ABSTRACT
Reaction time or response time, as some prefer to call it, has been a key to the study of mental faculties, along with patterns of accuracy, virtually from the beginnings of experimental psychology (e.g., Boring, 1957; Luce, 1986; Townsend & Ashby, 1983; Welford, 1980). However, the question of its status within modern frames of measurement has remained somewhat opaque. I try to convince the reader that the question is important and that the scale properties of reaction time are strong, when used in appropriate ways. However, it is my belief that this cannot occur by way of mathematical proof. Rather, I argue that reaction time can, under the proper circumstances, be used in its physical sense. Alternatively, in other important cases, it can be used in ways that demand formal qualitative procedures to establish its scale properties. First it is necessary to limn in some background on measurement theory. Those readers who are already versed in measurement theory should jump to the next section. Obviously our treatment here cannot be technical, because of space limitations.
