Factors Modulating Key Press Durations in Choice Response Tasks

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the significance of response duration (RD) as a measure for understanding human psychological processes and to analyze the factors that modulate it. In Experiment 1, based on previous research results on RD influenced by participants' judgments, we investigated whether the difficulty of perceptual judgment affects RD. The results indicated that, RD clustered according to the attributes of participants judgments only at easy difficulty level. However, this varied significantly depending on the stimulus-response mapping. In Experiment 2, we examined the effect of the semantic attributes of language on response duration. RD was not affected by the semantic attributes of the words. However, similar to Experiment 1, the results varied depending on the stimulus-response mapping. Experiments 3 and 4 were conducted to explore the cause behind the interaction effects observed between the stimulus-key mapping and the stimuli in Experiments 1 and 2. Experiment 3 investigated whether there were functional differences between the right and left hands in the actions of pressing and releasing the keys. The results showed no functional differences. In Experiment 4, we examined the difference in response duration between the dominant and non-dominant hands when performing the same tasks as in Experiments 1 and 2 but using neutral stimuli. For neutral stimuli, there was no difference in response duration, but regardless of the stimulus, response duration was always shorter with the dominant hand. This study suggests that response duration (RD) can be a useful tool in understanding human psychological processes. Furthermore, it identifies the factors that influence RD to enhance its utility. The significance of this research lies in its comprehensive analysis of RD, an area that has not been extensively explored before. By providing new insights, this study lays the foundation for future research in this field.