SENIOR PROJECT

Running head: SPEED-ACCURACY TRADE-OFF1


SPEED-ACCURACY TRADE-OFF33







Speed-Accuracy Trade-off:
Effects of Endogenous and Exogenous Factors

Kiriaki-Maria Tsigarida
State University of New York











Final Project(INDS 749994T-N01)
Professor:ArgiroZikouli
Fall Semester 2013-2014
CONTENTS
Acknowledgment thesis 3
Abstract 4
Introduction to Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff 5
Sports 5
Engineering and computer science 6
Neurology 6
Psychology and Medicine 7
Assessment 8
Factors that affect the Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff 9
Noise and Speed Accuracy Trade off 9
Gender and Speed Accuracy Trade off 10
Critique of the Literature 12
Purpose of the research 14
Significance of the research 14
Operational definitions 15
Limitations of the research 16
Hypotheses 17
Methodology 18
Subjects 18
Apparatus and tasks 18
Procedure 19
Data analysis 21
Results 22
Discussion 23
Suggestions for future research 25
Appendix 26
References 32


ACKNOWLEDGMENT THESIS
I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my major Supervisor Mrs Argiro Zikouli, for her support and her advices for this research study, as well as for her help, motivation and inspiration through my studies in New York College. She has been a role model for me. Without her persistent help and guidance the completion of this thesis would not have been possible.
I would also like to thank the academic director of New York College of Thessaloniki, AfroditiTerkenli for allowed me to "convert" a college-class in "examination room", as well as because she motivated other students to take part to this research. Thank you for your support.
A special thank you, to electronic engineers Konstantinos Antoniou and Konstantinos Kontos, (students of Alexandrio Technical Institute of Thessaloniki), for creating the experimental task that used for this research. Thank you!
Finally, I would like to thank all the students of New York College of Thessaloniki and Alexandrio Technical Institute of Thessaloniki, whotook part voluntarily to this research.
This thesis is dedicated to my mother, Komousinio Moschouwho has given me the opportunity of an education from the best institutions and support throughout my life. There are not enough "thank you" to say, she has been source of inspiration, encouragement and help. I would never be able to achieve my goals without her. Thank you Mom!


ABSTRACT
The speed accuracy tradeoff (SAT) phenomenon reflects a cognitive process which refers to the decision making dilemma of trading speed for accuracy and vice versa, when people perform various tasks which demand both speed and accuracy. Noiseis an unwanted and stressful condition that can affect people's skills when it is continuous and in high-levels. Gender is another endogenous factor that seems to have a notable effect in the SAT. The aim of the present research is to measure the effects of gender and noise on the speed accuracy trade off during the execution of a fine motor task. For the purpose of the research 60 right-handed subjects ages from 18 to 30participated. The subjects (men/women) were asked to perform the task which was to move a ring along a wire that was attached in a wooden board, as fast and as accurately as possible under two conditions: noise/no noise, using their preferred hand.Data were collected on a personal computer, and analyzed with the "Statistical Packages for Social Sciences" (SPSS ver. 20).The followings were evaluated: a) movement time (MT) b) number of errors (E). According to the results:a)there was no difference between men and women in MT, b) regardless of gender, all participants made more E in noise conditions c) women make fewer E than men regardless of noise conditions d) regardless the gender, noise does not increase the MT. The results suggest that a) men are not faster than women when performing a motor task, b) noise affects people's performance as far as accuracy is concerned c)women in general tend to be more accurate (number of E) than men d) noise does not affect people's MT. The findings of this research show the differential influence of factors such as gender and noise in kinematic parameters of the SAT and are explained and discussed under the light of modern neuropsychological data.
Key words: Speed-accuracy tradeoff, men, women, noise, research


