Reaction Time and Speed of Voluntary Movement by Normal and Psychotic Subjects

Summary

The timed responses of normal and schizophrenic subjects have been observed in a context permitting independent measurement of lift reaction time, jump reaction time, and speed of traverse over the same distances used for jump reaction time, cued either by signals provided by the experimenter

or by the subject himself. Significant differences were found between the performance of normal and psychotic subject groups on all four measures: time to initiate response, time to initiate and to complete a thrust response, and time of traverse over the same distances—both to cues given by the experimenter or at the subject's own volition. Noticeably increased variation (interindividual and intraindividual) was also found to characterize all measures of response.