Auditory Evoked Potential and Lift/No-lift Reaction Time in Relation to Uncertainty

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the auditory evoked potential and lift/no-lift reaction time in relation to uncertainty. In an experiment described in the chapter, conditions of certainty and uncertainty were created by instruction and by the configuration of the two clicks preceding the reaction time click. Trials from two types of blocks in the certain condition were pooled for the analysis: for half of these blocks, Ss were informed that the RT click would be of the same pitch as the first click in the trial, and for the remaining half, Ss were instructed that the RT click would be of the same pitch as the second click in the trial. The solid lines are the waveforms for the certain condition; the dashed lines are the waveforms for the uncertain condition. While the degree of difference between the uncertain and certain conditions varies from very large to very small, depending on the S, there is no exception to this generalization across the16 pairs of waveforms. The differences between the uncertain condition and the certain condition are highly significant both for the no-lift and lift trials.