Contextual dependencies: Influence on response latency

Abstract

The present experiments were designed to examine the influence of contextual stimuli on perceptual-motor performance. Experiment 1 revealed that contextual dependencies can develop for simple perceptual-motor tasks. Furthermore, the extent of the dependency is mediated in part by whether the contextual information is removed or replaced with alternative contextual information at the time of test. Data from Experiments 2 and 3 showed that manipulating the potency of incidental contextual stimuli results in a systematic decrement or increment in subsequent performance, depending on whether the contextual stimuli during the test were changed or reinstated. To date, such an orderly influence of contextual stimuli is more commonly demonstrated in the animal learning literature than with human experimentation.