Abstract
Highly practiced subjects responded to a visual stimulus that was presented with a probability of 1.00 (no catch trials) or 0.90 (catch trials) after one of five randomly determined brief fore-periods (300, 400, 500, 600, or 700 msec). Mean reaction time decreased linearly under the no catch-trials condition and curvilinearly under the catch-trials condition, as a function of increasing foreperiod duration. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that reaction time covaries with the momentary probability of occurrence of the response signal. Specifically, an increase in this momentary probability leads to an increase in the subject’s readiness to detect the signal. Because performance was virtually errorless, it appears that any concomitant tendency to anticipate the signal can be successfully inhibited.
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Preliminary reports of these findings were presented at the 25th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, San Antonio, TX, in November 1984, and at the 27th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New Orleans, LA, in November 1986. This report is based in part on a thesis submitted by E. G. Ramsey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MA degree at the University of Dayton. The authors wish to acknowledge D. W. Biers, Department of Psychology, University of Dayton, for his contributions to the data analysis.
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Polzella, D.J., Ramsey, E.G. & Bower, S.M. The effects of brief variable foreperiods on simple reaction time. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 27, 467–469 (1989). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334658
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334658