Ideomotor compatibility in the psychological refractory period effect: 29 years of oversimplification.
Four experiments examined whether the psychological refractory period (PRP) effect can be eliminated with ideomotor compatible (IM) but not stimulus-response compatible (SR) tasks, as reported by A. G. Greenwald and H. G. Shulman (1973). Their tasks were used: a left or right movement to a left- or right-pointing arrow (IM) or to the word left or right (SR) for Task 1; saying "A" or "B" (IM) or "1" or "2" (SR) to an auditory A or B for Task 2. The stimulus onset asynchronies were 0, 100, 200, 300, 500, and 1,000 ms in Experiment 1, and only 0, 100, 200, and 1,000 ms in Experiments 2-4. The arrow was in the center of the screen in Experiments 1-3 and to the left or right in Experiment 4. As in Greenwald and Shulman's Experiment 2, the instructions stated that most often the 2 stimuli would be presented simultaneously. A PRP effect was obtained in all conditions, most likely because response-selection decisions are required even for IM tasks.
Lien
Mei-Ching
MC
Department of Psychological Science, Purdue Universit, USA. mclien@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Proctor
Robert W
RW
Allen
Philip A
PA
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001307:Auditory Perception; D005556:Form Perception; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009048:Motor Skills; D009949:Orientation; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012033:Refractory Period, Psychological; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis