Reaction Time

Abstract “Reaction Time” is the interval of time between the application of a stimulus and the detection of a response and has been thought to differ based upon the effects of modality and warning signals. In the “Reaction Time” experiment a total of 24 students from the University of Cincinnati participated in an experiment consisting of two sensory modalities, audition and vision, which were combined with two levels of warning signal status. The two levels of warning signal status were signal onset and signal offset. This provided a total of four experimental conditions and is described as a two by two repeated measures design. The independent variables included both modality and warning signals, while the dependent variable was reaction time. From the results of the experiment, significant evidence in differences of reaction time could be related to both modality and reaction. Furthermore, the experiment showed significant evidence that auditory stimuli accompanied with a signal onset provided faster reaction times compared to visual stimuli accompanied without a warning signal. The Effects of Warning Signals on Reaction Time to Auditory and Visual Stimuli Reaction Time has been studied for numerous years in efforts to understand the effects modality and warning signals have on a response stimulus. The basis of “Reaction Time” was to examine and test the effects both warning signals and auditory/visual stimuli have on response time as found in prior research findings. Past research, including that of Woodworth and Schlosberg (1954), Elliot (1968), and Kohfeld (1971) found that different sensory stimuli resulted in different reaction times, while other researchers, including Foley and Dewis (1960), Blackman (1966), and Niemi (1981), examined the effects of foreperiods and expectancy on reaction time. More specifically, “Reaction Time” was an experiment conducted to specifically examine the discrepancies in time with regards to both auditory and visual

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