Reaction time to the offset of brief auditory stimuli

Abstract

An earlier investigator has found that the time at which the offset of a stimulus is perceived depends on the time of stimulus onset, rather than on the time of stimulus offset, for stimuli briefer than a critical duration of the order of 100 msec. In an attempt to determine whether this effect extends to reaction time (RT), we have determined RT to the offset of brief noise bursts. RT was found to be essentially constant as a function of stimulus duration. Thus, RT to stimulus offset appears not to be related to the time of perception of offset, as determined in the earlier investigations. © 1973 Psychonomic Society, Inc.