The present study was conducted to examine the influence of sex, age, and trial blocks on the simple reaction times of elementary school children. Each of 78 right-handed 6-, 8-, and 10-yr.-old boys and girls depressed a key in response to the onset of a blue light imperative stimulus for 4 familiarization- and 20 test-trials. Changes across the test-trials were assessed by grouping simple RTs into five blocks of four reactions each. A three-way factorial analysis of variance (sex × age × trial blocks) with repeated measures on the last factor indicated that all three main effects were significant and that none of the interactions was significant. Boys reacted faster than girls, simple RT decreased with each successive age and was faster during trial Blocks 1 and 2 than at Block 5.
References
1.
AdamsR. J.LambosW. A. (1986) Developmental changes in response preparation to visual stimuli. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 62, 519–522.
2.
AndersenK.StarckL.RosénI.SvenssonE. (1984) The development of simple acoustic reaction time in normal children. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 26, 490–494.
3.
BakkerD. J. (1969) Eye-asymmetry in a simple RT task with children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 28, 328.
4.
BernardJ. (1979) Simple auditory reaction time in blind and sighted adolescents. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 48, 465–466.
5.
BusbyW. A.HurdD. E. (1968) Relationships of auditory and visual reaction times to reading achievement. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 27, 447–450.
6.
CantorG. N. (1968) Effects of a “boredom” treatment on children's simple RT performance. Psychonomic Science, 10, 299–300.
7.
ChurchR. M.CampD. S. (1965) Change in reaction-time as a function of knowledge of results. American Journal of Psychology, 78, 102–106.
8.
CzunderG.RourkeB. P. (1972) Age differences in visual reaction time of “brain damaged” and normal children under regular and irregular preparatory interval conditions. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 13, 516–526.
9.
DixonW. J. (1985) BMDP statistical software. Berkeley, CA: Univer. of California Press.
10.
EckertH. M.EichornD. H. (1977) Developmental variability in reaction time. Child Development, 48, 452–458.
11.
ElliottR. (1966) Physiological activity and performance in children and adults: A two-year follow-up. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 4, 58–80
12.
ElliottR. (1970) Simple reaction time: Effects associated with age, preparatory interval, incentive-shift, and mode of presentation. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 9, 86–107.
13.
ElliottR. (1972) Simple reaction time in children: Effects of incentive, incentive-shift and other training variables. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 13, 540–557.
14.
ElliottR. (1973) Some confounding factors in the study of preparatory set in reaction time. Memory & Cognition, 1, 13–18.
15.
FairweatherH.HuttS. J. (1972) Sex differences in a perceptual-motor skill in children. In OunstedC.TaylorD. C. (Eds.), Gender differences: Their ontogeny and significance. London: The Whitefriars Press. Pp. 159–173.
16.
FarberI. E.SpenceK. W. (1956) Effects of anxiety, stress, and task variables on reaction time. Journal of Personality, 25, 1–18.
17.
FessardA.KowarskiD.LaugierH.MonninJ. (1936) Rapidité et variabilité des temps de réaction chez les enfants d'age scolaire: étude du developpement avec l'age. Biotypologie, 4, 49–84.
18.
FleishmanE. A. (1957) A comparative study of aptitude patterns in unskilled and skilled psychomotor performances. Journal of Applied Psychology, 41, 263–272.
19.
FleishmanE. A.HempelW. E. (1956) Factorial analysis of complex psychomotor performance and related skills. Journal of Applied Psychology, 40, 96–104.
20.
GeblewiczowaM. (1961) Czasy reakcji jako cecha roswojowa zwiazana z plcia. Psycholgia Wychowawcza, 18, 39–45. [From Psychological Abstracts, 1962, 36, Abstract No 2FC39G]
21.
GilbertJ. A. (1894) Researches on the mental and physical development of school-children. In ScriptureE. (Ed.), Studies from the Yale Psychological Laboratory. Vol. II. New Haven, CT: Tuttle, Morehouse, & Taylor Press. Pp. 40–100.
22.
GoodenoughF. I. (1935) The development of the reactive process from early childhood to maturity. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 431–450.
23.
GottsdankerR.ShraggP. G. (1985) Verification of Donders’ subtraction method. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 11, 765–776.
24.
GrimP. F. (1967) A sustained attention comparison of children and adults using reaction time set and the GSR. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 5, 26–38.
25.
HardyL. H.RandG.RittlerM. C. (1957) H-R-R Pseudoisochromatic Plates. (2nd ed.) Buffalo, NY: American Optical Co.
26.
HillJ. F. (1971) Interrelations of the reaction time, movement time, motor ability, and physical fitness of children five through eight years old. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer. of Georgia, Athens.
27.
HodgkinsJ. (1963) Reaction time and speed of movement in males and females of various ages. Research Quarterly, 34, 335–343.
28.
HoineH. (1976) Motor overflow and the speed of reaction in children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Washington Univer., Saint Louis, MO.
29.
IshiguchiA. (1983) [Perception and attention.] [Japanese Psychological Review], 25, 180–201.
30.
JonesD.BentonA. L. (1968) Reaction time and mental age in normal and retarded children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 73, 143–147.
31.