SPEED-ACCURACY TRADEOFF
In our everyday livesall of usare forced to act quickly or accurately and sometimes both quickly and accurately when we perform perceptual and motor tasks. According to Fitts' law (1954) when speed is increased, accuracy is decreased and vice versa.So, all of us many times in our life have faced the dilemma of a speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) when for example we try to put the key in the keyhole and we are on a hurry. One other example is when we drive with a lot of speed and there is a big sharp turning on the road, the chances to be accurate while turning, are decreased as speed is increased. SAT is a phenomenon which mostly refers to the decision-making of whether to trade speed for accuracy and or the other way round.
Tasks that call for speed-accuracy tradeoffs demand more cognitive effort because the decision maker has to do constant alternations between accuracy and speed. Finally, although there is a notion that as the speed is increased the accuracy is decreased, some researches approve the exact opposite; the more speed is increased the more accuracy is increased (Schmidt& Sherwood, 1982; Wettwe, Wegge, Klaus & Schmidt, 2012). Some other researchers suggest that the more a task is exercised the more accurate the performance in this task (Beilock, Hoerger, Bertenthal & Carr, 2008). One other point of view is that SAT performance is affected by the difficulty of the task each time (Bootsma, Fernadez & Mottet, 2004). A review of the literature suggests that the following scientific fields are associated with the research of the SAT phenomenon:
Sports
In the scientific field of Sports the effects of SAT on athletes' behavior are examined. Sports demand physical effort and exercise to improve one's motor behavior. It has been found that speed SAT performance differentiates according to the demands of the task. There is a difference in SAT between performing a fine motor task (a task that demands coordination of small muscles of the body, such as fingers) and performing a gross motor task (for example running).Other studies suggest that there are ways to overcome SAT phenomenon by acquiring experience and this can be done through practice (Beilocket al, 2008). Beilock et al (2008) also suggested that SAT may appear even in skilled athletes when they have to perform in a different ground. Novice athletes face more often the problem of the SAT because they are compelled to perform accurately in a limited amount of time and they end up missing the goal and sacrificing accuracy for speed or vice versa.
The study of SAT in the context of the specific scientific field is often found in international literature and serves as mean of exploring:
the mechanism that serves the athletes' execution of a motor task under the pressure of the SAT or/and
the impact of a change in an athletes' environment (e.g a change of the stadium) on the SAT .
Engineering and Computer Science
The SAT model is also in use in the Engineering and Electrical Engineering, as well as in Computer studies. It is quite simple to think that, by bringing in mind the following example; when moving the mouse of the computer quite rapidly the accuracy of the target is decreased (Filanovsky &Ivanov, 2004).
Neurology
Neurological studies have shown that when a simple perceptual decision is needed to be made, then the accumulation of information have been found in multiple cortical and sub-cortical areas. But when more complex decisions take place, such as speed accuracy tradeoffs, then both sub-cortical and pre-motor areas are activated, in sensory and primary motor areas.(Bogacz, Wagenmakers, Forstmann &Nieuwenhuis, 2009). Also, according to Bogacz et al. (2009), it is suggested that speed is strongly associated with an increased activity of cortical integrator neurons. SAT phenomenon also studied through fMRI techniques (Ivanoff, Branning&Marois, 2008), visual processing (Heitz&Scall, 2012) and neural networks which found responsible to cause SAT (Blumenet al 2011)
Psychology and Medicine
In the scientific field of psychology the effects of individual differences, personality differences and cognitive behavioral factors on SAT are examined. Through a careful review of the international literature, it is observed that SAT is affected or associated with: Personality differences (Aperjis, Huberman, Wu, year?) age (Endrass, Schreiber & Kathmann, 2012; Starns & Ratcliff, 2010), intelligence (Goldhammer, Rauch, Schweizer & Moosbrugger, 2010), motor skills (Young , Pratt & Chan, 2008 ; Osman et al, 2000) environmental factors (Malcom, 2011) (Beilock et all, 2008), attention (Liu, Wolfgang & Smith , 2009), cognition (Kole, Healy, Lyle & Bourne, 2008), perception (Mulder et al, 2013; Standford, Shankar,Massonglia, Costello & Salinas, 2010), information processing (Wickelgren, 1977; Dickman & Meyer, 1988), gender stereotyping (Swim, 1994; Hall & Carter, 1999) as well as in neuroticism (Bell, Mawn&Poynor, 2013). In medicine SAT has been studied in people with locked-in syndrome (Francis & Johnson, 2011), in vision (Wu, Kwon &Kowler, 2010) and in pathological gamblers (Kertzman et al, 2010).


