It has been suggested that under normal conditions, there is no relationship between decision and movement time components of response latency. However, for normal Ss, induced elevation of decision time produces compensatory reductions in movement time. Psychomotor retardation, commonly observed in depressive patients, shows in the main, elevations for decision time. Such patients should also produce compensatory reductions in movement time. This was found not to be so. While 15 controls exhibited no relationship between decision and movement times, 30 depressive Ss exhibited a positive one. The result was discussed in terms of a post hoc postulate of motivational deficit among depressive patients.
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