Download reaction time

REACTION TIME
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Learning objectives
• understand the nature of response time, reaction time and
movement time
• understand the role of working memory in choice reaction time
• break reaction time down into its component parts
• understand the nature of the Hick-Hyman Law
• understand the role and effect of probability on choice reaction time
• understand the nature of the psychological refractory period
• be aware of some of the factors affecting reaction time
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Response time
• Response time is the time from the introduction of a stimulus to the
completion of the action required to deal with the problem
• It is made up of reaction time plus movement time
• Reaction time is the time from the presentation of a stimulus to the
beginning of an overt response
• Movement time is the time taken to carry out the motor aspects of
the performance
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Response time
REACTION TIME
STIMULUS
MOVEMENT TIME
BEGINNING OF
RESPONSE
RESPONSE TIME
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END OF
RESPONSE
Reaction time subdivisions
• Reception time
• Time for information to pass from peripheral senses to sensory cortices
• Opto-motor integration time, which consists of
• stimulus identification
• stimulus evaluation
• motor preparation (preparing the movement to be undertaken)
• Motor outflow time
• Transmission of information from the premotor cortex to the muscles
• Opto-motor integration time is responsible for almost all inter- and
intraindividual differences
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Inter- and intraindividual differences
• Simple reaction time (one stimulus and one predetermined response)
is faster than choice reaction time (several stimuli and a different
response for each stimulus)
• With simple RT, stimulus evaluation and motor preparation can take place
before stimulus presentation
• Hick-Hyman Law
• As the number of stimulus-response couplings are doubled, RT is increased
• If RT is plotted against the log of the stimulus-response couplings there is a
linear increase
• Each time RT increases by about 150 ms
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Probability and reaction time
• If a stimulus is likely to occur 90% or 80% of the time it is reacted to
faster than when it is likely to occur 50% of the time
• Possible reasons:
• We focus on most likely stimulus (Alain and Proteau, 1980)
• We prepare most likely response (Dillon et al., 1989)
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Psychological refractory period
• When 2 stimuli are presented close together RT to S2 is slower than
normal RT
• The brain can only deal with 1 stimulus at a time
• S2 only begins to be processed during movement time to S1
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S1
R1
S2
R2
PRP
If S2 is presented <50 ms after S1
the two stimuli can be treated as
one.
Practice can not eliminate PRP but
can lessen the effect .
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S1 stimulus 1
S2 stimulus 2
R1 response 1
R2 response 2
PRP
psychological
refractory
period
Stimulus and response factors
• Stimulus strength
• stronger stimuli elicit quicker RT
• Stimulus familiarity
• we react faster to stimuli with which we are familiar
• Sensory modality
• auditory stimuli elicit the fastest reaction times
• visual – slowed by time taken to transduce light waves to nerve impulses
(electric)
• tactile - depends on where the stimulus is applied
• Psychological set
• Sensory set (focusing on stimulus identification and evaluation) is faster than
motor set (focusing on motor preparation)
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Foreperiods
• Foreperiod is the time from the warning signal to the presentation of
the stimulus (set then bang in a 100 m race)
• Constant foreperiods result in very fast RT
• Short foreperiods result in slow RT
• person has little time to prepare a response
• Long foreperiods result in slow RT
• individual can not maintain attention and/or physical readiness
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Response complexity
• The more complex the response the slower the RT
• Motor preparation takes longer
Stimulus
illuminated
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When the participant sees that
the yellow sign is illuminated,
he/she must move their finger
from the red button directly to
the black (Task 1) or to the black
button via the green buttons
(Task 2). RT is measured from the
illumination of the yellow sign to
the lifting of the finger from the
red button. RT will be longer for
Task 2, even though that initial
part is the same in Tasks 1 and 2.
Response compatibility
• If the stimulus and response are compatible, RT is faster than when
they are incompatible
Compatible situation. The blue sign
is illuminated, therefore the person
has to press the blue button which is
on the same side as the blue sign.
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Non-compatible situation. Again the blue
sign is illuminated, therefore the person has
to press the blue button but it is on the
opposite side to the blue button. RT will be
slower than in the compatible situation.
Development and reaction time
• RT improves steadily from birth to about 17 years
• It plateaus until about 20 years
• Then begins to deteriorate
• a slow deterioration and nonlinear in nature
• increases post-50 years are probably due to decreases in brain blood flow and
cell loss particularly in the prefrontal cortex
• reception times can be affected by decline of the senses
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