Subjective response speed and stimulus intensity in a simple reaction time task.
Phenomenological and objective methods were used to study the question of whether or not visual stimulus intensity has post-sensory effects on simple RT. It was hypothesized that, in a positive case, the subject would be aware of part of the variation in RT caused by differences in intensity between stimuli. Sanford's (1970) original finding was replicated with auditory stimuli, i.e., the subjects rated RTs to strong stimuli as faster than those to weak ones. With small lights no imbalance of ratings occurred though, again, imbalance was found with larger lights of the same luminance but more retinal illumination. The results suggest that the post-sensory effects of visual intensity on simple RT can be observed if the psychophysical intensity of the stimulation is controlled.
D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006801:Humans; D008144:Loudness Perception; D011930:Reaction Time; D014796:Visual Perception