Abstract

This study investigated the differences of subject`s performance in terms of the amount of information and moving distance of visual target in movement detection task and compared the performances of male and female college students. Sensitivity(d`) and reaction time(RT) were considered as measures for performance. The amount of information, based upon information theory, was varied for three independent tasks(0 bit, 1 bit, and 2 bit situations). It was operated by dividing screen area, in which white dots as background noise, scattered on the whole screen area, were moving in fixed 2-pixel unit from left to right. Subjects were asked to respond as quickly as possible when he/she perceived the target stimuli in each condition. Four different distances of target movement(4-, 6-, 8-, and 10-pixel) per same time unit(about 100 msec) consisted of 4 conditions within each task. The greater the target moves, the easier subjects detect. Therefore, these four conditions were defined as task difficulty. The results showed that male and female students showed similar sensitivity in 1 bit situation, but in 0 and 2 bit situations, male`s sensitivity was higher than that of female. On the other hand, reaction time, only for male, was in linear function toward the amount of information. But, for female, reaction time was longest in 1 bit situation and shortest in 0 bit situation. The results indicated that female, compared to male, was more sensitive to variation in the amount of information.