Interference in identifying tactile patterns: Response competition and temporal integration

When two vibrotactile spatial patterns - one target and one nontarget pattern - are presented to the same location, subjects may have difficulty in identifying the target pattern. The difficulty may be in part the result of the target's and nontarget's being processed to the point of evoking competing responses. Subjects err by responding with the nontarget. Target identification may also be interfered with because the target and nontarget form a composite pattern through temporal integration, and subjects are unable to separate the features of the target and nontarget patterns. The present study addressed the issue of whether a response competition explanation of interference is consistent with the existence of temporal integration and the formation of composite patterns. A series of three experiments examined temporal integration and its relationship to response competition. The results indicate that both temporal integration and response competition can occur under similar stimulus conditions, and that both can interfere with the identification of target patterns. The results further indicate that even under conditions in which composite patterns are formed, the two patterns that constitute the composite are still identifiable. It is concluded that the interference in pattern identification attributed to response competition is not a result of temporal integration.