Performance on a complex, four-choice, psychomotor task was measured both under self-paced conditions and under various levels of time constraint. Superior performance was produced by moderate reduction, relative to a self-paced baseline, of the time available for task completion, but this effect was exhibited only by subjects high in neuroticism. No contribution of introversion-extraversion could be demonstrated. Although cardiac acceleration was evident under some levels of constraint, the results cannot wholly be attributed to changes in arousal.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AnscombeF. J.Examination of residuals. Proceedings of the 4th Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability, 1961, 1, 1–36.
2.
BoxG. E. P.CoxD. R.An analysis of transformations. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series B, 1964, 17, 1.
3.
CohenH. H.ConradD. W.O'BrienJ. F.PearsonR. G.Noise effects, arousal, and human information processing task difficulty and performance. Department of Psychology and Industrial Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 1973.
4.
DanevS. G.De WinterC. R.WartnaG. F.Information processing and psychophysiological functions in a task with and without time stress. Activitas Nervosa Superior, 1972, 14, 8–12.
5.
DuffyE.Activation and behavior. New York: Wiley, 1962.
6.
EysenckH. J.Personality and drug effects. In EysenckH. J. (Ed.), Experiments with drugs. Oxford: Pergamon, 1963. Pp. 1–24.
7.
EysenckH. J.The biological basis of personality. Springfield, IL: Thomas, 1967.
8.
EysenckH. J.EysenckS. B. G.Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Sevenoaks, Kent: Hodder & Stoughton, 1964.
9.
FurneauxW. D.The Nufferno tests. Bulletin of the National Foundation for Educational Research, England and Wales, 1955, 6, 32–36.
10.
GibsonH. B.Performance on an intelligence test as a function of personality: A comment on Gray and McLean's paper. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 1973, 12, 437–438.
11.
GohD. S.FarleyF. H.Personality effects on cognitive test performance. Journal of Psychology, 1977, 96, 111–122.
12.
GrayJ. E.McLeanP. D.Performance on an intelligence test as a function of personality. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 1973, 12, 46–49.
13.
HuchingsonR. D.Effects of time constraint on closed-loop tracking performance and change in heart rate. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1973, 36, 1195–1198.
14.
JohnJ. A.QuenouilleM. H.Experiments: Design and analysis. London: Griffin, 1977.
LulofsR.WennekensR.Van HoutemJ.Effect of physical stress and time-pressure on performance. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1981, 52, 787–793.
17.
NeymanJ.ScottE. L.Correction for bias introduced by a transformation of variables. Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 1960, 31, 643–655.
18.
PachellaR. G.FisherD. F.KarshR.Absolute judgments in speeded tasks: Quantification of the trade-off between speed and accuracy. Psychonomic Science, 1968, 12, 225–226.
19.
RevelleW.AmaralP.TurriffS.Introversion/extraversion, time stress, and caffeine: Effect on verbal performance. Science, 1976, 192, 149–150.
20.
WinerB. J.Statistical principles in experimental design. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1962.