Assessment
The Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff phenomenon has been extensively studied in the sports field, since it has a major significance in performance, as it combines decision-making and speed. Decision-making in the appropriate time is an asset of elite athletes. Speed-accuracy tradeoff is an obstacle that every athlete should overcome in order to have a satisfactory performance. (Bell et al, 2013). The capacity to overcome SAT phenomenon comes through practice and experience (Beilock et al, 2008) even if –sometimes- perceptual ability comes as individual characteristic (higher levels in IQ tests) (Bell et al, 2013). Hence, the incapacity to overcome the SAT phenomenon results in an athlete's inability to perform their best (Bell et al, 2013)
The evaluation of the SAT can be based on qualitative or quantitative measurements (data collection procedures). Quantitative measurements estimate features such as the recording of measurements of speed in seconds (sec), level of noise in decibel (dB) the MT in sec, the number of errors etc and are generally more objective (Bootsma et al, 2004) . In contrast, qualitative measurements estimate features such as the form, and are usually subjective (Heitz&Schall, 2012).


Factors that affect the Speed-Accuracy tradeoff
Noise
There is no doubt that being quick or being accurate and the decision making of selection between those two, is an unconscious every day stressor for both genders. However, what will happen one more stressor is added? Environmental noise is an exogenous stress, and that is defined as an unwanted sound which people inevitably meet in different types and in different places (transportation, public places, domestic buildings etcetera).Sound usually evokes emotions and actions, and disrupts or blocks concentration and thinking (Westman& Walters, 1981). The effect of noise on SAT has not been studied extensively in the literature.
Nassiriet al(2013) wanted to study the effect of noise on human performance. They collected 40 healthy male university students. Participants exposed in steadiness tests, Minnesota manual test, hand tool dexterity test and two-arm coordination test. While students were performing these tests, they were exposed to intermittent treble and continuous noise. The time duration was measured as speed response. As error response was measured the time taken of committing an error during the task's performance. Researchers of noise have found that treble noise and high noise levels (95 dB) can reduce the human's performance. They suggested that the main reasons that noise had negative effect on males' performance were that the high level noise disrupted the harmony index, disrupted the attention and created psychological pressure that had as a result the reduced performance at the tasks in error response.
Szalma and Hancock (2011) reviewed and analyzed 219 out of 423 studies. So, each study that has been examined reported: a) empirical examination of noise stress in which the experimental method involved at least one noise interference b) inclusion of a control group that did not received, or received lower levels of the noise stress and an experimental group in order to compare the two groups for accurate results c) an address to the direct noise effects on performance but it excluded each study that reported the noise during sleep d) at least one measurement of a significant type of performance (e.g., speed of response, MT, numbers of E) e) inclusion of an adequate number of information as far as performance is concerned f) the use healthy adults. About 13 studies which assessed noise effects on the speed of response in perception tasks reported that there is no substantial effect of noise on speed response as far as perceptual tasks are concerned. While a significant correlation has been found between noise and accuracy, it is suggested that noise has a negative impact to accuracy because it disrupts the attention and causes a stressful condition.
Gender
Gender is an endogenous variable attracts interest in many scientific fields. However, there is not a satisfying literature in terms of SAT. In contrast the majority of literature focuses on the speed or the accuracy separately.
Rohr (2006) in her study hypothesized that females show some superiority in MT for tasks that require high levels of manual accuracy, and that there is some difference between men and women in motor performance in navigating task under pressure of time whereas males are better at targeting activities. Sixteen right-handed (Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire were given) participants (7 males and 9 females) were asked to make 48 point movements in 16 blocks of dots from the smallest to the biggest dot. The reaction time was operationally defined as the time that it took participants to perform the movements to each block. Participants were required to act both fast and accurately. The results confirmed the hypothesis that women are superior in MT on tasks that involve manual accuracy due to their anatomy (thin fingers). The research also disconfirmed the hypothesis of the difference between pointing dots from smallest to biggest under time pressure and it was interpreted by suggesting that men and women have the same coping mechanisms under pressure.
VonKluge in her research (1992) used 69 female and 59 male participants in the Stroop task under two different conditions of stress. Low-anxiety condition involved a "light" description of the Stroop task in terms of the stress that it evoked, while high-anxiety condition involved a very strict description of the Stroop task that evoked stress feelings. She expected to find a significant interaction on gender and anxiety that would be reflected on the E, but the hypothesis was disconfirmed. The second hypothesis was to find a significant correlation between speed (response time) in anxiety levels for both sexes, but that hypothesis was also disconfirmed. The only difference that has been noticed was between the three conditions of the Stroop task, but there were no significant difference on the performance between men and women as far as anxiety levels were concerned. Data also showed that women were also slower both in anxiety and in no anxiety condition while they made fewer E. The results suggested that women are more accurate than men (correct answers) because they were slower and had the time to think before they answer.
Sanders (2013) in his literature review analyzed the cognitive gender differences, studies the moderating factors and the origins of gender differences, making a reference to evolutionary history, and by reaching to modern theories that refer among others to the coincidence-anticipation timing. He also made a review of what have been studied so far on the neural basis for hand and arm control, as well as the motor differences on hand-arm control and visual processing. He reached to the conclusion that women have an advance in finger-taping tasks because of thin muscles their smaller cerebral asymmetry, but he did not find any differences between men and women's speed as far as it concerns movement and reaction time.

