Biomaterial Database

Speed-accuracy tradeoff during response preparation. 1990

J H Cauraugh

Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611.

The speed-accuracy operating curve was investigated in a movement precuing two- or four-choice reaction time task. Four levels of response preferences were manipulated with subject instructions and postresponse information: (a) accuracy, (b) reaction time latency, (c) accuracy and reaction time latency, and (d) no preference. Eighty subjects completed 480 discrete keypressing responses with the index and middle fingers of both hands. The mixed design mean reaction time analysis indicated faster performances for the reaction time latency and the accuracy and reaction time latency groups than the no preference group. Additionally, the percent correct analysis revealed two significant interactions: (a) Trial Block x Precue x Response Preference, and (b) Delay x Precue x Hand Position. Overall, the present findings provide partial support for the speed-accuracy operating curve predictions. Caution is advised when drawing chronometric inferences based only on reaction time data or when response accuracies are extremely high.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D009068	Movement	The act, process, or result of passing from one place or position to another. It differs from LOCOMOTION in that locomotion is restricted to the passing of the whole body from one place to another, while movement encompasses both locomotion but also a change of the position of the whole body or any of its parts. Movement may be used with reference to humans, vertebrate and invertebrate animals, and microorganisms. Differentiate also from MOTOR ACTIVITY, movement associated with behavior.	Movements
D011897	Random Allocation	A process involving chance used in therapeutic trials or other research endeavor for allocating experimental subjects, human or animal, between treatment and control groups, or among treatment groups. It may also apply to experiments on inanimate objects.	Randomization,Allocation, Random
D011930	Reaction Time	The time from the onset of a stimulus until a response is observed.	Response Latency,Response Speed,Response Time,Latency, Response,Reaction Times,Response Latencies,Response Times,Speed, Response,Speeds, Response
D003463	Cues	Signals for an action; that specific portion of a perceptual field or pattern of stimuli to which a subject has learned to respond.	Cue
D005260	Female		Females
D005385	Fingers	Four or five slender jointed digits in humans and primates, attached to each HAND.	Finger
D006225	Hand	The distal part of the arm beyond the wrist in humans and primates, that includes the palm, fingers, and thumb.	Hands
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000704	Analysis of Variance	A statistical technique that isolates and assesses the contributions of categorical independent variables to variation in the mean of a continuous dependent variable.	ANOVA,Analysis, Variance,Variance Analysis,Analyses, Variance,Variance Analyses