
Michel TreismanUniversity of Oxford | OX · Department of Experimental Psychology
Michel Treisman
M.B, B.Ch; MA; D Phil
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Publications (111)
The understanding of time perception presents a series of nested problems. What is the source of temporal information? How is the information employed and stored? How are temporal discriminations and judgments made? What is the neural basis of these mechanisms? How does arousal affect them? I shall consider the development of the Information Proces...
The paper ‘Temporal discrimination and the indifference interval: Implications for a model of the “internal clock” ’, published in Psychological Monographs: General and Applied in 1963 introduced an information-processing model of timing (IPMT) that has received some attention in relation to research on time perception. The present article discusse...
Signal detection theory (SDT) requires that the slope of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) is independent of the probability of signal and noise. But it has been shown that when the rating procedure is applied to detection, the slope of the receiver operating characteristic may increase as a function of the probability of the signal (Schu...
If an accessory stimulus regularly precedes a critical stimulus at a fixed inter‐stimulus interval then the shorter the interval the lower the threshold for the critical stimulus. Three hypotheses which might explain this are discussed, and two experiments described. Experiment 1 shows that varying the intensity of an accessory stimulus does not af...
A model is developed for movement by members of a group when this movement is random but is affected by a preference for a particular region of the space occupied by the group. Asymptotic distributions are derived from a continuous-time Markovian model for the case in which a group member may move to any unoccupied location in one jump, and a metho...
We can discriminate departures from the vertical or horizontal more accurately than from other orientations. This may reflect perceptual learning, but the mechanisms behind such learning are not well understood. Here we derive a theory of discrimination learning based on criterion setting theory (CST; Treisman and Williams, 1984), an extension of s...
Stimuli in one modality can affect the appearance and discriminability of stimuli in another, but how they do so is not well understood. Here we propose a theory of the integration of sensory information across modalities. This is based on criterion setting theory (CST; Treisman and Williams, 1984), an extension of signal detection theory which mod...
This chapter contains section titled:
This chapter aims to present a psychological model of how people perceive time, and to explain some experimental evidence supporting it. It suggests that the apparently close correspondence between the spatiotemporal structures of the perceived world and of the physical world, in contrast to the complex and controversial relation between, for examp...
Just as a written word can be encoded and retained in memory either verbally or in a visual form, so it might seem that an odor might be retained as either a verbal description/name or as a perceptual (olfactory) code. However, one view has it that olfactory memory in the short term does not exist as a separate perceptual code. This was examined in...
For nearly 50 years, signal detection theory (SDT; Green & Swvets, 1966; Macmillan & Creelman, 1991) has been of central importance in the development of psychophysics and other areas of psychology. The theory has recently been challenged by Balakrishnan (1998b), who argues that, within SDT, an alternative index is "better justified" than d' and wh...
Psychometric functions are customarily fitted using normal distribution functions. However, categorical perception identification tasks give functions that are more sigmoid than the normal distribution (M. Treisman, A. Faulkner, P. L. N. Naish, & B. S. Rosner, see record
1995-42700-001). This can be explained by a theory of discrimination, cue com...
Just as a written word can be encoded and retained in memory either verbally or in a visual form, so it might seem that an odor might be retained as either a verbal description/name or as a perceptual (olfactory) code. However, one view has it that olfactory memory in the short term does not exist as a separate perceptual code. This was examined in...
Detection may improve if a stimulus offers 2 cues rather than 1. This is sometimes attributed to probability summation of independent detections, which provides an especially simple model for sensory information combination. However, this model assumes a strong bias toward the positive response, which is not appropriate for discrimination. The prob...
A long-term sensory memory is believed to account for spatial frequency discrimination when reference and test stimuli are separated by long intervals. We test an alternative proposal: that discrimination is determined by the range of test stimuli, through their entrainment of criterion-setting processes. Experiments 1 and 2 show that the 50% point...
The claim that there is no olfactory short-term memory store, as olfactory serial position (SP) effects are absent (Engen, 1987, 1989; Lawless & Engen, 1977), raises the issue whether memory for sensory qualities is differently organized from memories for more cognitive materials in vision and hearing. Early memory processing in olfaction is re-exa...
