Reaction Time as a Measure of the Effect of Selective Attention

1974 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 755-761
Author(s):  
Eugenie Walsh Flaherty ◽  
Stanley Coren
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Selective Attention ◽  
Divided Attention ◽  
Stimulus Type ◽  
Dichotic Listening ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Attention Condition ◽  
Attentional Condition ◽  
Processing Component ◽  
Tonal Stimuli

In a dichotic-listening paradigm, reaction time was used to monitor the effect of selective attention for 8 Ss. Reaction times were longer for targets in the non-attended channel, but there was no difference between the performance in the attended channel and a divided attention condition which may be interpreted as evidence for attenuation of the unattended channel. For all conditions the reaction time for semantic stimuli is longer than that for tonal stimuli, and there is an interaction between stimulus type and attentional condition which may indicate a stimulus-processing component in selective attention.

An Audiovisual Test of Divided Attention

1976 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Bach ◽  
D. L. Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Adverse Effect ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Divided Attention ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Drug Effects ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Anesthetic Gases ◽  
Depressant Drug

A description is given of an audiovisual reaction time task, performance of which was maximal after 15 min. practice and which lasted at this level for 1 wk. Sensitivity of the test was shown in an adverse effect of inhalation of traces of anesthetic gases. Comparing responses to auditory and visual stimuli, the control auditory reaction times were faster but were lengthened more in the presence of anesthetics than were the visual ones. This test may be useful in other studies of subtle depressant drug effects.

Can Musicians Track Two Different Beats Simultaneously?

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ève Poudrier ◽  
Bruno H. Repp
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Divided Attention ◽  
Art Music ◽  
The Other ◽  
Simultaneous Presence ◽  
Attention Condition ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Beat Pattern ◽  
Western Art Music ◽  
Phase Relationships

The simultaneous presence of different meters is not uncommon in Western art music and the music of various non-Western cultures. However, it is unclear how listeners and performers deal with this situation, and whether it is possible to cognitively establish and maintain different beats simultaneously without integrating them into a single metric framework. The present study is an attempt to address this issue empirically. Two rhythms, distinguished by pitch register and representing different meters (2/4 and 6/8), were presented simultaneously in various phase relationships, and participants (who were classically trained musicians) had to judge whether a probe fell on the beat in one or both rhythms. In a selective attention condition, they had to attend to one rhythm and to ignore the other, whereas in a divided attention condition, they had to attend to both. In Experiment 1, participants performed significantly better in the divided attention condition than predicted if they had been able to attend to only one rhythm at a time. In Experiments 2 and 3, however, which used more complex combinations of rhythms, performance did not differ significantly from chance. These results suggest that in Experiment 1 participants relied on the composite beat pattern (i.e., a nonisochronous sequence corresponding to the serial ordering of the two underlying beats) rather than tracking the two beats independently, while in Experiments 2 and 3, the level of complexity of the composite beat pattern may have prevented participants from tracking both beats simultaneously.

Modeling Within-Person Variance in Reaction Time Data of Older Adults

GeroPsych ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 169-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Rast ◽  
Daniel Zimprich
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Reaction Time Data ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Time Task ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Second Wave

In order to model within-person (WP) variance in a reaction time task, we applied a mixed location scale model using 335 participants from the second wave of the Zurich Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging. The age of the respondents and the performance in another reaction time task were used to explain individual differences in the WP variance. To account for larger variances due to slower reaction times, we also used the average of the predicted individual reaction time (RT) as a predictor for the WP variability. Here, the WP variability was a function of the mean. At the same time, older participants were more variable and those with better performance in another RT task were more consistent in their responses.

The Level of Reaction Time Determines the ERP Correlates of Auditory Negative Priming

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 186-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Mayr ◽  
Michael Niedeggen ◽  
Axel Buchner ◽  
Guido Orgs
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Negative Priming ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Priming Effect ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Negative Priming Effect ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
Time Level ◽  
Fast Reactions ◽  
Priming Condition

Responding to a stimulus that had to be ignored previously is usually slowed-down (negative priming effect). This study investigates the reaction time and ERP effects of the negative priming phenomenon in the auditory domain. Thirty participants had to categorize sounds as musical instruments or animal voices. Reaction times were slowed-down in the negative priming condition relative to two control conditions. This effect was stronger for slow reactions (above intraindividual median) than for fast reactions (below intraindividual median). ERP analysis revealed a parietally located negativity of the negative priming condition compared to the control conditions between 550-730 ms poststimulus. This replicates the findings of Mayr, Niedeggen, Buchner, and Pietrowsky (2003) . The ERP correlate was more pronounced for slow trials (above intraindividual median) than for fast trials (below intraindividual median). The dependency of the negative priming effect size on the reaction time level found in the reaction time analysis as well as in the ERP analysis is consistent with both the inhibition as well as the episodic retrieval account of negative priming. A methodological artifact explanation of this effect-size dependency is discussed and discarded.

