DOCSLIB.ORG

The Cognitive Dimensions of Music Notations

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Cognitive Dimensions of Music Notations The Cognitive Dimensions of Music Notations Chris Nash Department of Computer Science and Creative Technology, University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QY, United Kingdom [email protected] ABSTRACT 2. FROM PROGRAMMING TO MUSIC This paper presents and adapts the Cognitive Dimensions There are many parallels between programming and of Notations framework (Green and Petre, 1996) for use creative musical scenarios such as composition, both in in designing and analysing notations (and user interfaces) digital interaction and more traditional music practice. in both digital and traditional music practice and study. Fundamentally, both practices can be mediated through Originally developed to research the psychology of notation. In Western music, formal training and practice programming languages, the framework has since found is oriented around the musical score. Composers exploit wider use in both general HCI and music. The paper the flexible affordances of pencil and paper to sketch and provides an overview of the framework, its application, experiment with musical ideas, before transcribing their and a detailed account of the core cognitive dimensions, work more formally for communication to the performer, each discussed in the context of three music scenarios: who interprets the notation to realise the written form as the score, Max/MSP, and sequencer/DAW software. music (i.e. sound). The listener, as the consumer, does not Qualitative and quantitative methodologies for applying see the notation. In programming, developers describe the framework are presented in closing, highlighting processes and interactive systems in source code, using directions for further development of the framework. symbol-based formal languages (such as C/C++, BASIC, or LISP). The code is compiled or interpreted by the 1. INTRODUCTION computer to create a program that encapsulates some kind of functionality and processing of input and/or output. As Music and programming are two creative mediums in music, the end-user does not see the source code. mediated through notation. In both scenarios, notation is In both instances, the formal rules of the notation define used to describe the behaviour of a system for subsequent what actions and entities can be represented with respect execution – be that by computer or human performer. As to the creative domain – music or program behaviour. a representation of a creative domain, notation shapes The musical score developed over centuries to efficiently how the practitioner perceives and interacts with their art. capture the formal rules of Western tonal music, during In formal systems, such as computers and common the common practice period (1600-1900). [2] While this practice music, the design of notation defines what covers a wide gamut of musical practices and styles, and actions and expressions are possible. However, the design continues to be relevant in modern styles, the format and of notation and techniques for manipulating can also conventions of the score implicitly shape the creativity of dispose (or discourage) users to certain actions and anyone working through it. [3,4,5] formulations – what actions and expressions are easy. Unlike music, no single standard programming notation This paper draws on research and findings in the exists; users have an element of choice over formalisms. psychology of programming and music HCI to describe a Most coding languages are Turing complete, meaning flexible approach to analysing and evaluating notations they are practically capable of encapsulating any and user interfaces in a variety of digital and traditional desired computer functionality. Thus, the issue with such musical practices. It begins with a discussion of the notations is not what is possible, but what functionality is parallels between musical creativity (e.g. composition) easy or quick to code, given the formal rules of the and programming, before introducing the Cognitive notation. [1] Different languages (and dialects) offer Dimensions of Notation framework. [1] To demonstrate distinctions in syntax and semantics to facilitate different the application and adaptability of the framework, users and uses. For example: BASIC is designed using Section 4 explores sixteen core dimensions of notation simple English keywords to be easily comprehended by use through three scenarios of notation-mediated music beginners (at the expense of structure); Assembler more interaction: sketching and transcription using traditional directly exposes low-level workings of hardware (at the score; audio/music programming using Max/MSP; and expense of human-readability); and object-oriented composition and production using a sequencer or digital languages, like Java and C++, are designed around audio workstation (DAW). Finally, Section 5 offers a creating modular systems and abstract data models that survey of methodologies for applying the framework. map onto user ontologies to enable notation of both low- and high-level concepts. As music notation similarly Copyright: © 2015 Chris Nash. