Reaction time for numerical coding and naming of numerals.

Recent studies have provided support for the conclusion of several early psychologists that con­ ventional names or symbols can be verbally identified faster than the simple objects or features they desig­ nate. Since the naming responses are identical for both types of identifications, investigators have generally attempted to account for the latency difference in terms of differences in the subject's experience with one type of stimulus as opposed to the other. One early hypothe­ sis, also favored by contemporary psychologists, held that more response conflict existed for concrete stimu­ lus features than for their conventional printed designations. Whereas most previous studies thus controlled for possible response differences, but not stimulus differences, in comparing latencies for the two types of identification tasks, the study reported in this paper attempted to control in one experiment for both stimulus and response differences. The method used was based on a technique originally devised to test for the additional delay that might be produced in making