The Effect of Monetary Reward and Knowledge of Results on Complex-Choice Reaction Times

• Main Author: Davies, Terry Barnett
• Other Authors: Holloway, Harold D.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: North Texas State University 1975
• Subjects: monetary rewards; complex-choice reaction times; Reaction time.; Reward (Psychology); Sex differences (Psychology)
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc663028/

This investigation was designed to determine relative effects of monetary reward and knowledge of results on complex-choice reaction time tasks. Subjects were twenty-five male and thirty-two female undergraduate students. Apparatus consisted of nine stimulus lights and eight response keys. Subjects were required to add the number of lights presented, subtract the sum from a constant, and press the correctly numbered response key. Reward subjects received twenty-five cents for responses faster than a predetermined criterion, and twenty-five cents was deducted for slower responses. Knowledge of results subjects were told their reaction times after each trial. Results indicated (1) no significant differences between any conditions, (2) a significant overall practice effect (.01 level), and (3) that males were significantly faster than females (.01 level).