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 Unported, seeks to support beginners, instrument affordances, and which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medi- flexible levels of abstract representation, it is instructive um, provided the original author and source are credited. to analyse usability factors in notations for programming. Beyond the format of notation, editing tools also impact dependencies (~ invisible relationships). Moreover, some the usability of a notation, and although text-based dimensions are value-laden; intuitively it may be difficult notations can be separated from code editors, other to see how error proneness, hard mental operations, and programming paradigms are more integrated with the hidden dependencies are desirable. However, knowledge user experience of the development environment. For of these relationships can be useful in solving usability example, visual programming languages (VPLs), such as issues, where a solution to one dimension can be ad- Max/MSP, are manipulated through a graphical user dressed through a design manœuvre targeted at another. interface, the usability of which impacts how users The exact set of cognitive dimensions is not fixed, and perceive the language and its capabilities. Other coders various proposals for new dimensions, designed to develop using an integrated development environment capture aspects of a notation or user experience beyond (IDE), offering unified platform for writing, building, the original framework, have been forwarded – many running and debugging code. The integration of such arising from its expanded use in other fields in and tools allows code edits to be quickly tested and evaluated, around HCI (non-programming interaction, tangibles, accelerating the feedback cycle and thus enabling rapid computer music). New dimensions should be measured application development, in turn facilitating experimenta- against the aforementioned requirements, but their value tion and ideation. [6] Thus, any approach for analysing is most effectively gauged by how much they reveal notation should likewise address factors in the UI. about the interaction context in question, and arguably In music, similar considerations can be made of the the greatest contribution of the framework is that it design of interactive modes supported by tools to provides a vocabulary and structure for discussing and manipulate notations – be that pencil and paper, ink and analysing notation from multiple perspectives. printer, or mouse and computer screen. Score notation As an HCI tool (and in contrast to other usability meth- supports composers in creating music, performers in odologies), it allows both broad and detailed analysis of interpreting it, scholars in analysing it, and learners in human factors in a notation or user interface, adaptable to understanding it. In each case, practitioners use different different use cases and audiences. By considering each techniques and tools to interact with the encapsulated cognitive dimension in the context of a specific system, music. Moreover, while music plays a functional role in designers and evaluators can assess how the notation fits many aspects of culture, it is also about personal, creative their user or activity type, whether that’s making end-user expression, and thus it is important to look at how the systems easier to use [5] or making musical interaction development of musical ideas is shaped by the design of more rewarding by increasing challenge. [8,9] notations. To consider this, the following section uses the For a detailed discussion of the background and defini- analogue of programming to adapt an established analysis tion of dimensions in the original framework, see [1]. For framework that might be used to reveal limitations, influ- further publications on the subject, see the framework’s ences and opportunities in music notations and interfaces. resource site and associated bibliography.1 3. A USABILITY FRAMEWORK 4. DIMENSIONS OF MUSIC NOTATION The Cognitive Dimensions of Notations [1] is a usability In this section, sixteen core dimensions of the framework, framework originally developed by Thomas R. G. Green adapted for a musical context, are detailed and discussed and Marian Petre, to explore the psychology of interac- in the context of three common musical interaction sce- tion with notation
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Concepts As Correlates of Lexical Labels. a Cognitivist Perspective
    This is a submitted manuscript version. The publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use or reprint the material in any form. Final published version, copyright Peter Lang: https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-653-05287-9 Sławomir Wacewicz Concepts as Correlates of Lexical Labels. A Cognitivist Perspective. This is a submitted manuscript version. The publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use or reprint the material in any form. Final published version, copyright Peter Lang: https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-653-05287-9 CONTENTS Introduction………………………………………………………………... 6 PART I INTERNALISTIC PERSPECTIVE ON LANGUAGE IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE Preliminary remarks………………………………………………………… 17 1. History and profile of Cognitive Science……………………………….. 18 1.1. Introduction…………………………………………………………. 18 1.2. Cognitive Science: definitions and basic assumptions ……………. 19 1.3. Basic tenets of Cognitive 22 Science…………………………………… 1.3.1. Cognition……………………………………………………... 23 1.3.2. Representationism and presentationism…………………….... 25 1.3.3. Naturalism and physical character of mind…………………... 28 1.3.4. Levels of description…………………………………………. 30 1.3.5. Internalism (Individualism) ………………………………….. 31 1.4. History……………………………………………………………... 34 1.4.1. Prehistory…………………………………………………….. 35 1.4.2. Germination…………………………………………………... 36 1.4.3. Beginnings……………………………………………………. 37 1.4.4. Early and classical Cognitive Science………………………… 40 1.4.5. Contemporary Cognitive Science……………………………... 42 1.4.6. Methodological notes on interdisciplinarity………………….. 52 1.5. Summary…………………………………………………………. 59 2. Intrasystemic and extrasystemic principles of concept individuation 60 2.1. Existential status of concepts ……………………………………… 60 2 This is a submitted manuscript version. The publisher should be contacted for permission to re-use or reprint the material in any form. Final published version, copyright Peter Lang: https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-653-05287-9 2.1.1.