JonesH. E. (1937) Reaction time and motor development. American Journal of Psychology, 50, 181–194.
32.
KeatingD. P.BobbittB. L. (1978) Individual and developmental differences in cognitive-processing components of mental ability. Child Development, 49, 155–167.
33.
KerrB.DavidsonJ.NelsonJ.HaleyS. (1982) Stimulus and response contributions to the children's reaction-time repetition effect. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 34, 526–541.
34.
KrupskiA.BoyleP. R. (1978) An observational analysis of children's behavior during a simple-reaction-time task: The role of attention. Child Development, 49, 340–347.
35.
LiebertA. M.BaumeisterA. A. (1973) Behavioral variability among retardates, children, and college studentsJournal of Psychology, 83, 57–65.
36.
LorchE. P.HornD. G. (1986) Habituation of attention to irrelevant stimuli in elementary school children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 41, 184–197.
37.
LuceR. D. (1986) Response times: Their role in inferring elementary mental organization. New York: Oxford Univer. Press.
38.
MartinezA. R. (1966) An investigation into the relationship between positive verbal reinforcement and simple reaction time in children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer. of Houston, TX.
39.
MassaroD. W. (1975) Experimental psychology and information processing. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.
40.
MathurV. K. (1964) Sex differences in reaction time. Indian Journal of Psychology, 39, 31–34.
41.
McArthurW. D. (1957) Speed of various neuro-muscular responses in children ages seven to thirteen. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Oregon State Univer., Corvallis.
42.
MillerF. D. (1969) The effects of differential amounts of stimulus familiarization on choice reaction time performance in children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 8, 106–117.
43.
NicolsonR. I. (1982) Cognitive factors in simple reactions: A developmental study. Journal of Motor Behavior, 14, 69–80.
44.
ObristP. A.HowardJ. L.SuttererJ. R.HennisR. S.MurrellD.J. (1973) Cardiac-somatic changes during a simple reaction time task: A developmental study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 16, 346–362.
45.
OverathM. A. (1967) Reaction time and speed of movement in children ages six through twelve. Unpublished master's thesis, Univer. of Maryland, College Park.
46.
OxendineJ. B. (1984) Psychology of motor learning. (2nd ed.) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
47.
OzmunJ. C.SurburgP. R.ClelandF. E. (1989) Effects of occurrence and time uncertainties on reaction and movement times of children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 68, 931–935.
48.
PachellaR. G. (1974) The interpretation of reaction time in information-processing research. In KantowitzB. H. (Ed.), Human information processing: Tutorials in performance and cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Pp. 41–82.
49.
PhilipB. R. (1934) Reaction times of children. American Journal of Psychology, 46, 379–396.
50.
PiersonW. R.MontoyeH. J. (1958) Movement time, reaction time, and age. Journal of Gerontology, 13, 418–421.
51.
PomeryJ. E. (1938) The relation of reaction time of five-year-old children to various factors. Child Development, 9, 281–283.
52.
RufferW. A. (1984) Comparisons of four psychomotor tasks: Grade and sex of elementary school children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 58, 323–328.
53.
RufferW. A.GrapenthinR. R.HueyL. A.PattersonB. J. (1985) Comparisons for psychomotor tasks: Grade and sex of secondary school youths. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 60, 27–30.
54.
ShapiroA. H. (1973) Verbalization during the preparatory interval of a reaction-time task and development of motor control. Child Development, 44, 137–142.
55.
SmithE. E. (1968) Choice reaction time: An analysis of the major theoretical positions. Psychological Bulletin, 69, 77–110.
56.
SroufeL. A. (1971) Age changes in cardiac deceleration within a fixed foreperiod reaction time task an index of attention. Developmental Psychology, 5, 338–343.
57.
SugdenD. A. (1980) Movement speed in children. Journal of Motor Behavior, 12, 125–132.
58.
SurwilloW. W. (1971) Human reaction time and period of the EEG in relation to development. Psychophysiology, 8, 468–482.
59.
SurwilloW. W. (1972a) Latency of EEG attenuation (“blocking”) in relation to age and reaction time in normal children. Developmental Psychobiology, 5, 223–230.
60.
SurwilloW. W. (1972b) Motor time and reaction-time changes in children. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 35, 210.
61.
ThomasJ. R.FrenchK. E. (1985) Gender differences across age in motor performance: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 260–282.
62.
ThomasJ. R.FrenchK. E. (1987) References for motor tasks-gender differences across age in motor performance: A meta-analysis. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 64, 503–506.
63.
ThomasJ. R.GallagherJ. D.PurvisG. J. (1981) Reaction time and anticipation time: Effects of development. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 52, 359–367.
64.
TreichlerL. G. (1977) The relationship between reaction time and ball-catching ability in first and second grade children. Unpublished master's thesis, Univer. of Maryland, College Park.
65.
WilliamsH. G. (1968) The effects of systematic variation of speed and direction of object flight and of skill and age classifications upon visuo-perceptual judgements of moving objects in three-dimensional space. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer. of Wisconsin, Madison.
66.
WinerB. J. (1971) Statistical principles in experimental design. (2nd ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.
67.
WoodwormR. S. (1938) Experimental psychology. New York: Holt.
