The Limits of the “Psychological Refractory Period”

Abstract

Previous evidence on the psychological refractory period is shown to be inadequate on the crucial issue of whether delays, which cannot be overcome by practice, occur in responding to the second of two signals, when the interval between them is less than 0·5 seconds. For simple key pressing responses it is shown that when the interval between signals is less than the reaction time to the first signal, delays in the reaction time to the second signal occur in a predictable manner. When the interval is greater than the first reaction time, however, no such delays are found. Possible reasons for the discrepancy between these and earlier findings are suggested.