    [Show full text]
  • Cognitive and Neuroscience Research on Learning And
    The 11th International Conference on Education Research New Educational Paradigm for Learning and Instruction September 29 – October 1, 2010 Cognitive and Neuroscience Research on Learning and Instruction: Recent insights about the impact of non-conscious knowledge on problem solving, higher order thinking skills 12 and interactive cyber-learning environments. Richard E. Clark University of Southern California, USA Abstract There are as least three powerful insights from recent studies of the brain that support cognitive science research findings: First, our brains learn and process two very different types of knowledge; non conscious, automated knowledge and conscious, controllable, declarative knowledge. Evidence also suggests that we believe we control our own learning by conscious choice when in fact nearly all mental operations are highly automated, including learning and problem solving; Second, human beings have a very limited capacity to think during learning and problem solving and when that capacity is exceeded, thinking and learning stop without us being aware. Thus instruction and self managed learning must strive to avoid cognitive overload; and Third, nearly all of our instructional design and cyber learning theories and models fail to account for the influence of non-conscious cognitive processes and therefore are inadequate to deal with complex learning and performance. Evidence for these points will be described and their implications for instruction and the learning of problem solving and higher order thinking skills will be discussed. Models of learning and instruction that appear to help overcome some of these biological and cognitive barriers will be described. In addition, suggestions for new research questions on interactive learning environments that take account of the three insights will also be described.
    [Show full text]
  • The Science of Psychology 1
    PSY_C01.qxd 1/2/05 3:17 pm Page 2 The Science of Psychology 1 CHAPTER OUTLINE LEARNING OBJECTIVES INTRODUCTION PINNING DOWN PSYCHOLOGY PSYCHOLOGY AND COMMON SENSE: THE GRANDMOTHER CHALLENGE Putting common sense to the test Explaining human behaviour THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY Philosophical influences Physiological influences PSYCHOLOGY TODAY Structuralism: mental chemistry Functionalism: mental accomplishment Behaviourism: a totally objective psychology Gestalt psychology: making connections Out of school: the independents The cognitive revolution FINAL THOUGHTS SUMMARY REVISION QUESTIONS FURTHER READING PSY_C01.qxd 1/2/05 3:17 pm Page 3 Learning Objectives By the end of this chapter you should appreciate that: n psychology is much more than ‘common sense’; n psychological knowledge can be usefully applied in many different professions and walks of life; n psychology emerged as a distinct discipline around 150 years ago, from its roots in physiology, physics and philosophy; n there are fundamental differences between different schools of thought in psychology; n psychology is the science of mental life and behaviour, and different schools of thought within psychology place differing degrees of emphasis on understanding these different elements of psychology; n most academic departments in the English-speaking world focus on the teaching of experimental psychology, in which scientific evidence about the structure and function of the mind and behaviour accumulates through the execution of empirical investigations; n in the history of psychology many different metaphors have been used for thinking about the workings of the human mind, and since the Second World War the most influential of these metaphors has been another complex information-processing device – the computer.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise of Cognitive Science in the 20Th Century
    The Rise of Cognitive Science in the 20th Century Carrie Figdor (forthcoming in Kind, A., ed., Philosophy of Mind in the 20th and 21st Centuries: Routledge) Penultimate Draft Abstract. This chapter describes the conceptual foundations of cognitive science during its establishment as a science in the 20th century. It is organized around the core ideas of individual agency as its basic explanans and information-processing as its basic explanandum. The latter consists of a package of ideas that provide a mathematico- engineering framework for the philosophical theory of materialism. Keywords: cognitive science; psychology; linguistics; computer science; neuroscience; behaviorism; artificial intelligence; computationalism; connectionism Part I. Introduction. Cognitive science is the study of individual agency: its nature, scope, mechanisms, and patterns. It studies what agents are and how they function. This definition is modified from one provided by Bechtel, Abrahamson, and Graham (1998), where cognitive science is defined as “the multidisciplinary scientific study of cognition and its role in intelligent agency.” Several points motivate the modification. First (and least consequential), the multidisciplinarity of cognitive science is an accident of academic history, not a fact about its subject matter (a point also pressed in Gardner 1985). Second, the label “intelligent” is often used as a term of normative assessment, when cognitive science is concerned with behavior by entities (including possibly groups, as individual or collective agents) that are not considered intelligent, as well as unintelligent behavior of intelligent agents, for any intuitive definition of “intelligent”.1 Third and most importantly, the term “cognition” is omitted from the definiens to help emphasize a position of neutrality on a number of contemporary debates.