CRITIQUE OF THE LITERATTURE
It is evident from the literature review that the studies that investigate the effects of noise and gender on SAT, do not always result in consensus. The existence of conflicting findings may be interpreted in the context of the effect of a number of variables related to characteristics of the experimental design, the subjects speed, accuracy, noise, and gender. More specifically:
There is no consistent task that measures the accuracy and the speed. Each time the task differentiates according to what is being measured. Some of the tasks that have been used in the literature are : the Stroop Task (e.g.VonKluge, 1992), fMRI (e.g. Bogaczet al, 2009; Ivanoff et al, 2008) finger-tap techniques (e.g. Fitts, 1954; Fitts& Peterson, 1964;Bootsmaet al 1998;Roivainen, 2011) aiming tasks (e.gTeeken , Adam, Paas, van Boxtel, Houx&Jolles , 1996). The nature of each task's requirements may be responsible for an alternation of the results. Roivainen(2011) in her literature review suggests some of the tasks [rapid aiming tasks (e.gTeeken et al , 1996)]that are used to measure the speed or accuracy or speed/accuracy may cause physical fatigue or psychological fatigue [Stroop Task (e.g. VonKluge, 1992 )] and this affect the accuracy of the results.
There is no specific way that the speed was measured among the researches. The way that speed was measured was not referred in some studies (e.g. Beilock et al, 2008; Teeken et al, 1996) or was measured by a manual stopwatch (Young , Pratt & Chan, 2008) .
There is also an inconsistency in the selection criteria of participants. In some of the studies the gender of the participants is not mentioned (e.g.Beilocket al, 2008). In their study Beilock et al (2008) reported that they used novice and skilled golfers, but they do not refer their gender or their hand preference that seem to be a very important according to the literature (e.g.Roivainen, 2011; Delikanlis, 2005). There are some studies also, that mention the gender of the participants but they do not refer the number of each gender that took part in (e.g. Teeken, Adam , Paas et al, 1996) or there is not equal number of males and females in each group (e.gGoldhammer, Rauch, Schweizer&Moosbrugger, 2010; Young , Pratt & Chan, 2008) or only one of two genders is referred as sample e.g only males (e.gSzalma&Hanock) or only females (e.gHoet al 2012),and in some other researches the number of participants is not referred at all.
There was no evidence on the use of some kind of medical history questionnaire or IQ test in some studies (e.gBeilocket al, 2008; Kole, Healy , Lyle & Bourne, 2008; Starns& Ratcliff, 2010)



PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
This purpose of the present research is to test the effects of a) gender and b) noise on the SAT (number of errors and movement time) of adult participants
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH
This research is of both theoretical and practical significance. The theoretical perspective involves the differential effects of endogenous factors (e.g gender) and exogenous factors (e.g noise) on SAT. From an applied point of view, it is a helpful tool formany scientific fields (e.g. psychology, sports) that are interested in the effect of SAT on human performance and it is a useful tool for the evaluation of a) noise as stressor on humans b) the evaluation of the ways that can help people to overcome SAT phenomenon.




OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS
Movement Time (MT): the time in sec it took participants to perform the experimental task. MT isdefined as the time it took subjects to move a ring along a wire. MT was measured with a manual stopwatch.
Errors (E): number of times that participants touched the wire with the ring during the experimental task. The number of E was measured by an electronic counter that was attached on the wooden board
Decibel (dB): noise's unit of measurement.
Noise (N): an unwanted sound, mostly reported as a stressor, that disrupts attention. The abstract noise that was used in the experiment was produced by a radio device.



LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH
This research was designed to study the effect of noise and gender on the SAT of men and women adults during their performance on a perceptual and motor task that emphasized both speed and accuracy.
This research has some limitations such as a) the age of participants was on a certain age group 18-30, b) all participants were selected by two universities in Thessaloniki, Greece c) all participants had to be right handed (the total number of participants was 104, but 44 of them were rejected due to their hand-preference),d) the number of errors was electronically measured, by a handmade apparatuse) the MT was measured manually e) no IQ questionnaires were given to participants.


HYPOTHESES
The research's hypotheses were the following:
Men will perform the task faster than women
Noise willincrease MT
Women will be more accurate than menin terms of errors
Errorswill be increased under noise condition.


METHODOLOGY
Subjects
The study was took place in two universities in Thessaloniki, Greece. Right handed males and females were asked to be part of this research voluntarily and their ages varied from 18 to 30. Sixty right handed participants were measured (30 males-30 females) under noise and no noise conditions. Two questionnaires were given to all of the participants. The one was about their hand preference (Table 1.a and 1.b, Appendix) and the other one included questions of medical historyand/or habits (current alcohol use, no normal or corrected to normal vision, past head injury ,etc) (Table 2.a and 2.b, Appendix). All the participants were undergraduates and postgraduates of the "New York College of Thessaloniki" as well as undergraduates and postgraduates of the "Alexandrio Technological Institute of Thessaloniki". Participants were recruited randomly and were tested individually.
Apparatus and Tasks.
A hand-made electrical system was designed and used. This system consisted of: a brown, a 10- x16 cm raster-breadboard, a50- x 30 cm plywood, a 2-mm-thick red spiral-shaped wire made of copper, an electricity supplier, an insulated wire and an aluminum ring of 2 cm diameter and an error counter. On the one side of the plywood a raster was mounted while on the other side of the wood the copper-wire was embedded. The wire was linked with the raster. The aluminum ring was mounted on the red insolated wire and the red wire was linked also with the raster. On the raster were also mounted the E counter and the electricity supplier. Each time that the ring touched the copper-wire, a short circuit was created. Each short-circuit was displayed to the counter as E. By this way, if someone brought together the ring with the copper-wire once, then a short circuit was created and the E counter indicated the number 01. When the participant brought together the ring with the wire twice, then the indicator displayed the number 02 and so on.The start and the end points of the circuit were insulated for two reasons: to avoid false contacts and to be easier for the participants understand where to start and where to end. In the E counter a reset button was mounted. Every time that a participant completed the task, the counter was starting from zero (00) for the next participant's measurement.
For the purpose of the experiment a hand preference questionnaire (Table 1.a and 1.b, Appendix), a typical questionnaire (Table 2.a and 2.b, Appendix), a manual stopwatch and a radio device and a 64-cm-high table were also used.
Procedure
In the no-noise condition, 15 males and 15 females, randomly selected, were required to complete a hand preference questionnaire (Table 1.a and 1.b, Appendix) and a typical/ medical history questionnaire (Table 2.a and 2.b, Appendix). The volunteers entered the examination room one at the time and, after completing the questionnaires, they were required to sit in a chair in front of the table in which the circuit was placed. On the other side of the table, the experimenter was sitting in order to give certain instructions and have a clear sight in order to keep the records of the results. After that, they were asked to touch the ring in a way that seemed better to them to handle it and feel comfortable to move it. Then they were instructed to move the ring from the right side to the left. The experimenter emphasized that the task should be performed both quickly and accurately. It was explained that by accurately, it was meant that the ring should not touch the copper made spiral wire during their effort to pass it from the one side to another. Before they started the experiment they were asked if they had any questions and there was again a detailed description of what they should do to avoid misinterpretation and the importance of speed and accuracy was emphasized again. The experimenter was holding the manual stopwatch and instructed the participants to start immediately after the word "Go" was given as a command. At the same time that the "Go" was given by the experimenter, the stopwatch started counting. The experimenter stopped measuring time when the ring reached the other side's insulated area. After completing the experiment the researcher wrote down each participants MT and E.
In the noise condition the instructions given were the same as in noise condition. The number of males and females that took part was 15 males 15 females also right-handed with normal or corrected to normal vision. The difference was that subjects in the second phase were required to complete the task under noise condition. People were talking all together in the room and a radio was playing abstract sounds in high levels.
Movement time and number of errors were measured for each participant individually.


