EMPIRICAL RECOVERY OF RESPONSE-TIME DECOMPOSITION RULES .2. DISCRIMINABILITY OF SERIAL AND PARALLEL ARCHITECTURES

Among the possible response time (RT) decomposition rules, three are o f a traditional interest: addition (serial RT architecture), minimum ( parallel-OR architecture), and maximum (parallel-AND architecture). Gi ven RT samples, one can decide which of these three operation is the t rue decomposition rule by choosing the operation producing the smalles t Smirnov distance between the RT samples combined in a certain way, a s described by E. N. Dzhafarov and J. M. Cortese (1996, Journal of Mat hematical Psychology 40, 185-202). By means of Monte-Carlo simulations , we determine at what sample sizes this decision identifies the true decomposition rule reliably. The results indicate that for a broad cla ss of RT distribution functions the sample sizes required are by an or der of magnitude larger when the component times are stochastically in dependent than when they are perfectly positively stochastically inter dependent. In both cases, however, the required sample sizes are reali stically achievable in an experiment, provided the experimental factor s selectively influencing component times are sufficiently effective. Addition and maximum are generally more difficult to discriminate than addition and minimum, which in turn are more difficult to discriminat e than maximum and minimum. (C) 1996 Academic Press, inc.