    [Show full text]
  • The Association of Strategy Use and Concrete-Operational Thinking in Primary School
    ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 23 May 2018 doi: 10.3389/feduc.2018.00038 The Association of Strategy Use and Concrete-Operational Thinking in Primary School Moritz Börnert-Ringleb* and Jürgen Wilbert Department of Inclusive Education, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany Concrete-operational thinking depicts an important aspect of cognitive development. A promising approach in promoting these skills is the instruction of strategies. The construction of such instructional programs requires insights into the mental operations involved in problem-solving. In the present paper, we address the question to which extent variations of the effect of isolated and combined mental operations (strategies) on correct solution of concrete-operational concepts can be observed. Therefore, a cross-sectional design was applied. The use of mental operations was measured by thinking-aloud reports from 80 first- and second-graders (N = 80) while solving tasks depicting concrete-operational thinking. Concrete-operational thinking was assessed Edited by: using the subscales conservation of numbers, classification and sequences of the TEKO. Michael S. Dempsey, Boston University, United States The verbal reports were transcribed and coded with regard to the mental operations Reviewed by: applied per task. Data analyses focused on tasks level, resulting in the analyses of Sharinaz Hassan, N = 240 tasks per subscale. Differences regarding the contribution of isolated and Curtin University, Australia Niels A. Taatgen, combined mental operations (strategies) to correct solution were observed. Thereby, University of Groningen, Netherlands the results indicate the necessity of selection and integration of appropriate mental *Correspondence: operations as strategies. The results offer insights in involved mental operations while Moritz Börnert-Ringleb solving concrete-operational tasks and depict a contribution to the construction of [email protected] instructional programs.
    [Show full text]
  • Coordination of Component Mental Operations in Sequences of Discrete Responses
    Coordination of Component Mental Operations in Sequences of Discrete Responses Shu-Chieh Wu ([email protected] ) Roger W. Remington ([email protected]) NASA Ames Research Center, Mail Stop 262-4 Moffett Field, CA 94035 USA Harold Pashler ([email protected]) Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego La Jolla, CA 92093 USA Abstract distributed across different resources, interleaving upcoming operations in the slack time created by queued bottleneck In daily life we often perform sequences of actions, which processes, and allowing operations from different resources with practice are accomplished by overlapping mental to proceed concurrently. The success of this approach operations for successive actions. Is it possible to derive depends on the underlying assumption that component performance predictions for such sequences from a mental operations inferred from discrete task performance characterization of the mental operations for a single do not function differently in extended task environments. stimulus-response pair? We explore this by examining the joint timing of eye movements and manual responses in a This assumption has yet to be tested. Also, success has been typing-like task following Pashler (1994). Participants made achieved for tasks that are largely perceptual-motor, with separate choice responses to a series of five stimuli spread good fits obtaining after about 100 contiguous trials (e.g., over a wide viewing area. Replicating Pashler’s results, John et al., 2002). responses to the first stimulus (RT1) were elevated, with The goal of the present research is to investigate the inter-response intervals (IRI) for subsequent items rapid and coordination of component mental operations in extended flat across items.