DATA ANALYSIS
After the completion of the experimental task data were collected in a personal computer and analyzed with the "Statistical Packages for Social Sciences" (SPSS ver. 20). The dependent variables for each participant were a) movement time (MT) b) number of errors (E).
MT and number of E were subjected to a two-way analysis of variance having two levels in gender condition (men, women) and two levels innoise condition(noise, no noise). All effects were statistically significantat the .05 significance level.



RESULTS
First Hypothesis: Men will perform the task faster than women
The effect of gender was non-significant[F(1, 56) = 9.346, p > .05].(Table 3 , Appendix)
Second Hypothesis: Noise will increase MT
The effect of noise was non-significant[F(1, 56) = 9.745, p > .05].(Table 4, Appendix)
Third Hypothesis: Women will be more accurate than men in terms of errors
There was a significant effect of gender on E [F(1, 56) = 2548.017, p < .05], indicating that the number of errors was significantly higher for men (M = 25.97, SD = 32.763) than for women (M = 12.93, SD = 9.934).(Table 5, Appendix)
Fourth Hypothesis: Errors are increased under noise conditions
There was a significant effect of noise on E [F(1, 56) = 2220.417, p < .05], indicating that the number of errors was significantly higher under the noise condition (M = 25.53, SD = 33.019) than for the no noise condition(M = 13.37, SD = 9.651).(Table 6, Appendix)

DISCUSSION
For the purpose of this research four hypotheses have been proposed:
According to the first hypothesis men would be expected to perform faster than women. However, this was not observed. These results agree with the results of Sanders' study (2013), who did not find any actual differences in men's and women's speed. Rohr (2006) had suggested that women show some superiority in speed (movement time) in tap techniques and men show some superiority in speed (response time) in navigating techniques. As we can see, according to this view, there is no specific conclusion that anyone can have about the differences in speed between the two genders because a) there is no specific definition of speed and all different definitions depend on what is being measured each time and b) even if the speed is operationally defined, the movement or reaction time depends on the task that is being performed each time. The results of this study are also in contrast to VonKluge's study (1992), who suggested that women are slower due to their choice to think before they act, but this can be explained if we think that VonKluge's task depended much more on cognitive skills such as attention and thinking abilities.
In our second hypothesis it was expected that noise would increase MT. However, no effect of noise was found. These results are in accordance with Nassiri et al.'s work (2013) as well as withSzalma&Hanckock's study (2012), who suggested that noise has no substantial effects in performance.
In our third hypothesis it was expected that women would make fewer errors than men. The results showeda statistically significant difference in favor of women. These results agree to that of Rohr (2006) and Sanders (2013), whofound that women tend to be more accurate than men in tasks that demand dexterity because of their anatomy and thin muscles. Von Kluge (1992) also supported that women are more accurate than men, but that happened due to the fact that they were more slower and had time to think the correct answers. However, in Von Kluge's study (1992) the task was purely cognitive, whereas in this study the task was both perceptual and motor in nature.
For the fourth hypothesis it was hypothesized that noise would increase errors. A statistically significant difference supportedthis hypothesis and is in agreement with the results of Nassiri et al. (2013) as well as Szalma&Hanckock (2011), who supported that abstract noise disrupts the harmony index, blocks the attention and evokes stress feelings when it is an abstract and an unwanted sound (Westman&Waltters, 1981) as it was in the present experiment.


SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
It is suggested that future research should shed some light on:
The effects of noise on both genders' performance.
More accurate measurements of speed and accuracy.
How intelligence and educational level affects SAT
Whether SAT is affected by hand-preference and/or directionality


APPENDIX
Table 1.a: Hand preference questionnaire which was given to participants in English Language.(Briggs& Nebes, R. D, 1975).







Table 1.b: Hand-preference questionnaire which was given to participants in Greek Language.
Όνομα_____________________ Φύλλο______ Ηλικία____________

Ποιο χέρι χρησιμοποιείς για
να:

πάντα το
αριστερό


συνήθως το αριστερό

και τα
δύο

συνήθως
το δεξί

πάντα
το δεξί

Γράψεις ένα καλλιγραφικό γράμμα






Ρίξεις μια μπάλα σ΄ ένα στόχο






Παίξεις τένις






Ανάψεις ένα σπίρτο






Κόψεις ένα χαρτί με το ψαλίδι






Περάσεις την κλωστή στη βελόνα






Μοιράσεις τα χαρτιά






Καρφώσεις ένα καρφί






Βουρτσίσεις τα δόντια σου






Ξεβιδώσεις μια βίδα






Καθαρίσεις μία επιφάνεια
μ' ένα σκουπάκι






Μαζέψεις τα χώματα από μία
επιφάνεια μ' ένα φτυαράκι






Table 2.a:The medical history/ habits questionnaire which was given to participants in Greek Language (Zikouli, n.d).
Ερωτηματολόγιο συμμετεχόντων
Όνομα/ Επώνυμο Α.Α
Ηλικία
Φύλλο Α / Γ

Παίρνετε κάποια φαρμακευτική αγωγή ; Ναι/ Όχι

Αν ναι παρακαλώ περιγράψτε

Έχετε καταναλώσει αλκοόλ τις τελευταίες 6 ώρες ; Ναι/ Όχι

Αν ναι παρακαλώ περιγράψτε

Είχατε κάποιο ατύχημα στο παρελθόν κατά το οποίο Ναι/Όχι
προκλήθηκε σοβαρή εγκεφαλική βλάβη ;

Αν ναι παρακαλώ περιγράψτε

Έχετε μυωπία ; Ναι/Όχι

Αν ναι φοράτε φακούς/γυαλιά ;

Προτίμηση ματιού Α/Δ
Αριθμός λαθών: Χρόνος εκτέλεσης ( δευτερόλεπτα):

Table 2.b: The medical history/habits questionnaire that was given to participants translated in English Language.

Participant's questionnaire
Name/Last name S.N
Age
Gender Male/Female

Do you use any medication? Yes/No

If yes, please describe

Have you consumed alcohol the last 6 hours? Yes/No

If yes, please describe

Did you have any head injury in the past? Yes/No

If yes, please describe

Do you have myopia? Yes/No

If yes, do you have corrected to normal vision right now? (Eye contacts or glasses?)

Eye preference L/R
Errors: Time (seconds):

Table 3: The effect of gender was non-significant

Table 4:The effect of noise was non-significant for MT




Table 5.There was a significant effect of gender in terms of errors




Table 6.Errors are increased under noise conditions (mean of errors under no noise and noise conditions)



REFERENCES
Aperjis, C., Wu, F., &Huberman, B. A. (n.d.).Human speed-accuracy trade-off in search.
Beilock, S. L., Hoerger, M., Bertenthal, B. I., & Carr, T. H. (2008). When does haste make waste? speed-accuracy tradeoff, skill level, and the tools of the trade. Journal of Experimental Psychology,14(4), 340-352.
Bell, J. J., Mawn , L., & Poynor , R. (2013). Haste makes waste, but not for all: the speed- accuracy trade-off does not apply to neurotics. Psychology of Sport and Excercise, 14, 860-864.
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