HICK’S LAW AND SINGLE CHANNEL

HYPOTHESISBY AMY, JADE, LIZZY AND LOIS

REACTION TIME

Reaction time is the speed in which we are able to process information and the time between the onset of the stimulus and the start of the movement in response to it. Reaction time usually determines sporting success e.g.. An athlete with a faster reaction time will be much better than those will a slower reaction time. During 100m sprint an athlete will be much faster off the start in response to the gun.

Reaction time Movement time

Response time

Factors Affecting Reaction Time

Sensory System; receiving the

stimulus

Reaction time will vary depending

on the sensor that is being used

Body temperature

If we are cold our reactions are

slower

personalityExtroverts tend to

have faster reactions than

introverts

Alertness/Arousal/Motivation

Levels of these will affect our reaction time.

Optimum levels are needed to react quickly

Age

Reaction time gets quicker until you are

about 20 then it decreases as you get

older

Limb Used

The further the information has to travel in the nervous system the slower the reaction will be.

Normally the reaction of the feet are slower than the reaction of the hands.

HICKS LAW (1952)The more stimuli there are the longer it takes to choose the correct response

“Choice reaction time is related to the amount of information that must be processed to resolve uncertainty about the various possible stimulus response alternatives”

It is spit into simple and choice reaction time. Reaction increases by the same amount every time the number of choices doubles, it increases in proportion.If there are more choices to process then the reaction time is greater.

SIMPLE AND CHOICE REACTION TIME

Simple Reaction Time Choice Reaction time

There is only one response to a given stimulus for example a 100m sprint you only need to react to the gun and run.

There is more than one stimulus to react to and/or there is more than one required response

The brain only has limited capacity for processing information. If we try and do more than one thing at once, the overall performance suffers as the brain struggles to process the entirety of the information.

A theory to why this happens is Single Channel Hypothesis which means that the brain only has once channel for processing information and switches between tasks if required.

SINGLE CHANNEL HYPOTHESISSingle channel hypothesis states that when receiving many stimuli from the environment, the brain can only deal with one stimulus at a time. The way that we process information is thought of as a single channel which can only deal with one piece of information at a time. This one piece of information has to be processed before the next piece of information can bed dealt with. This could sometimes be referred to as bottleneck.

MULTI CHANNEL HYPOTHESISAnother take on the Single Channel Hypothesis theory is the Multi Channel Hypothesis theory. This means that the brain has several channels each dedicated to a different tasks; therefore meaning that performance only suffers if two similar tasks are attempted.

PSYCHOLOGICAL REFRACTORY PERIOD (PRP)We react quickly to a stimulus upon encountering it.

However if a second stimulus is presented shortly after the first stimulus then our reaction time is significantly slowed. This is believed to occur because we are still busy dealing with and processing the first stimulus.

(if two stimuli are presented very close together, the two stimuli then tend to be grouped together and processed simultaneously)