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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.

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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