Eriksen and Eriksen nonsearch flanker paradigm (six-condition tachistoscopic letter task)

Design · All designs
Evidence · 5 claims (5 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description

A tachistoscopic task in which the subject responds with a right or left leverpress to a single target letter (H or K vs S or C) that always appears at a fixed location above fixation during a 1-sec exposure. The target is flanked by three noise letters on each side under five noise conditions (identical, response-compatible, response-incompatible, heterogeneous-similar, heterogeneous-dissimilar) at three between-letter spacings (.06, Yz, and 1 deg of visual angle), plus mixed and blocked target-alone controls. It was designed to provide "an anchor or baseline condition" for noise effects when no visual search is required.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Subjects thoroughly instructed to respond only to the letter in the target location and ignore all other letters

Constraints

• Eliminating search removes the confounding of noise effects with assumptions about how display search is carried out, so findings are specific to the nonsearch case

Target Learners

• adult volunteers with normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Learning Goals

• studying the effects of noise stimuli on target identification independent of visual search

Claims

• Response-incompatible flanking noise letters impair target reaction time significantly more than response-compatible noise in a nonsearch task [+W]
• Target RT decreases as between-letter spacing increases, and the noise-condition effect is greatest at the closest spacing (Noise Condition by Spacing interaction) [+W]
• Target-alone RT is approximately 30 msec faster in blocked no-noise trials than in trials intermixed with noise conditions, indicating a preparatory inhibitory set [+W]
• Heterogeneous noise letters with set-related features produce intermediate RT impairment, consistent with stimulus generalization at wider spacings [+W]
• Error data mirror the RT findings: opposite-response-set noise caused far more errors at the two closest spacings [+W]

Related Designs

Examples

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Key Sources

• Eriksen, B. A., & Eriksen, C. W. (1974). Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task. Perception & Psychophysics, 16(1), 143-149. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203267

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	eriksen-1974-nonsearch-flanker-paradigm-element
title	Eriksen and Eriksen nonsearch flanker paradigm (six-condition tachistoscopic letter task)
description	A tachistoscopic task in which the subject responds with a right or left leverpress to a single target letter (H or K vs S or C) that always appears at a fixed location above fixation during a 1-sec exposure.
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-17
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — eriksen-1974

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