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Response conflict determines sequential effects in serial response time tasks with short response-stimulus intervals.

Ines Jentzsch1, Hartmut Leuthold

  • 1School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom. ij7@st-andrews.ac.uk

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|September 1, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Performance in reaction time (RT) tasks depends on event sequences. Short response-stimulus intervals (RSIs) show impaired RT when events alternate, suggesting response conflict, not stimulus effects, drives these sequential costs.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Factors

Background:

  • Serial choice reaction time (RT) tasks involve sequential dependencies.
  • Performance is influenced by preceding events, especially at short response-stimulus intervals (RSIs).
  • Previous research suggests various mechanisms like perceptual noise or response monitoring contribute to RT sequence effects.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the underlying mechanisms of RT sequence effects at short RSIs.
  • To differentiate between stimulus-driven and response-driven accounts of second-order RT costs.
  • To determine the role of response conflict in impaired performance during alternating event sequences.

Main Methods:

  • Four experiments were conducted using serial choice RT tasks.

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  • Stimulus contrast, classification difficulty, and set-level compatibility were manipulated.
  • Spatial compatibility of responses was varied to assess its impact on RT.
  • Analysis focused on second-order RT costs, comparing repeating vs. alternating event sequences.

    • Main Results:

    • Second-order RT costs were primarily driven by the response sequence, not the stimulus sequence.
    • Stimulus manipulations (contrast, difficulty) did not significantly alter the response-related RT effect.
    • The response-related RT effect was amplified when spatially incompatible responses were required.
    • Performance impairment occurred when events alternated from trial N-2 to N-1 at short RSIs.

    Conclusions:

    • The findings support a response conflict account for higher-order sequential effects in short-RSI situations.
    • Response conflict, rather than perceptual noise or monitoring, is the key mechanism.
    • Understanding response conflict is crucial for optimizing performance in sequential tasks.