On attention and memory in reaction time experiments

Abstract

Donders' subtraction method is first discussed in relation with the sequential phenomena generally found in serial choice RT experiments. The general idea is that after some sequences of stimuli, the organization of a response requires more stages than after other sequences. It is concluded that a new instance of Donders' method would be available, provided that the trial by trial variations of the stages would be captured by an appropriate stochastic model. Such a model, based on the psychological notion of attention, short term memory and long term memory, is outlined. A first attempt to apply the model is finally described.