Understanding how reaction time studies can allow psychologists to map the mind

This short exercise will show you that the logic behind figuring out how closely to thoughts are connected is fairly simple.

Suppose you are in the psychology building all afternoon and, during that time,  your friends Jacob, Maria, Taylor, and Emily, text you and want to meet you at the psychology building. Each time, you respond by asking, "Where are you? " and by saying,  "Okay let's meet, but get here as fast as  you can."

You record their location and the time it takes them to get to you.

From this objective information, click on the place that  is probably closest to the psychology building.        Jacob's room         Maria's apartment        Taylor's room      the Library       Emily's room   

From this objective information, click on the place that  is probably farthest from  the psychology building.   Jacob's room         Maria's apartment        Taylor's room       the Library       Emily's room      

Suppose you are doing a reaction time study. You ask participants to press a button as soon as they recognize a word. You show them many words, but the table below shows only some of  your results. Specifically, you are interested in how long it takes participants to recognize the word "psychology."

You record the word presented right before "psychology" and the time it takes participants to recognize the word "psychology."

From this objective information, click on the word that is probably closest in participants' minds to psychology.       Jacob   Wundt   Tailor   Freud   Emily

From this objective information, click on the word that is probably farthest in participants' minds from psychology.   Jacob   Wundt   Tailor   Freud   Emily

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