<s>
Hick	B-General_Concept
's	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
,	O
or	O
the	O
Hick	B-General_Concept
–	I-General_Concept
Hyman	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
,	O
named	O
after	O
British	O
and	O
American	O
psychologists	O
William	O
Edmund	O
Hick	O
and	O
Ray	O
Hyman	O
,	O
describes	O
the	O
time	O
it	O
takes	O
for	O
a	O
person	O
to	O
make	O
a	O
decision	O
as	O
a	O
result	O
of	O
the	O
possible	O
choices	O
:	O
increasing	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
choices	O
will	O
increase	O
the	O
decision	O
time	O
logarithmically	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Hick	B-General_Concept
–	I-General_Concept
Hyman	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
assesses	O
cognitive	O
information	O
capacity	O
in	O
choice	O
reaction	O
experiments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
amount	O
of	O
time	O
taken	O
to	O
process	O
a	O
certain	O
amount	O
of	O
bits	O
in	O
the	O
Hick	B-General_Concept
–	I-General_Concept
Hyman	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
is	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
"	O
rate	O
of	O
gain	O
of	O
information	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hick	B-General_Concept
's	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
is	O
similar	O
in	O
form	O
to	O
Fitts	B-General_Concept
's	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hick	B-General_Concept
's	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
has	O
a	O
logarithmic	O
form	O
because	O
people	O
subdivide	O
the	O
total	O
collection	O
of	O
choices	O
into	O
categories	O
,	O
eliminating	O
about	O
half	O
of	O
the	O
remaining	O
choices	O
at	O
each	O
step	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
considering	O
each	O
and	O
every	O
choice	O
one-by-one	O
,	O
which	O
would	O
require	O
linear	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
stimulus	O
–	O
response	O
compatibility	O
is	O
known	O
to	O
also	O
affect	O
the	O
choice	O
reaction	O
time	O
for	O
the	O
Hick	B-General_Concept
–	I-General_Concept
Hyman	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Studies	O
suggest	O
that	O
the	O
search	O
for	O
a	O
word	O
within	O
a	O
randomly	O
ordered	O
list	O
—	O
in	O
which	O
the	O
reaction	O
time	O
increases	O
linearly	O
according	O
to	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
items	O
—	O
does	O
not	O
allow	O
for	O
the	O
generalization	B-Algorithm
of	O
the	O
scientific	O
law	O
,	O
considering	O
that	O
,	O
in	O
other	O
conditions	O
,	O
the	O
reaction	O
time	O
may	O
not	O
be	O
linearly	O
associated	O
to	O
the	O
logarithm	O
of	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
elements	O
or	O
even	O
show	O
other	O
variations	O
of	O
the	O
basic	O
plane	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Exceptions	O
to	O
Hick	B-General_Concept
's	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
have	O
been	O
identified	O
in	O
studies	O
of	O
verbal	O
response	O
to	O
familiar	O
stimuli	O
,	O
where	O
there	O
is	O
no	O
relationship	O
or	O
only	O
a	O
subtle	O
increase	O
in	O
the	O
reaction	O
time	O
associated	O
with	O
an	O
increased	O
number	O
of	O
elements	O
,	O
and	O
saccade	O
responses	O
,	O
where	O
it	O
was	O
shown	O
that	O
there	O
is	O
either	O
no	O
relationship	O
,	O
or	O
a	O
decrease	O
in	O
the	O
saccadic	O
time	O
with	O
the	O
increase	O
of	O
the	O
number	O
of	O
elements	O
,	O
thus	O
an	O
antagonistic	O
effect	O
to	O
that	O
postulated	O
by	O
Hick	B-General_Concept
's	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
generalization	B-Algorithm
of	O
Hick	B-General_Concept
's	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
was	O
also	O
tested	O
in	O
studies	O
on	O
the	O
predictability	O
of	O
transitions	O
associated	O
with	O
the	O
reaction	O
time	O
of	O
elements	O
that	O
appeared	O
in	O
a	O
structured	O
sequence	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
process	O
was	O
first	O
described	O
as	O
being	O
in	O
accordance	O
to	O
Hick	B-General_Concept
's	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
,	O
but	O
more	O
recently	O
it	O
was	O
shown	O
that	O
the	O
relationship	O
between	O
predictability	O
and	O
reaction	O
time	O
is	O
sigmoid	B-Algorithm
,	O
not	O
linear	O
associated	O
with	O
different	O
modes	O
of	O
action	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hick	B-General_Concept
's	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
is	O
sometimes	O
cited	O
to	O
justify	O
menu	O
design	O
decisions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
a	O
menu	O
)	O
,	O
scanning	O
of	O
each	O
word	O
in	O
the	O
list	O
is	O
required	O
,	O
consuming	O
linear	O
time	O
,	O
so	O
Hick	B-General_Concept
's	I-General_Concept
law	I-General_Concept
does	O
not	O
apply	O
.	O
</s>