    [Show full text]
  • Addressing Metacognitive Capacity for Self Reflection in the Psychotherapy for Schizophrenia
    58 The British Psychological Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice (2011), 84, 58–69 Society C 2010 The British Psychological Society www.wileyonlinelibrary.com Addressing metacognitive capacity for self reflection in the psychotherapy for schizophrenia: A conceptual model of the key tasks and processes ∗ , Paul H. Lysaker1,2 , Kelly D. Buck1 3, Antonino Carcione4, Michelle Procacci4, Giampaolo Salvatore4, Guiseppe Nicolo` 4 and Giancarlo Dimaggio4 1Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 2Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 3Purdue University School of Nursing, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 4Terzo Centro di Psicoterapia Cognitiva, Associazione di Psicologia Cognitiva, Rome, Italy Purpose. Recognition that recovery from schizophrenia may involve a deepening of the experience of being in the world has led to the possibility that psychotherapy may play a key role in treatment by enhancing metacognition, or the capacity to think about thinking. While the potential of psychotherapy to enhance metacognition in non- psychotic disorders has been discussed in depth, little has been written about how psychotherapy may systematically address metacognition in schizophrenia. Accordingly, the current paper formulates a model of how psychotherapy might address one specific element of metacognition, namely self-reflectivity. Methods. Procedures are outlined for assessing clients’ capacity for self-reflectivity within narrative contexts during psychotherapy. Results. Targeted interventions are identified which are tailored to clients’ capacities in the moment and which assist clients to think about their own thinking at the level of which they are capable. This may lead clients over time to develop a greater ability to engage in acts of increasingly complex self-reflectivity.
    [Show full text]
  • Functional Imaging in Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuropsychology
    Functional Imaging in Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuropsychology Geoffrey Karl Aguirre From: T. E. Feinberg & M. J. Farah (Eds.), Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuropsychology . (in press). New York: McGraw Hill. Introduction What can we hope to learn of the physical operation of the central nervous system and the mental processes that result? The fields of behavioral neurology and cognitive neuropsychology survey this relationship, and have at their disposal powerful intellectual and methodological tools. While the terrain of possible models of brain and behavior interaction seems boundless, particular tests of these models may exist beyond the reach of particular methods. These methods fall into two broad categories, and have been around for several centuries. The first category includes manipulations of the neural substrate itself. Such an intervention might inactivate a brain area, perhaps through a lesion, with Paul Broca’s 1861 observation of the link between language and left frontal lobe damage providing a prototypical example. The effects of stimulation of brain areas can also be studied, as Harvey Cushing did with the human sensory cortex in the early 20th century. In contrast, observation techniques relate a measure of neural function to behavior. Hans Berger’s work in the 1920s on the human electroencephalographic response is a good starting point. Impressive refinements and additions to both of these categories have taken place over the last century. For example, beyond the static lesions of “nature’s accidents” that have been the mainstay of cognitive neuropsychology for many years, it is now possible to temporarily and reversibly inactivate areas of human cortex using transcranial magnetic stimulation (see chapter X for additional details).
    [Show full text]
  • Piaget's Four Stages
    Piaget's four stages According to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development, intelligence is the basic mechanism of ensuring equilibrium in the relations between the person and the environment. This is achieved through the actions of the developing person on the world. At any moment in development, the environment is assimilated in the schemes of action that are already available and these schemes are transformed or accommodated to the peculiarities of the objects of the environment, if they are not completely appropriate. Thus, the development of intelligence is a continuous process of assimilations and accommodations that lead to increasing expansion of the field of application of schemes, increasing coordination between them, increasing interiorization, and increasing abstraction. The mechanism underlying this process of increasing abstraction, interiorization, and coordination is reflecting abstraction. That is, reflecting abstraction gradually leads to the rejection of the external action components of sensorimotor operations on objects and to the preservation of the mental, planning or anticipatory, components of operation. These are the mental operations that are gradually coordinated with each other, generating structures of mental operations. These structures of mental operations are applied on representations of objects rather than on the objects themselves. Language, mental images, and numerical notation are examples of representations standing for objects and thus they become the object of mental operations. Moreover, mental operations, with development, become reversible. For instance, the counting of a series of objects can go both forward and backward with the understanding that the number of objects counted is not affected by the direction of counting because the same number can be retrieved both ways.[2] Piaget described four main periods in the development towards completely reversible equlibrated thought structures.
