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Random Fluctuations of Response Rate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

William J. McGill
William J. McGill*
Affiliation:
Columbia University
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Abstract

A simple model for fluctuating interresponse times is developed and studied. It involves a mechanism that generates regularly spaced excitations, each of which can trigger off a response after a random delay. The excitations are not observable, but their periodicity is reflected in a regular patterning of responses. The probability distribution of the time between responses is derived and its properties are analyzed. Several limiting cases are also examined.

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 27 , Issue 1 , March 1962, pp. 3 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © 1962 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

*

This paper was completed while the writer was a visiting summer scientist at the Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, Mass.

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