In the word-length effect (WLE), lists of shorter words are better recalled than lists of longer words This effect is fundamental to decay-based theories of verbal short-term memory, such as the phonological loop theory (Baddeley, 1986) The WLE has been attributed to the time taken to articulate words, not their structure, a critical point in the d...
Simple reaction time is known to decay as a hyperbolic function of luminance (Piéron's function). An identical relationship has also been demonstrated recently (Pins and Bonnet, 1996 Perception & Psychophysics in press) with different choice-reaction-time tasks. Although mean choice reaction time increased with the complexity of the task, the expon...
Certain psychophysical tasks produce psychometric functions that diverge from normal distribution functions. Such curves occur for speech sound discrimination, where the concept of categorical perception (CP) is applied. It has been claimed that categorical perception also occurs at the critical fusion frequency (CFF) for visual flicker. An alterna...
Purpose. Magnussen and Dyrnes (1994) claimed that Ss presented with a reference grating can employ a long-term visual memory of up to 50 hrs to discriminate differences in spatial frequency between the reference and a set of test stimuli. We investigated whether Ss performing this task use the spatial frequency information provided by the test stim...
Purpose. Visual psychometric functions may be best fitted by normal distribution functions or by other functions such as the Weibull. The question we ask is what determines which form is shown. An answer is offered by a model for the sensory coding of complex visual stimuli that contain more than one cue. This model combines signal detection and st...
Observations that he himself had made persuaded Goethe to reject Newton's theory of light and to put forward an alternative theory of the colour phenomena seen with a prism. Duck has argued that Goethe's attack on Newton's theory rested on valid experimental observations that appeared to present a difficulty for Newton's theory but to support his o...
Problems in modelling categorical perception (CP) and attempts to apply signal detection theory (SDT) to CP are reviewed. An approach based on SDT supplemented by a theory of criterion setting is presented. Criterion setting theory (CST) postulates mechanisms that reset the response criterion on each trial, and it accounts for sequential dependenci...
A current debate opposes two theories of the origin of modern man. One view is that modern Homo sapiens emerged from Africa relatively recently, most probably within the last two or three hundred thousand years (Wilson & Cann, 1992, Sci. Am. 266(4), 22-27). The opposing view is that modern man has resulted from parallel evolution in different regio...
Guest Comment: Strategies for Population Control - Volume 21 Issue 3 - Michel Treisman
In the review by Kristie Macrakis of Beyond the Wall: Memoirs of an East and West German Spy by Werner Stiller, with Jefferson Adams (editor and translator) [Brassey's (US), McLean, VA, 1992; Maxwell Macmillan, London, UK, 1992] (17 Dec., p. 1908), it is stated that physicist Rolf Dobbertin, who denies any spying, was "sent to Paris in 1956 to stud...
It has been proposed that temporal perception and performance depend on a biological source of temporal information. A model for a temporal oscillator put forward by Treisman, Faulkner, Naish, and Brogan (1990) predicted that if intense sensory pulses (such as auditory clicks) were presented to subjects at suitable rates they would perturb the freq...
Studies of time estimation have provided evidence that human time perception is determined by an internal clock containing a temporal oscillator and have also provided estimates of the frequency of this oscillator (Treisman, Faulkner, Naish, & Brogan, 1990; Treisman & Brogan, 1992). These estimates were based on the observation that when the interv...
Our ability to estimate time intervals has sometimes been attributed to a biological source of temporal information. A model for a temporal oscillator that provides such information has recently been described (Treisman, Faulkner, Naish & Brogan, 1990). This predicts that an imposed stimulus rhythm at certain frequencies may interfere with the temp...
Obviously then this book will be more relevant to those interested in computer architecture and the development of addressing schemes for large data bases than to those who want to understand human memory. This book might have some interesting ideas for those interested in theoretical work on human memory, but these ideas are no more than possibili...
Evidence for the proposition that human time perception is determined by an internal clock is largely indirect. It would strengthen the case for this hypothesis if a model for the internal clock were available from which predictions could be derived and tested, and if the basic parameter of such a model, the frequency at which the clock runs, could...
Human subjects have difficulty in generating sequences that satisfy accepted requirements for randomness. This is often attributed to faulty cognitive operations or concepts of randomness. This article explores the alternative possibility that these deficiencies result from the operation of the same basic mechanisms for selecting responses that are...
