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A probabilistic multidimensional model of location information

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Summary

A probabilistic multidimensional model of location discrimination is developed and applied to data from an experiment in which subjects are required to determine whether a briefly presented horizontal and vertical bar are touching. The proposed gap-detection model assumes that errors in perception are due to variability in the perceived location and/or in the perceived length of the bars. A series of gap-detection models that allow variability only in perceived location were rejected on the basis of likelihood-ratio tests of overall goodness of fit. However, when the models were modified to account for: (a) a compression of the distance perceived between the bars (Wolford, 1975), or (b) the bisection illusion (Künnapas, 1955), excellent absolute fits to the data were obtained. A pair of models that suggests that the horizontal/vertical illusion or a response bias was operative failed. Applications of the model to more conventional object-perception experiments (e. g., the illusory-conjunction experiment) are discussed.

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Author notes

  1. W. Todd Maddox

    Present address: Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, 85287, Tempe, AZ, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Estes Lab, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 02138, Cambridge, MA, USA

    W. Todd Maddox

  2. University of California at Berkeley, California, USA

    William Prinzmetal & Richard B. Ivry

  3. University of California at Santa Barbara, California, USA

    F. Gregory Ashby

Authors
  1. W. Todd Maddox
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  2. William Prinzmetal
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  3. Richard B. Ivry
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  4. F. Gregory Ashby
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Maddox, W.T., Prinzmetal, W., Ivry, R.B. et al. A probabilistic multidimensional model of location information. Psychol. Res 56, 66–77 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00419713

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00419713

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