Effects of Alcohol, Practice, and Task Complexity on Reaction Time Distributions

1992 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. A. Maylor ◽  
P. M. A. Rabbitt ◽  
G. H. James ◽  
S. A. Kerr
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Practice Effects ◽  
Practice Session ◽  
Curvilinear Transformation ◽  
General Slowing ◽  
Male Subjects ◽  
Rt Distributions ◽  
And Task

The effects of alcohol (1.0 ml/kg body weight) and practice (2 sessions) were investigated in 2-, 4-, and 8-choice reaction time (RT) tasks with 24 male subjects. The number of errors increased with alcohol, practice, and increasing task complexity (choice). Mean RT decreased with practice, but increased with alcohol and complexity. Both the alcohol and practice effects on mean RT increased as complexity increased. The effects of alcohol, practice, and complexity were all larger for the higher percentiles of the RT distributions than for the lower percentiles. RT distributions were further analysed at each level of choice by plotting percentiles (5th, 10th, …, 95th) for alcohol conditions against corresponding percentiles for no-alcohol conditions, and percentiles obtained early in practice (Session 1) against those obtained later in practice (Session 2). These plots revealed that whereas at all levels of choice the effect of alcohol could be expressed as a simple linear transformation of all RTs, the effect of practice required a more complex curvilinear transformation. Thus, alcohol produces a general slowing of all RTs, whereas practice produces a disproportionate improvement at the slower end of the RT distribution.

Alcohol and Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff

1979 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. H. RUNDELL ◽  
HAROLD L. WILLIAMS
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Pitch Discrimination ◽  
Alcohol Dose ◽  
Independent Effects ◽  
Speed Accuracy ◽  
Accuracy Tradeoff ◽  
And Task

Performance on two auditory choice reaction time (RT) tasks was studied in a group of 12 subjects under the influence of graded doses of ethyl alcohol ranging from placebo to 1 g/kg body weight. Deadline procedures were employed in a side discrimination and a pitch discrimination task to permit the calculation of speed-accuracy tradeoff functions (accuracy versus RT). Accuracy declined as a function of dose, but alcohol did not significantly influence RT. Conversely, accuracy was not affected by task; but the pitch discrimination task required an average of 88 ms more time than the side task. Alcohol dose and task produced independent effects on the speed-accuracy tradeoff function. As dose increased, the slope of the tradeoff function declined; but slopes were equivalent for the two tasks. On the other hand, the x-intercept (where accuracy equals chance levels) was 90 ms greater for the pitch task than for the side task.

scholarly journals Practice Effects Associated With Repeated Assessment of a Clinical Test of Reaction Time

2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 356-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Del Rossi ◽  
Alfonso Malaguti ◽  
Samanta Del Rossi
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Sports Medicine ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Repeated Administration ◽  
Drop Test ◽  
Practice Effects ◽  
Clinical Test ◽  
Practice Session ◽  
Medicine Research ◽  
Change In Mean

Context: Researchers have confirmed that the ruler-drop test could be included as part of a multifaceted concussion-assessment battery and potentially as a way to track recovery from head injury. However, it is unclear if this clinical test of reaction time would be characterized by inconsistent performance because of practice effects. Objective: To determine if the ruler-drop test is susceptible to practice effects after serial administration. Design: Descriptive laboratory study. Setting: Sports medicine research laboratory. Patients or Other Participants: Forty-three persons (age = 21.8 ± 2.6 years). Intervention(s): Ten sessions were completed over 5 weeks. Participants completed 10 trials of the ruler-drop test during each session. Main Outcome Measure(s): The mean reaction times calculated for all participants from each test session were analyzed to determine if there was any meaningful change (ie, improvement) in reaction time over the course of the investigation. Results: Simple reaction time improved (ie, decreased) after repeated administration of the ruler-drop test, and the most pronounced improvement occurred between the first 2 test sessions. Between the first and second test sessions, reaction time decreased by almost 7 milliseconds, and there was an overall improvement of almost 13 milliseconds between the first and tenth sessions. Although the pairwise comparisons between the first and second and the first and third sessions were not significant, the change in mean reaction time between the first session and most of the other sessions was significant. We noted no differences when successive sessions were compared. Conclusions: To prevent practice-related improvements in reaction time, practitioners should allow at least 1 practice session before recording baseline results on the ruler-drop test.

scholarly journals Modeling the influence of working memory, reinforcement, and action uncertainty on reaction time and choice during instrumental learning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel McDougle ◽  
Anne Collins
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Process Model ◽  
Task Complexity ◽  
Sequential Sampling ◽  
Instrumental Learning ◽  
Decision Dynamics ◽  
Reward Contingencies ◽  
And Task

What determines the speed of our decisions? Various models of decision-making have focused on perceptual evidence, past experience, and task complexity as important factors determining the degree of deliberation needed for a decision. Here, we build on a sequential sampling decision-making framework to develop a new model that captures a range of reaction time (RT) effects by accounting for both working memory and instrumental learning processes. The model captures choices and RTs at various stages of learning, and in learning environments with varying complexity. Moreover, the model generalizes from tasks with deterministic reward contingencies to probabilistic ones. The model succeeds in part by incorporating prior uncertainty over actions when modeling RT. This straightforward process model provides a parsimonious account of decision dynamics during instrumental learning and makes unique predictions about internal representations of action values.

How Useful is the Power Law of Practice for Recognizing Practice in Concentration Tests?

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Hagemeister
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Error Rate ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Practice Effect ◽  
Practice Effects ◽  
Rate Decrease ◽  
Small Practice

Abstract. When concentration tests are completed repeatedly, reaction time and error rate decrease considerably, but the underlying ability does not improve. In order to overcome this validity problem this study aimed to test if the practice effect between tests and within tests can be useful in determining whether persons have already completed this test. The power law of practice postulates that practice effects are greater in unpracticed than in practiced persons. Two experiments were carried out in which the participants completed the same tests at the beginning and at the end of two test sessions set about 3 days apart. In both experiments, the logistic regression could indeed classify persons according to previous practice through the practice effect between the tests at the beginning and at the end of the session, and, less well but still significantly, through the practice effect within the first test of the session. Further analyses showed that the practice effects correlated more highly with the initial performance than was to be expected for mathematical reasons; typically persons with long reaction times have larger practice effects. Thus, small practice effects alone do not allow one to conclude that a person has worked on the test before.

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