Abstract:

Since the sixties, several authors have attempted to study elementary cognitive processes measuring the Response Time (RT) to answer simple questions. In a typical experiment, two optical stimuli are shown to the participant who is instructed to Select the Larger or the Shorter of beteween them. The stimuli may e.g., be digits. The order comparison between two elements from a set of symbolic stimuli is interpreted as a computational process performed with a simple network. Each encoded stimuli pair generates an exponentially growing accumulative process. When the activity reaches a threshold, the output neuron signals for a motor response and an explicit expression is available for the RT. The network may, also, be used to evaluate the fraction of erroneous answers. We tested the model with data from the literature and from our own laboratory. In all cases we obtained a good agreement. Recently, results from a new experimental process has been reported in the literature. Participants learn the arbitrary height of imaginary persons (the stimuli are the names) and are tested with RT measurements while they infer the height relation between not learnt stimuli. We tested the model with these data as well and found an excellent correlation