Human subjects have difficulty in generating sequences that satisfy accepted requirements for randomness. This is often attributed to faulty cognitive operations or concepts of randomness. This article explores the alternative possibility that these deficiencies result from the operation of the same basic mechanisms for selecting responses that are...
Sternberg (1966) introduced a paradigm which allowed him to examine the relation between recognition latency and the size of a set of targets. He obtained linear plots of latency against set size, and explained these by a model for the item recognition task which included a process of exhaustive serial scanning of the list of positive items. Theios...
Signal detection theory and choice theory are sufficiently similar in their predictions to make it difficult to decide which gives the better fit to experimental data. In some cases, such as the analysis of word recognition, this similarity has allowed choice theory formulations to be employed as approximations to those given by signal detection th...
A model for absolute judgment is presented. This is derived from a theory of the processes which set and maintain response criteria (M. Treisman & T. C. Williams, 1984, Psychological Review, 91, 68–111) which has been applied to a number of problems in psychophysics. A Thurstonian model is assumed as a basis for absolute judgment, and criterion-set...
In its simplest form, signal detection theory (SDT) posits a single, invariant criterion for the yes/no detection task. But if in paradigms with multiple criteria, such as the rating procedure, we admit criterion variance, a new problem arises: If there are two or more response criteria on the decision axis and if these are each subject to random v...
The attention band and response ratio hypotheses of Green and Luce (1974) and Luce and Green (1974) are discussed and some difficulties are noted. An alternative hypothesis is put forward. This is based on a Thurstonian model for magnitude estimation in which the presented stimulus intensities are subjected to a logarithmic transformation. Response...
A model for the internal clock is briefly described. It includes a temporal pacemaker whose rate determines time judgments, and whose frequency is affected by arousal specific to it. Three hypotheses relating time judgments and the alpha rhythm are considered: (a) They may be wholly independent, each reflecting the specific arousal of the mechanism...
The theory of criterion setting developed by the 1st author and T. C. Williams (see record 1984-08523-001), which postulates control of decision criteria by a long- and 2 short-term mechanisms, can provide an account of sequential dependencies. The theory is applied to the question of whether criteria are all set and maintained in the same way or w...
The theory of criterion setting developed by the 1st author and T. C. Williams (see record 1984-08523-001), which postulates control of decision criteria by a long- and 2 short-term mechanisms, can provide an account of sequential dependencies. The theory is applied to the question of whether criteria are all set and maintained in the same way or w...
Describes 3 models (the linear additive learning model, the exponential additive learning model, and the independent trace model) of sequential effects in psychophysical tasks. These models were tested using data from a study by W. S. Verplack et al (see record
1953-04864-001). The models appear to be most consistent with the independent trace mod...
‘The St Petersburg paradox’ refers to a gamble which can be shown to have an infinite expected value but which gamblers are normally loth to pay more than a small sum to play. A number of explanations have been put forward for this, which are briefly considered, and an alternative is offered.
Wilson's (1975, 1977, 1980) model for group selection is considered. It is argued that his results represent kin selection alone; that his claim to have identified a novel ‘evolutionary force’ is mistaken; and that his fitness functions are not readily applicable to real situations.
Some new illusions of extent are described, and they are discussed in relation to the Müller-Lyer illusion and the constancy-scaling hypothesis. It is concluded that they support a minimal version of this hypothesis in which certain configurations of lines cause changes in local scale in certain directions, independently of whether or not these con...
A figure with one end rounded and the other concluding in an ellipse (the 'cylinder configuration') may appear longer than a rectangle of the same true length. It is proposed that when this configuration is processed as a three-dimensional body, it provides a cue for object orientation which causes the perceptual system to make an adjustment in the...
In this paper I want to develop two methods for warning behavior, consider their implications for the concept of inclusive fitness, and derive some consequences. The occurrence of altruism is a central problem in understanding social behavior. The term is applied to behavior which favors the evolutionary success of a recipient member of a species a...
The evolution of altruism has been analysed in terms of “inclusive fitness”, population genetic theory, and game theory. An attempt is made to combine the genetic and game theory approaches to provide an analysis of the evolution of altruism in both haploid and diploid species. A game theory analysis of altruism in a dyad is applied to three models...
