Abstract
In three experiments, subjects sorted 32-card decks with four stimuli into two classes using one relevant dimension with four levels. Relative and absolute similarity of the stimuli was manipulated through different forms of redundancy with respect to a second dimension. With nonintegral dimensions (circle size and diameter angle), redundancy had no effect on performance. With integral dimensions, form of redundancy affected performance, but the effects depended on the stimulus dimensions (dot positions vs. value and chroma) and on the relevant dimension (value vs. chroma). Results suggest that performance in a speeded classification task with integral stimuli can be only partially explained in terms of interstimulus similarity.
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This article is based on a paper presented at the 17th meeting of the Psychonomic Society, St. Louis, Missouri, November 1976. The authors wish to thank James R. Pomerantz and Gregory R. Lockhead for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.
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Schumann, B.C., Wang, M.D. Effects of redundancy on speeded classification of integral and nonintegral stimuli. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 15, 221–224 (1980). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334514
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334514