On Expectancy and Average Reaction Time

The notion of expectancy has often been used in explanations of the relationship between foreperiod variability and simple reaction time. Two interpretations of the notion are distinguished: one is that expectancy or expectancy level is a moment in time, and the other is that expectancy is a regular function of time. The latter interpretation is adopted and it is shown that if expectancy is defined as the conditional probability of signal occurrence, then average reaction time would be linearly related to mean foreperiod duration. It is argued that this result can serve as a basis for unifying apparently diverse explanations of the reaction time—foreperiod relationship. Experimental data are presented which are consistent with the view of expectancy proposed in this paper

Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Duration (music) · Expectancy theory · Function (biology) · Interpretation (philosophy) · Life expectancy · Statistics · Advanced Text Analysis Techniques · Computer Science · Demography · Mathematics · Neuroscience and Music Perception · Psychology · Sensory Analysis and Statistical Methods · Social Psychology