Reed P
University of Sussex, Brighton, England.
Mem Cognit. 1992 Sep;20(5):573-9. doi: 10.3758/bf03199589.
Two experiments examined the effect of various relationships between a response (pressing the space bar of a computer) and an outcome (a triangle flashing on a screen) on judgments of the causal effectiveness of the response. In Experiment 1, when responses were required to be temporarily isolated from each other prior to an outcome, ratings of the causal effectiveness of the responses were higher than in a condition in which the probability of an outcome following a response was the same but in which no temporal isolation was required. In Experiment 2, when a number of responses were required to be emitted temporally close to the outcome, ratings of the causal effectiveness of the responses were lower than in a condition in which the probability of an outcome following a response was the same but in which no temporal proximity was required. These results suggest that, in addition to the overall probability that an outcome will follow a response, the local context of responding at the time an outcome is presented is critical in influencing ratings of causal effectiveness.
两项实验研究了一种反应（按下电脑空格键）与一种结果（屏幕上闪烁一个三角形）之间的各种关系对反应因果效力判断的影响。在实验1中，当要求反应在结果出现之前暂时相互隔离时，对反应因果效力的评分高于这样一种情况：即反应后出现结果的概率相同，但不要求时间隔离。在实验2中，当要求多个反应在时间上接近结果发出时，对反应因果效力的评分低于这样一种情况：即反应后出现结果的概率相同，但不要求时间接近。这些结果表明，除了结果跟随反应出现的总体概率外，结果呈现时反应的局部背景对于影响因果效力评分至关重要。
