Reaction Time as a Behavioral Demonstration of Neural Mechanisms for a Large Introductory Psychology Class

Abstract

A straightforward and effective demonstration of the difference between simple and disjunctive reaction times (RTs) is provided. Several volunteers from a large class are assigned to a control group and instructed to raise their left hands upon hearing the name of a United States president. A comparable experimental group of subjects raise their left hands if the president served after Abraham Lincoln or their right hands if the president preceded Lincoln. Faster RTs to the name Ford occur for subjects in the control group, indicating conduction over more neurons and synaptic delay when a choice of responses is required.