Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to investigate the psychological refractory period (PRP), a delay induced into the second of two reaction times (RT) when the interstimulus interval (ISI) is short. In Experiment1, time and event uncertainty were factorially varied by providing or not providing S with foreknowledge of the ISI and the order in which the two events would occur, respectively. ISIs of0, 50, 100, 200, and400 msec were used. Time and event uncertainty produced independent degradation of both RTs. Also, the second RT (RT 2 ) was delayed at50 msec ISI when both time and event certainty were present. Experiment 2 attempted to replicate this latter finding using ISIs of0, 25, 50, 75, and100 msec. Delays in RT 2 were found for the middle three values of ISI. These results were interpreted as supporting a modified single channel theory of the PRP.
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Supported in part by NIMH grant 12530-01, to the senior author. The authors are grateful to Mr. Larry Morris for conducting relevant pilot studies and to Mr. William Gramling and Mrs. Gladys Wenner for their critique. Experiment 1 was reported at the 1967 convention of the Midwestern Psychological Association.
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Bernstein, I.H., Blake, R.R. & Hughes, M.H. Effects of time and event uncertainty upon sequential information processing. Perception & Psychophysics 3, 177–184 (1968). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212725
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212725