Abstract
Several recent studies of multiletter matching have included pairs in which the two letter strings have the same letters but in different orders. The latency of responses and the error rates to these rearranged pairs vary as a function of the total number of positions by which the letters in one string are displaced in the other. When order is relevant, and the rearranged pairs are classified as “different” (the order task), both response measures decrease as displacement increases. Similar, but mirror-image, displacement functions are obtained when order is irrelevant and the rearranged pairs are classified as “same” (the item task). The present experiments compared displacement with other measures of permutation and included a systematic examination of serial-position functions for the two tasks. Displacement, rather than the other measures of permutation, best predicted performance on both the order and item tasks, and the order task consistently showed a greater left-to-right weighting of serial positions than did the item task. Thus, even though the displacement functions are qualitatively similar for the two tasks, the difference in serial-position functions indicates that subjects exert some strategic control over the comparison of multiletter strings.
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This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant BNS8O-25O20 to the University of Colorado; by BRSG Grant RR07013-16 awarded to the University of Colorado by the Biomedical Research Support Grant Program, Division of Resources, National Institute of Health; and by research grants-in-aid from the University of Colorado Council on Research and Creative Work and from the Auburn University Office of Research
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Proctor, R.W., Healy, A.F. Task-specific serial position effects in comparisons of multiletter strings. Perception & Psychophysics 42, 180–194 (1987). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210507
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210507