Reaction Time Asymmetries Research Articles

Judgments of verticality and response availability

Ss were instructed to judge the truth or falsity of displays, consisting of the words above or below and pictures of a small circle ABOVE or BELOW a reference square, and to report “No” for same displays and “Yes” for different displays. The asymmetry in reaction time for above displays vs below displays observed by Seymour (1969a, b) and Chase & Clark (1971) disappeared under these instructions. This result is discussed in relation to the Chase and Clark model for verification of spatial locations.