The Effect of the Second Task Complexity in Difference Time Interval on the First Task Reaction Time Based on Psychology Refractory Period Paradigm

The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of different type of second stimulus (simple, discrimination, choice) in difference time interval on the first stimulus reaction time in the psychology refractory period paradigm. 36 girl students with 21 age average (18-24) were voluntarily selected and randomly assigned to three experimental groups with 12 subjects: simple, discrimination and choice. For each group, there were five measurement phases based on the time interval between two stimulus (50,100,200,400, 1000 ms). The data have been analyzed with repeated measure and mixed factorial analysis of variance including factors as time intervals and groups. Results showed that in the first stimuli reaction time, the main effect of group (F2, 33=15.40, P=0.001), the main effect of different time interval (F3, 93=16.79, P=0.001) and the interaction between group and time interval (F5, 93=2.42, P=0.03) was significant. In the second stimuli reaction time, the main effect of group (F2, 33=12.040, P=0.001) was significant; the main effect of different time interval (F3, 100=2.57, P=0.05) and the interaction between group and time interval (F3, 100=1.63, P=0.05) was not significant. Findings showed that the second stimulus type also interval between two stimuli not only affect significantly the second stimuli reaction time delay but also the first stimuli reaction time.