TY - JOUR
T1 - Modern mental chronometry
AU - Meyer, David E.
AU - Osman, Allen M.
AU - Irwin, David E.
AU - Yantis, Steven
N1 - Funding Information:
This article is based on an invited tutorial presentation given at the Fourth International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience, Dourdan, France, June, 1987. Support for portions of the research reported herein was provided by grant R01 MH 38845 from the National Institute of Mental Health to The University of Michigan, David E. Meyer, Principal Investigator. We thank Sylvan Komblum, John Kounios, Jeff Miller, and J.E. Keith Smith for their encouragement and many helpful suggestions. The article has also benefited greatly from editorial comments by Michael G.H. Coles, William Gehring, and two anonymous reviewers. Correspondence regarding this article and requests for reprints should be addressed to: David E. Meyer, Human Performance Center, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, 330 Packard Rd., Ann Arbor, MI, 48104, U.S.A.
PY - 1988/6
Y1 - 1988/6
N2 - Mental chronometry, in which conclusions about human information processing are reached through measures of subjects' reaction time, has contributed substantially to studies of cognition and action. During the evolution of the chronometric paradigm, several key issues have emerged. The issues concern (a) the existence of separable processing stages, (b) the degree to which various stages of processing produce partial outputs before they are completed, and (c) the discrete versus continuous form of the outputs. To obtain added temporal resolution, new reaction-time procedures have been developed, including special response-priming and speed-accuracy decomposition techniques that focus on quantitative patterns of reaction-time distributions and error rates. The present article summarizes these developments, starting with a historical review of chronometric research and proceeding to a survey of recent empirical and theoretical innovations. We also discuss the relevance and potential future impact of complementary work by cognitive psychophysiologists on event-related brain potentials and other physiological variables.
AB - Mental chronometry, in which conclusions about human information processing are reached through measures of subjects' reaction time, has contributed substantially to studies of cognition and action. During the evolution of the chronometric paradigm, several key issues have emerged. The issues concern (a) the existence of separable processing stages, (b) the degree to which various stages of processing produce partial outputs before they are completed, and (c) the discrete versus continuous form of the outputs. To obtain added temporal resolution, new reaction-time procedures have been developed, including special response-priming and speed-accuracy decomposition techniques that focus on quantitative patterns of reaction-time distributions and error rates. The present article summarizes these developments, starting with a historical review of chronometric research and proceeding to a survey of recent empirical and theoretical innovations. We also discuss the relevance and potential future impact of complementary work by cognitive psychophysiologists on event-related brain potentials and other physiological variables.
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U2 - 10.1016/0301-0511(88)90013-0
DO - 10.1016/0301-0511(88)90013-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 3061480
AN - SCOPUS:0024271046
SN - 0301-0511
VL - 26
SP - 3
EP - 67
JO - Biological Psychology
JF - Biological Psychology
IS - 1-3
ER -