INTERACTIVE EFFECTS ON REACTION TIME OF PREPARATORY INTERVAL LENGTH AND PREPARATORY INTERVAL FREQUENCY

Found simple RTs to be dependent on the interactive effects of length of the preparatory interval (PI) and the distribution of PIs within a series. 4 PIs (2, 4, 8, and 16 sec.) were presented to 60 undergraduates under 4 distributions: rectangular, symmetrical, skewed left, and skewed right. For the 1st 3 distributions, RTs following the shortest PI were particularly slow. In the case of the distribution containing a relatively high proportion of short intervals (skewed right), no differences in RTs were observed in relation to length of the interval. Also it was indicated that performance under the long PIs was detrimentally affected over trial blocks regardless of the distribution. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.