Conditioning Reaction Time: Evidence for a Process of Conditioned Automatization

The classical conditioning of the standard, simple reaction time (RT) in 140 college men and women is described. Consequent to an anticipatory instructed conditioning procedure, two experimental and two control groups acquired voluntary, controlled US(light)-URTR (unconditioned reaction-time response) associations which then served as the foundation for subsequent classical conditioning when a novel CS (auditory click) was simultaneously paired with the US. Conditioned reaction-time responses (CRTRs) occurred significantly more often during test trials in the two experimental groups than in the two control groups. Statistical and introspective findings support the notion that observed CRTRs may be products of cognitively unconscious conditioned automatization whereby the conditioning of relatively slow, voluntary, and controlled US-URTR associations leads to the acquisition of relatively fast, involuntary, and automatic CS-CRTR associations.

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Physical Exertion in Simple Reaction Time and Continuous Attention of Sport Participants

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1998.86.2.571 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 86 (2) ◽

pp. 571-576 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Haralambos Tsorbatzoudis ◽

Vassilis Barkoukis ◽

Apostolos Danis ◽

George Grouios

Keyword(s):

Reaction Time ◽

High Intensity ◽

Simple Reaction Time ◽

Physical Exertion ◽

Cycle Ergometer ◽

Moderate Intensity ◽

Control Groups ◽

Exercise Protocol ◽

Moderate Intensity Exercise ◽

Simple Reaction

To investigate the effect of physical exertion on simple reaction time and continuous attention of sport participants, an experiment was conducted with 46 male university students and 12 male cyclists. The subjects were assigned to three experimental and two control groups. The subjects of the experimental groups were asked to perform, following a 5-min. period of warming up, a high intensity exercise protocol for 5 min., on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer (Group A) or a moderate intensity exercise protocol for 30 min. on the same cycle ergometer (Groups B and C). Shortly before and immediately after the physical exercise subjects of all groups were asked to perform a test of simple reaction time and continuous attention. The subjects of the control groups were asked to perform at rest both tests of the simple reaction time and the continuous attention twice, with a 10-min. and a 35-min. interval between the first and second attempts, respectively. The results did not support the notion that exercise of moderate or high intensity influences significantly the cognitive performance of aerobically trained or untrained subjects. The results are discussed in the light of the current research findings concerning exertion and human psychomotor performance.

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Nicotine Deprivation Effects on the Dissociated Components of Simple Reaction Time

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.2002.94.3.985 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 94 (3) ◽

pp. 985-995 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Thomas S. Marzilli ◽

Amanda B. Hutcherson

Keyword(s):

Reaction Time ◽

Simple Reaction Time ◽

Reaction Time Task ◽

Experimental Session ◽

Smoking Abstinence ◽

Simple Reaction Time Task ◽

Simple Reaction ◽

Within Subjects ◽

Nicotine Deprivation ◽

Reaction Time Response

The effect of smoking abstinence on the dissociated components of a simple reaction-time response was investigated. 7 subjects completed two experimental sessions conducted one week apart. Each experimental session was comprised of two tests. The first test consisted of abstinent baseline measures, while the second test was administered after smoking either an investigator-supplied nicotinised or denicotinised cigarette. A within-subjects design was utilized which permitted each subject to be their own control. Interestingly, the smoking of either experimenter-controlled cigarette (nicotinised or denicotinised) reliably decreased the subjects' desire to smoke. More importantly, however, was that only the nicotinised cigarette had any influence on simple reaction time. Moreover, this decrease in reaction time was isolated within the premotor or cognitive processes. In fact, there was no evidence that the smoking of a nicotinised cigarette had any effect on the motor-time component of this task. These findings are relevant for two reasons, (1) performance decrements due to smoking abstinence were independent of the urge or craving to smoke and (2) nicotine affects cognitive and motor processes of a simple reaction-time task differently.

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Simple Reaction Time Test

PsycTESTS Dataset ◽

10.1037/t05446-000 ◽

2012 ◽

Keyword(s):

Reaction Time ◽

Simple Reaction Time ◽

Simple Reaction ◽

Time Test ◽

Reaction Time Test

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Increased Heparin Cofactor II Levels in Women Taking Oral Contraceptives

Thrombosis and Haemostasis ◽

10.1055/s-0038-1647320 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 64 (03) ◽

pp. 365-368 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

P Toulon ◽

J M Bardin ◽

N M Blumenfeld

Keyword(s):

Oral Contraceptives ◽

Antithrombin Iii ◽

Thrombin Inhibitor ◽

Control Groups ◽

Normal Range ◽

Heparin Cofactor Ii ◽

Men And Women ◽

Pooled Data ◽

Contraceptive Pills ◽

Increased Risk

SummaryHeparin cofactor II (HCII) is a thrombin inhibitor present in human plasma whose activity is enhanced by heparin. HCII exhibits important homologies with antithrombin III, the main heparin-enhanced thrombin inhibitor. Cases of recurrent thromboembolism have been recently reported in patients with HCII deficiency. Since the use of oral contraceptives (OC) is associated with an increased risk of thrombosis, the study of the plasma levels of HCII was undertaken in women taking contraceptive pills. Plasma HCII levels were found significantly higher in 62 women taking low-estrogen content OC (1.20 ± 0.28 U/ml) than in 62 age matched women not taking OC (0.94 ± 0.16 U/ml) or in 62 men (0.96 ± 0.19 U/ml). Significant correlations between HCII and fibrinogen levels were reported in the three groups. From the pooled data of the two control groups (men and women not taking OC), the normal range for plasma HCII levels was defined to be between 0.60 and 1.30 U/ml (mean ± 2 SD). Two cases of low HCII levels (<0.60 U/ml) were found in the control groups, but none in the group of women taking OC. It is concluded that the use of oral contraceptives is associated with a rise in HCII levels and that the screening for HCII deficiency has to be performed at distance of any OC therapy.

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Continuity in Any Language

Southern California Quarterly ◽

10.1525/scq.2014.96.2.141 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 96 (2) ◽

pp. 141-171

Author(s):

Travis E. Ross

Keyword(s):

Ethnic Origin ◽

Home Rule ◽

Men And Women ◽

Creation Myths ◽

Alta California ◽

The Us

This article analyzes the memories of pre-1848 Alta California recounted in the 1870s to Hubert Howe Bancroft’s agent Thomas Savage by a multiethnic group of men and women. The narrators, regardless of ethnic origin, overwhelmingly told stories that insisted on continuity between Alta California in the 1830s and 1840s and the US state birthed in the late 1840s. Even if they had been on opposing sides of political upheavals, they all insisted that their altruistic efforts had helped to transition California peacefully from Mexican rule to home rule and from home rule to US control while preserving both California’s people and California’s culture. This multicultural memory of continuity was later supplanted by rupture-based Anglo Californian creation myths.

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CONDITIONING THE REACTION TIME RESPONSE

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.71.6.509-510 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 71 (6) ◽

pp. 509

Author(s):

ALBERTO MONTARE

Keyword(s):

Reaction Time ◽

Time Response ◽

Reaction Time Response

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

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11050669 ◽

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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