Inferred components of reaction times as functions of foreperiod duration.

Abstract

A distribution function representing simple reaction-time distributions was derived, assuming RT (re-actin time) is the sum of 2 component variables with exponential and normal distributions. Four Ss each gave 100 RTs to an auditory stimulus following each of 4 foreperiods, under each of 2 conditions: foreperiod constant within sessions but varied over sessions: foreperiods appearing in a random sequence. The derived distribution function provided completely satisfactory representations of all 32 RT distributions, and the relations of the fitted parameters of this function to foreperiod suggest that the variation of RT as a function of foreperiod is due to variation in the normally distributed component.