Response Latency as a Function of Stimulus Affect and Presentation Order

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
An experiment was conducted to examine the interrelationships between response-latency, perceived stimulus affect, and stimulus presentation order. Three groups of five Ss each responded to 100 pictorial and verbal stimuli along an ATTRACTIVE-UNATTRACTIVE affect dimension. Overt evaluative responses and response latencies were recorded on paper tape. The results indicated that the relationship between affect and response latency is an inverted U-shaped function with the attractive responses yielding significantly shorter latencies than either neutral or unattractive responses. The order in which stimuli are presented significantly affects both perceived affect and response times. A random order of stimulus presentation results in shorter latencies and greater perceived positive affect than the systematic arrangement of stimuli.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: