ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on response time (RT), the interval from onset of an event to onset of a response to the event. RT is used to investigate a variety of cognitive functions, such as attention, decision-making, motor control, and human memory, among many others. The chapter provides exemplary studies of human memory for which RT has played a major role in advancing understanding of cognitive processes that underlie learning and memory. Historically, memory research has predominantly relied on response accuracy. The learning curve is a psychometric function that displays memory performance such as accuracy or RT as a function of learning. Recognition memory is a field of memory research that has been investigated most extensively. Signal detection theory assumes that a decision criterion is set at a point along the familiarity continuum. A strength theory is a relatively simple variation of the RT models within the framework of the signal detection theory.
