Effects of sample-set size on delayed-matching-to-sample
type: CreativeWork
description: In a series of experiments the discriminative performance of university students was assessed using a Delayed-Matching-to-Sample task. White disks, presented on computer screens, served as stimuli. For the general DMTS task, used here, a sample stimulus was presented to the participant. After a variable delay (0.05, 4, 8 or 16 s) two comparison stimuli were presented on the computer screen. One of these comparison stimuli was the same size as the sample stimulus (matching comparison) and the other was slightly larger or smaller than the sample stimulus (non-matching comparison). The sample stimuli were not intended to appear as comparison stimuli and for each of the sample stimuli there were two possible non-matching comparison sample stimuli, one larger and one smaller than the sample stimulus. The first three experiments showed that it was possible to use a titration procedure to get similar levels of performance across participants, at zero delay. During the titration procedure the size of the non-matching comparison stimuli was changed, for each participant until they were 100% correct at 0.05 s delay. The first two of these experiments also showed that there were generally only small decreases in performance as the delay between the presentation of the sample stimuli and the comparison stimuli was increased. The fourth experiment showed that performance on the DMTS task did not change when feedback was given for correct responses. The fifth and sixth experiments showed that as the number of sample stimuli used in the DMTS task, was increased there was a systematic decrease in a, a measure of discrimination at zero delay, but no systematic change in b, a measure of the rate of decrement in performance with increasing delay. It was not clear whether this decrease in a was a product of the increase in the sample-set size or of the associated decrease in the correspondence of sample stimuli on consecutive trial pairs. Experiment 7 suggested that, when the number of…
abstract: In a series of experiments the discriminative performance of university students was assessed using a Delayed-Matching-to-Sample task. White disks, presented on computer screens, served as stimuli. For the general DMTS task, used here, a sample stimulus was presented to the participant. After a variable delay (0.05, 4, 8 or 16 s) two comparison stimuli were presented on the computer screen. One of these comparison stimuli was the same size as the sample stimulus (matching comparison) and the other was slightly larger or smaller than the sample stimulus (non-matching comparison). The sample stimuli were not intended to appear as comparison stimuli and for each of the sample stimuli there were two possible non-matching comparison sample stimuli, one larger and one smaller than the sample stimulus. The first three experiments showed that it was possible to use a titration procedure to get similar levels of performance across participants, at zero delay. During the titration procedure the size of the non-matching comparison stimuli was changed, for each participant until they were 100% correct at 0.05 s delay. The first two of these experiments also showed that there were generally only small decreases in performance as the delay between the presentation of the sample stimuli and the comparison stimuli was increased. The fourth experiment showed that performance on the DMTS task did not change when feedback was given for correct responses. The fifth and sixth experiments showed that as the number of sample stimuli used in the DMTS task, was increased there was a systematic decrease in a, a measure of discrimination at zero delay, but no systematic change in b, a measure of the rate of decrement in performance with increasing delay. It was not clear whether this decrease in a was a product of the increase in the sample-set size or of the associated decrease in the correspondence of sample stimuli on consecutive trial pairs. Experiment 7 suggested that, when the number of…
author: Adamson, Coreen
license: https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstreams/8b8c8c9c-c5a1-466e-9f32-32ec0a43af89/download
date published: 2002
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:21Z
provider: University Waikato
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Waikato