Psychological Refractory Period in Simple Paired Responses

Abstract

An experiment was performed for the purpose of obtaining further evidence on the psychological refractory period. Two groups of five subjects completed simple and paired reaction-time responses to the appearance of visual signals, and the procedures for groups varied only in respect to the duration of stimuli.

The major findings were: (a) the duration of signals had no significant effect upon either simple or paired reaction times; (b) delays in the second reaction time in paired responses persisted throughout the entire range of 50–500 millisec. between signals; (c) when the interval between signals was greater than the first reaction time in paired responses, the second reaction time was inversely related to the interval between signals; and (d) the first reaction time in paired responses was significantly longer than the simple reaction time for that member.