The present study used information theory to quantify the extent to which different spatial cues conveyed the entropy associated with the identity and location of a visual search target. Single-distribution cues reflected the probability that the target would appear at one fixed location whereas joint-distribution cues reflected the probability that the target would appear at the location where another cue (arrow) pointed. The present study used a novel demand-selection paradigm to examine the extent to which individuals explicitly preferred one type of probability cue over the other. Although both cues conveyed equal entropy, the main results suggested representation of greater target entropy for joint- than for single-distribution cues based on a comparison between predicted and observed probability cue choices across four experiments. The present findings emphasize the importance of understanding how individuals represent basic information-theoretic quantities that underlie more complex decision-theoretic processes such as Bayesian and active inference.

本研究使用信息论来量化不同空间线索传达与视觉搜索目标的身份和位置相关的熵的程度。单分布提示反映目标出现在一个固定位置的概率，而联合分布提示反映目标出现在另一个提示（箭头）指向的位置的概率。本研究使用一种新颖的需求选择范式来检验个人在某种程度上明确偏爱一种概率提示而不是另一种的可能性。尽管两个线索都传达了相等的熵，但主要结果表明，根据四个实验中预测和观察到的概率线索选择之间的比较，联合分配目标的熵比单分布线索的目标熵更大。