Game theory has been used by some authors to analyse evolutionary limits to the expression of aggression in theoretical haploid parthenogenetic species. Others have examined frequency dependent selection, of which aggression may be a case, by applying population genetic models to diploid species. A model is presented which attempts to combine these...
Both humoral and cytolytic immune responses appear to be restricted by loci in the major histocompatibility complex. This raises two questions: why should genetic mechanisms exist which function to restrict immunity, and why should extravagant polymorphism occur at such loci? In answer to the first question it is proposed that immunity restriction...
Maynard Smith (1974) employed the game “Hawks and Doves” as a model for one type of intraspecific conflict and showed that the evolutionarily stable probability that a contestant will choose the more aggressive of two options is a function of V, the value of the prize, and D, the damage inflicted in a successful attack. Here it is demonstrated that...
Discusses a theory of the perceptual identification of complex stimuli that is based on the assumptions that word images are contained in an acoustic space, and responses are selected by forced choice from a restricted set of word images defined by the stimulus. Applied to the recognition of words in noise, the theory provides a quantitative accoun...
The possession of large repertoires of songs by some species of songbirds is offered an explanation arising from a model of the evolutionary restraints which restrict aggression within a species (Treisman 1977). This showed that animals which settle near kin may obtain a selective advantage, provided both sides can recognize their relationship in t...
Theories of the recognition of complex stimuli, and especially words, are briefly considered. Such theories may assume that the perceptual system has access to a store of representations of potential stimuli. The assumptions which may be made about such a store are discussed and distinctions are drawn between three types of organization: as a colle...
Can selection based on individual advantage result in limits to the magnitude of the damage animals may inflict on conspecifics in agonistic encounters? A formulation of intraspecific conflict in terms of game theory introduced by Maynard Smith (Journal of Theoretical Biology, 1974, 47, 209–221) is used to examine this question. Maynard Smith put f...
Since the occurrence of vomiting as a response to motion is both widespread and apparently disadvantageous, it presents a
problem for evolutionary theory. An hypothesis is proposed suggesting that motion sickness is triggered by difficulties which
arise in the programming of movements of the eyes or head when the relations between the spatial frame...
The evidence for the neural quantum theory of sensory discrimination which is currently given most weight is the occurrence of intercept ratios involving small integers, such as 2:1. The importance ascribed to them derives from the implicit assumption that other theories of discrimination predict that they should be rare. This assumption is examine...
In signal detection theory, the index d -sub(s) is commonly believed to be a more stable measure of discrimination than d ' when the slope of the receiver operating characteristic varies across conditions. The basis for this is examined, and a model is developed that appears to explain both the stability of d -sub(s) and the variation in the slope...
A device for detecting departures from visual fixation is described. The principle is to present control targets to one or
both eyes at the projected position of the blind spot. When fixation is maintained the control target or targets are not seen.
Departures from fixation manifest themselves by the reappearance of the target or targets in the vis...
It is commonly thought that sexual reproduction evolved and is maintained because the more rapid production of recombinant genotypes is of advantage to the species, but this advantage is long-term and is maintained by group selection while the individual committed to sexual reproduction is at an immediate disadvantage. However, Williams & Mitton (1...
Discusses the use of the terms sensitivity, threshold, bias, and ratio scale in psychophysics, with special reference to the statistical decision theory of sensory discrimination and its application to signal detection and classical psychophysical procedures. It is argued that confusions in the use of these terms vitiate 3 contributions to psychoph...
An earlier paper presented models which allow the relative advantages of different prey dispersions to be assessed for two cases: when the prey's main defence is concealment, and when prey may evade the predator (Treisman 1975). With these as a basis, an economic model for predator-prey interaction is developed which takes explicit account of the c...
The contribution of predation to the evolution of gregariousness is examined, and it is suggested that the needs of both predator and prey to conceal themselves and to detect the other may have been a major factor directing the development of social behaviour. This implies that it is important to consider the sensory capacities and the strategies o...
