Rw. Proctor et al., TRANSLATING BETWEEN ORTHOGONALLY ORIENTED STIMULUS AND RESPONSE ARRAYS IN 4-CHOICE REACTION TASKS, Canadian journal of experimental psychology, 51(2), 1997, pp. 85-98
Three experiments examined performance of four-choice reaction tasks u
sing stimulus and response arrays oriented along parallel or orthogona
l axes. All used a procedure in which pairs of locations were precued
in advance of the target stimulus. Responses were slower for orthogona
l than for parallel stimulus-response sets, but the pattern of relativ
e precuing benefits was similar. Complete transfer occurred when the s
timulus array was changed from an orthogonal to a parallel orientation
with respect to the response array after three sessions of practice.
Transfer was also evident when the orientation of the response array w
as changed from orthogonal to parallel with respect to the stimulus ar
ray, as long as the assignment of stimulus locations to fingers was no
t altered. The results suggest that coding in the four-choice task is
by relative location regardless of whether the stimulus and response s
ets are oriented orthogonally, and that an additional transformation o
peration to align the frames of reference is performed for orthogonal
orientations.