In Anne's experiment, different groups of participants were presented with different groups of squares (see Figure 1). For some participants, the search array was composed of 4 squares, 8 squares, or 16 squares. Reaction time was measured by the computer when the array was presented and when the participant pressed the button. The number of items in the array (blocks) increased, so did the difficulty of the task. Anne found that as the number of squares in the search array increased, so did the difficulty of finding the red square.
Figure 1:
Set Size
How was difficulty operationally defined? Was it the number of squares in the search array or the time it took the participant to find the red square?