    [Show full text]
  • Language and Cognition Catherine L Harris, Boston University, Massachusetts, USA
    Galley: Article - 00559 Level 1 Language and Cognition Catherine L Harris, Boston University, Massachusetts, USA CONTENTS Introduction Cognitive linguistics Concepts of cognition and language The Cognitive neuroscience movement Connectionism Conclusion Cognitive scientists have long debated whether lan- The second way ofconceptualizing human cog- 0559.003 guage and cognition are separate mental faculties, nition emphasizes the differences between lan- or whether language emerges from general cogni- guage and other abilities. A key idea is that many tive abilities. distinct domains ofcognition exist and must be learned separately, using different mental mechan- INTRODUCTION isms. This approach is referred to as the `modular- ity ofcognition' or `mental modules' approach. At 0559.001 What is the relationship between language and first glance it may seem contrary to the interdiscip- cognition? Do people who speak different lan- linary spirit ofcognitive science and to the possibil- guages think differently? Is a certain level of ity ofa unified theory ofcognition. However, the cognitive development required for language ac- unifying theory is the thesis of distinct mental quisition? These questions were ofkeen interest to modules, which are believed to have evolved to thinkers in the early twentieth century and remain accomplish specific tasks relevant to mammalian important in anthropology, linguistics and psych- evolution, such as visual exploration, or relevant ology. However, the cognitive revolution ofthe to human evolution, such as language use. Much of 1950s brought a new question about the relation- the appeal of this approach comes from findings in ship between language and cognition: is language neuropsychology showing that distinct areas ofthe the same type ofmental entity as other cognitive brain serve distinct functions such as vision, lan- abilities, or is it fundamentally different? guage processing, motor coordination, memory, 0559.002 A hallmark ofmodern cognitive science is the and face recognition.
    [Show full text]
  • Piagetian and Psychometric Conceptions of Intelligence
    Piagetian and Psychometric Conceptions of Intelligence DAVID ELKIND, University of Rochester Professor Elkind devotes much of his discussion to the concept of intelligence. He finds both similarities and differences when comparing the Piagetian descrip­ tion of intelligence with Jensen's (and the psychometrician's) definition of in­ telligence. Operating from quite different assumptions than those of J. McV. Hunt (Piaget's Structuralism, rather than neurology) Elkind also finds reason to believe that intelligence is developed in experience. For Piaget and Elkind, in­ telligence is "an extension of biological adaptation" and is characterized by ability to assimilate (develop in response to internal processes) and accommodate (respond to environmental intrusions). I have been asked to respond to Professor Jensen's paper from the standpoint of Piaget's genetic psychology of intelligence. While I clearly cannot speak for Piaget, only the "Patron" can do that, I can react as someone steeped in Piagetian theory and research and as one who looks at cognitive problems from the Gene• van perspective. Accordingly, while I hope that what I have to say would be acceptable to Piaget, I cannot guarantee that this is in fact the case, and must take full responsibility for whatever is said below. I plan to discuss, in the first section of the paper, some of the similarities between the Piagetian and psycho• metric positions. Then, in the second section, some of their differences will be pointed out. Finally, in the third section, I want to consider two related practical issues regarding the modification of intelligence. 319 Conceptual Similarities What struck me in reading Professor Jensen's paper, and what had not really occurred to me before, were the many parallels and affinities between the psy• chometric or mental test approach to the problem of intelligence and the devel• opmental approach as represented by Piaget.
    [Show full text]
  • Operations in Forming an Impression of Another Person
    JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 18, 217-234 (1982) The Informational Basis of Social Judgments: Operations in Forming an Impression of Another Person EUGENE BURNSTEIN AND YAACOV SCHUL The University of Michigan Received October 7. 1980 This paper describes four functionally distinct operations carried out in forming an impression of another person: Initial encoding, elaborative encoding, inte- gration, and decision. These processes were identified empirically on the basis of their differential sensitivity to the amount and the consistency of information in a trait description. In Study 1 as the trait set increased in size, processing was hindered to the greatest extent during initial encoding, to a moderate extent during elaborative encoding, and least during the integration-decision interval. Varying consistency produced the opposite pattern of results, that is, an incon- sistent trait description hindered processing the least during initial encoding, a moderate amount during elaborative encoding, and the most during the integra- tion-decision interval. In Study 2 the quantity of information was manipulated via implicit knowledge, that is, the associative structure activated by the trait (rather than set size). Because implicit information is “preintegrated,” impli- cation-rich traits did not hinder initial or elaborative encoding more than impli- cation-poor traits. The decision operation, however, was performed more rapidly with implication-rich traits than with implication-poor ones, which strongly sug- gests that once information is integrated, the “richer” the representation, the easier it is to arrive at a decision. Traditionally, research on social judgments in general, and impression formation in particular, has been concerned with the functional rela- tionship between properties of the judgment (e.g., the extremity of the impression) and properties of the stimulus information (e.g., the number of traits, their consistency).
    [Show full text]