The Effect of Retest Practice on the Speed-Ability Relationship

2004 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sybille Rockstroh ◽  
Karl Schweizer
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Skill Acquisition ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
General Intelligence ◽  
Attention Switching ◽  
Letter Comparison ◽  
Sternberg Paradigm ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Elementary Cognitive Tasks

Effects of four retest-practice sessions separated by 2 h intervals on the relationship between general intelligence and four reaction time tasks (two memory tests: Sternberg's memory scanning, Posner's letter comparison; and two attention tests: continuous attention, attention switching) were examined in a sample of 83 male participants. Reaction times on all tasks were shortened significantly. The effects were most pronounced with respect to the Posner paradigm and smallest with respect to the Sternberg paradigm. The relationship to general intelligence changed after practice for two reaction time tasks. It increased to significance for continuous attention and decreased for the Posner paradigm. These results indicate that the relationship between psychometric intelligence and elementary cognitive tasks depends on the ability of skill acquisition. In the search for the cognitive roots of intelligence the concept of learning seems to be of importance.

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.

Porous Gel Coatings Obtained by Phase Separation in ORMOSIL System

2000 ◽  
Vol 628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuki Nakanishi ◽  
Souichi Kumon ◽  
Kazuyuki Hirao ◽  
Hiroshi Jinnai
Keyword(s):  
Phase Separation ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Sol Gel ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Dip Coating ◽  
Coating Solution ◽  
Coating Method ◽  
Gel Phase ◽  
Dip Coating Method

ABSTRACTMacroporous silicate thick films were prepared by a sol-gel dip-coating method accompanied by the phase separation using methyl-trimethoxysilane (MTMS), nitric acid and dimethylformamide (DMF) as starting components. The morphology of the film varied to a large extent depending on the time elapsed after the hydrolysis until the dipping of the coating solution. On a glass substrate, the films prepared by early dipping had inhomogeneous submicrometer-sized pores on the surface of the film. At increased reaction times, relatively narrow sized isolated macropores were observed and their size gradually decreased with the increase of reaction time. On a polyester substrate, in contrast, micrometer-sized isolated spherical gel domains were homogeneously deposited by earlier dippings. With an increase of reaction time, the volume fraction of the gel phase increased, then the morphology of the coating transformed into co-continuous gel domains and macropores, and finally inverted into the continuous gel domains with isolated macropores. The overall morphological variation with the reaction time was explained in terms of the phase separation and the structure freezing by the forced gelation, both of which were induced by the evaporation of methanol during the dipping operation.

scholarly journals Manipulations of the Response-Stimulus Intervals as a Factor Inducing Controlled Amount of Reaction Time Intra-Individual Variability

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 669
Author(s):  
Paweł Krukow ◽  
Małgorzata Plechawska-Wójcik ◽  
Arkadiusz Podkowiński
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Simple Reaction Time ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Simple Reaction Time Task ◽  
Stimulus Interval ◽  
Simple Reaction ◽  
Response Stimulus

Aggrandized fluctuations in the series of reaction times (RTs) are a very sensitive marker of neurocognitive disorders present in neuropsychiatric populations, pathological ageing and in patients with acquired brain injury. Even though it was documented that processing inconsistency founds a background of higher-order cognitive functions disturbances, there is a vast heterogeneity regarding types of task used to compute RT-related variability, which impedes determining the relationship between elementary and more complex cognitive processes. Considering the above, our goal was to develop a relatively new assessment method based on a simple reaction time paradigm, conducive to eliciting a controlled range of intra-individual variability. It was hypothesized that performance variability might be induced by manipulation of response-stimulus interval’s length and regularity. In order to verify this hypothesis, a group of 107 healthy students was tested using a series of digitalized tasks and their results were analyzed using parametric and ex-Gaussian statistics of RTs distributional markers. In general, these analyses proved that intra-individual variability might be evoked by a given type of response-stimulus interval manipulation even when it is applied to the simple reaction time task. Collected outcomes were discussed with reference to neuroscientific concepts of attentional resources and functional neural networks.

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