Abstract
The looking behavior of adults and children was recorded while they viewed pairs of stimuli differing in stimulus uncertainty. Ss in one experimental group were encouraged to identify the stimuli and indicate whether they had been seen in a previous phase of the experiment. For the remaining Ss, instructions minimized the importance of the stimuli to the experiment. Results indicate that, when stimulus uncertainty was influential, the relationship between stimulus uncertainty and looking time was monotonically increasing. However, stimulus uncertainty was an effective determinant of looking behavior only when Ss were motivated to identify the stimuli. The behavior of adults and children did not differ.
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While this research was in progress, the first author was receiving support from a National Defense Graduate Fellowship. The study was supported, in part, by a research grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, No. HD-03083, to J. C. Nunnally. We wish to express grateful appreciation to the Metropolitan School System of Nashville, Tennessee, and to the principals and teachers of Brick Church and Glenview elementary schools for their cooperation in making Ss available for the research.
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Faw, T.T., Nunnally, J.C. & Ator, N.A. The influence of stimulus uncertainty and experimental instructions on visual selection. Perception & Psychophysics 5, 137–140 (1969). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209542
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209542