RESPONSE LATENCIES IN CLASSIFICATION OF WORD—SHAPE PAIRS
Philip H. K. Seymour · British Journal of Psychology · 1969
The experiment examined classification times for the four word—shape pairs produced by combining the labels square and circle with the shapes square and circle . Times were obtained for each of the three possible 2:1 mappings of the four display pairs to the verbal responses ‘yes’ and ‘no’. These define three conditions in which the basis of the classification is respectively the shape , the label , or both the label and the shape . Classification times were significantly slower where both component displays were relevant for selection of the response. Moreover, under this condition, classification times for circle / circle and square / square were faster for the response ‘yes’ than for the response ‘no’, whereas this effect was reversed for the pairs square / circle and circle / square . The implications of these findings are discussed.