Redundancy gain: correlations across s sensory modalities from a neurologically normal population

Abstract

One of the most basic reaction time experiments employed by psychologists is the comparison of latencies to responses for single and redundant targets. The general effect is that participants are capable of responding faster, that is having shorter response latencies when redundant stimuli, as opposed to an individual stimulus, are presented. Interestingly, several models attempting to predict this effect, including the well known race model, have not been entirely successful. The following study evaluated redundancy gain and violations of the race model, in three experimental models: visual only, auditory only, and a visual-auditory bimodal paradigm. The results showed redundancy gain in all three paradigms, but they were only significant violations of the race model for the visual-auditory condition. Additionally, correlations between the different paradigms were explored with respect to redundancy gain and violations of the race model on an individual participant basis.