Response time accuracy in Apple Macintosh computers

The accuracy and variability of response times (RTs) collected on stock Apple Macintosh computers using USB keyboards was assessed. A photodiode detected a change in the screen's luminosity and triggered a solenoid that pressed a key on the keyboard. The RTs collected in this way were reliable, but could be as much as 100 ms too long. The standard deviation of the measured RTs varied between 2.5 and 10 ms, and the distributions approximated a normal distribution. Surprisingly, two recent Apple-branded USB keyboards differed in their accuracy by as much as 20 ms. The most accurate RTs were collected when an external CRT was used to display the stimuli and Psychtoolbox was able to synchronize presentation with the screen refresh. We conclude that RTs collected on stock iMacs can detect a difference as small as 5-10 ms under realistic conditions, and this dictates which types of research should or should not use these systems.