Refractoriness in Information Processing

Abstract

Two experiments on refractoriness were carried out in which the warning, first and second signals, S₀, S₁ and S₂ respectively, were all single-valued, and the distributions of random intervals between S₀ and S₁, and S₁ and S ₂ were the same. In the first experiment the intervals in a trial were statistically independent: the null hypothesis, that the latencies of the two responses would be similar, was rejected, but the results were also found to agree with no existing alternative hypothesis. In the second experiment the intervals in a trial were conditionally related and the second response was found to be faster than in the first experiment. This is discussed in the context of the issue of serial or parallel processing of information.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Annett

(1966). Payoff: a neglected factor in reaction time measurement. Quart. J. exp. Psychol. 18, 273–4.

Bertelson

(1961). Serial redundancy and speed in a serial two-choice responding task. Quart. J. exp. Psychol. 13, 90–102.

Bertelson

(1966). Central intermittency twenty years later. Quart. J. exp. Psychol. 18, 153–63.

Broadbent

D. E.

(1958). Perception and Communication London: Pergamon.

Davis

(1956). The limits of the psychological refractory period. Quart. J. exp. Psychol. 8, 24–38.

Edwards

(1961). Costs and payoffs are instructions. Psychol. Rev. 68, 275–84.

Gottsdanker

Broadbent

Van Sant

(1963). Reaction time to single and to first signals. J. exp. Psychol. 66, 163–7.

Jersild

A. T.

(1927). Mental set and shift. Arch. Psychol., N.Y. 89, 1–81.

Karlin

(1966). Development of readiness to respond during short foreperiods. J. exp. Psychol. 72, 505–9.

10.

Mood

A. M.

Graybill

F. A.

(1963). Introduction to the Theory of Statistics New York: McGraw-Hill.

11.

Mowrer

O. H.

(1940). Preparatory set (expectancy): some methods of measurement. Psychol. Monogr. 52, (2, whole No. 233).

12.

Nickerson

R. S.

(1965). Response time to the second of two successive signals as a function of absolute and relative duration of intersignal interval. Percept. mot. Skills 21, 3–10.

13.

Poulton

E. C.

(1950). Perceptual anticipation and reaction time. Quart. J. exp. Psychol. 2, 99–112.

14.

Shaffer

L. H.

(1967). Transition effects in three-choice reaction with variable S–R mapping. J. exp. Psychol. 73, 101–8.

15.

Smith

M. C.

(1967). Theories of the psychological refractory period. Psychol. Bull. 67, 202–13.

16.

Telford

C. W.

(1931). The refractory phase of voluntary and associative responses. J. exp. Psychol. 14, 1–35.

17.

Welford

A. T.

(1952). The “psychological refractory period” and the timing of highspeed performance—a review and a theory. Brit. J. Psychol. 43, 2–19.

18.

Welford

A. T.

(1967). Single-channel operation in the brain. Acta Psychol. 27, 5–22.