HEART RATE ELUCTUATIONS AND FIXED FOREPERIOD REACTION TIME

Visual reaction times were recorded in a fixed foreperiod situation, to study the relation between sensorimotor performance and heart rate measures. With 42 male college students as Ss, both resting and performance levels of heart rate and heart rate fluctuations were obtained. Reaction time data were collected from blocks of trials at given foreperiods which ranged from 1 to 9 sec. Three groups of subjects, formed on the basis of high, medium, and low levels of peak-trough differences in heart rate during the reaction-time trials, showed different foreperiod functions. The hypothesis that fluctuations in heart rate are related to fixed foreperiod reaction time performance was supported.