What are the cues and information that may influence a subject's performance during an experiment?

Demand characteristics refer to the subtle cues or signals in an experimental setting that can influence a participant's behavior or performance. These cues can arise from various sources, including the environment, the experimenter's behavior, or even the way instructions are presented. Participants may pick up on these cues and adjust their responses accordingly, often in an effort to align with what they believe the researcher expects or wants to see.

This phenomenon can significantly impact the validity of an experiment since participants may not respond naturally if they feel they are being influenced by these implicit expectations. By recognizing demand characteristics, researchers can take steps to mitigate their effects, ensuring that the data collected more accurately reflects genuine responses rather than those altered by these extraneous cues.

The other concepts mentioned play different roles in the research context but do not directly relate to the specific cues influencing subject performance. For example, the Rosenthal Effect focuses on how experimenter expectations can inadvertently influence participants, whereas maturation refers to changes in participants over time that could impact study results. Instrumentation addresses the precision and consistency of measurement tools used in research, which is unrelated to participant behavior influenced by external cues.