THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STIMULUS INFORMATION, REACTION TIME, AND CORTICAL HABITUATION.

This investigation was an attempt to study systematically the effects of uncertainty, or stimulus information, on habituation rate. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three conditions varying in uncertainty. EEG alpha desynchrony duration, electrodermal conductance change, and reaction time were the dependent measures. The results showed uncertainty to have no significant effect on any of the neurophysiological measures. There was a significant effect on the reaction time measure. There was no significant correlation between the EEG and electrodermal response measures, nor was there any correlation between either of these measures and reaction time. Results indicated that habituation could occur in the presence of cortical and behavioral arousal. It was concluded that information may be most meaningfully measured behaviorally and that habituation parameters are dependent upon the physiological system being measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]