Abstract
A small (20 × 11 × 6 cm), battery-powered, fully portable device is described for administering a four-choice serial reaction time test and recording the results on a standard magnetic tape cassette. The mains-powered decoder through which the tape is subsequently replayed is also described. The main application is the self-administration of the test by the subject in the field, particularly in studies of environmental stress, the data-bearing cassettes being passed to the experimenter for laboratory-based analysis. In preliminary performance trials, the four-choice test appeared to reflect fatigue due to continuous repetitive responding in a way similar to classical, nonportable, multiple-choice serial reaction tests, but over a shorter time scale and with greater internal consistency.
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Leonard, J. A. 5-choice seral reaction apparatus. Applied Psychology Research Unit, Report No. 326/59, Cambridge, England, 1959.
References
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Wilkinson, R.T., Houghton, D. Portable four-choice reaction time test with magnetic tape memory. Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation 7, 441–446 (1975). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03201557
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03201557