Suppl. 2, 1–43. Kristofferson, A. B. (1967 a). Attention and psychophysical time. Acta Psychologica, 27, 93–100. Kristofferson, A. B. (1967 b). Successiveness discrimination as a two-state, quantal process. Science, 158, 1337–1339. Kristofferson, A. B. (1980). A quantal step function in duration. Perception & Psychophysics, 27, 300–306. Kristofferson, A. B. (1984). Quantal and deterministic timing in human duration discrimination. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 423, 3–15. Latour, P. L. (1967). Evidence of internal clocks in the human operator. Acta Psychologica, 27, 341–348. Lebedev, A. N. (1976). On the neurophysiological basis of quantitative regularities in psychology. In H.-G. Geissler & Y. M. Zabordin (Eds.), Advances in psychophysics (pp. 411–416). Berlin: VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften. Lebedev, A. N. (1982). Note on the equations for speed and capacity of perception. The skeleton of a physiological theory. In H.-G. Geissler & P. Petzold (Eds.), Psychophysical judgment and the process of perception. Amsterdam: North-Holland. McReynolds, P. (1953). Thinking conceptualized in terms of interacting moments. Psychological Review, 60, 319–330. Michon, J. A. (1965). De perceptie van duur. Nederlandsche Tijdschrift voor de Psychologie, 20, 391–418. Michon, J. A. (1967). Timing in temporal tracking. Assen: van Gorcum. Neumann, O. (1983). Moment. In J. Ritter & K. Gründer (Eds.), Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie (Vol. 6, S. 108–114). Basel, Stuttgart: Schwabe. Puckett, J. M., & Kausler, D. H. (1984). Individual differences and models of memory span: A role for memory search rate? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 10, 72–82. Rawlins, J. N. P. (1985). Associations across time: The hippocampus as a temporary memory store. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 8, 479–496. Stadler, M., & Erke, H. (1968). Über einige periodische Vorgänge in der Figuralwahrnehmung. Vision Research, 8, 1081–1092. Staude, A. (1985). Zur Prüfung der Cavanagh-Hypothese über den Zusammenhang von Gedächtnissuchrate und Gedächtnisspanne durch interdisziplinären Vergleich. Unpublished diploma thesis. KMU, Leipzig. Stebel, J. (1980). Chronobiologische Forschungsaspekte am Carl-Ludwig-Institut. Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Karl-Marx-Universität, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe, 29, Jg. 2, 181–189. Stebel, J. (1981). Feinstruktur-Spektralanalyse von Biorhythmen im Sekunden-Minutenbereich. In Abhandlungen der AdW der DDR, Abt. Mathematik, Naturwissenschaften, Technik, Jg. 1979, Nr. 1 N. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. Stebel, J., Sinz, R., & Kirmse, W. (1968). Über periodische Schwankungen des Kurzzeitgedächtnisses beim Menschen. In H. Drischel & N. Tiedt (Eds.), Biokybernetik. Leipzig: KMU Print. Sternberg, S. (1969), The discovery of processing stages: Extensions of Donders' method. In W. G. Koster (Ed.), Attention and performance II (pp. 276–315). Amsterdam: North Holland. Stroud, J. M. (1955). The fine structure of psychological time. In H. Quastler (Ed.), Information theory in psychology (pp. 174–207). Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press. Uttal, W. (1970). Violations of visual simultaneity. Perception & Psychophysics, 7, 133–136. Vanagas, V., Balkelite, O., Bartusyavitchus, E. & Kiryalis, D. (1976). The quantum character of recognition processes in human vision (in Russian). In V. D. Glezer (Ed.), Information processing in the visual system. Leningrad: Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Vroon, P. (1974). Is there a time quantum in duration experience? American Journal of Psychology, 87, 237–245.