Replys to P. Isaac's criticism of the method of analysis used by M. Treisman and T. Watts (see PA, Vol. 41:1034) to support their conclusion that signal-detectability measures could be related to those given by the traditional psychophysical procedures. Reexamination of the data strengthens the original conclusion and reveals a further implication...
SPERLING (1960) demonstrated the existence of a peripheral visual information store, using a sampling procedure which he introduced. This procedure has been modified to facilitate its application to auditory stimulation. The results obtained are analysed in terms of a signal detectability and two ‘loss of items’ models. One of the latter is rejecte...
Moray [J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 47, 660–661; 1071–1073 (1970)] has presented data on the detection of binaural tone increments which he interprets in terms of an attention‐switching model. The data are re‐examined and it is shown that they cannot easily be reconciled with this model. An alternative hypothesis is presented. This assumes that the input...
Considers D. Broadbent's (see pa, vol. 41:4542) 4 models for the word frequency effect. He presented evidence rejecting the "sophisticated guessing" model and supporting a response bias model based on signal detection theory. J. Catlin (see pa, vol. 44:1712) and L. Nakatani (see pa, vol. 45:3224) have both proposed that broadbent's arguments are fa...
A model for brightness contrast is presented which assumes two processes: an initial ‘perceptual’ transformation of visual intensity information, followed by lateral inhibitory interactions which can be represented linearly. The model has been applied to appropriate data and it appears to provide a satisfactory account of both brightness enhancemen...
A model for visual discrimination is outlined. This assumes that detection is based on separating signaland noise by means
of a statistical decision procedure, and that the noise arises from physical and biological sources. When the model is applied
to such traditional detection procedures as the method of constant stimuli, it successfully predicts...
Control charts facilitating the use of sequential strategies of the updown or staircase type are described. The charts are easy to use and the relevant estimates may be derived very simply from the chart. An example is given in which both the 29.3% and 70.7% points on a response curve are estimated using the Up-Down-Transformed-Response (UDTR) proc...
The problem of scaling the central effect of auditory stimulus intensity, I (in power units), is considered, and it is argued that there need not be a unitary neurophysiological correlate for “loudness.” Different psychophysical tasks may draw on different central measures of stimulus intensity. A “metric dimension,” L, which the subject may use in...
The theory of signal detectability assumes that the central effect of a stimulus varies because of physical and neural noise; consequently, the detection of a signal requires a central statistical decision procedure. Similar assumptions have been made by psychophysicists to explain the results of traditional threshold measurement procedures. The in...
A model for visual intensity threshold discrimination is described. Simplified assumptions represent the main features of
the visual afferent paths. Discriminative responses are selected centrally by a statistical decision procedure, limited by
the noise level. Noise arises from the irreducible physical variability of light, from spontaneous firing...
The relation between sensory thresholds and the “sensory scale” is examined in the light of the threshold model given by signal detection theory. The problem is seen as that of determining the function relating E, the central effect of a stimulus serving as the decision axis when threshold judgments are made, and I, the physical intensity of the st...
It is indeed an honour to have drawn Professor Stevens' fire (1964), in view of the magnitude of his research achievement in the field of sensory scaling. If I shall differ with him on certain of his conclusions, it is in full awareness of the debt we all owe him for the experimentation and thinking which has provided much of the factual basis and...
The model of the threshold given by signal detection theory is used as a basis for explaining the form of the Weber function. For this purpose 3 sources of noise are considered: spontaneous background noise, the irreducible physical variability of the stimulus, and variation in the response of the neural pathways simultaneously excited by the admin...
Sensory scaling is analysed as a sensori-motor task for which two relations must be determined, the first, S = f(I), being the relation between I, the stimulus intensity, and S, a measure of the neural effect of the stimulus, and the second being the relation between the subject's response, R, and S. It is shown that for any scaling procedure the r...
A model of auditory perception is presented. It postulates a hierarchical system of tests, each depending on the operation of a signal detection device. A prediction is derived from the model: if a masking tone presented to one ear raises the threshold for a signal at the other ear, then adding white noise to the masking ear may decrease the contra...
THE logarithmic law relating sensation and stimulus intensity which was first put forward by Fechner1 has in recent years been seriously challenged: it is claimed that experiment can show directly that the true psychophysical law is a power function2. But if the relation between these alternative laws is examined it appears that, unless special ass...