The effect of response execution on P3 latency, reaction time, and movement time

This study examined the effect of response selection and execution on P3 la tency during the performance of simple reaction time (RT) and stimulus-resp onse compatibility tasks. Response time on these tasks was defined in terms of RT and movement time (MT). Event-related brain potentials were recorded from 67 female participants concurrently with the performance measures. On the simple RT task, the distance of the response button from the home butt on was varied (7, 15, and 23 cm). When stimulus evaluation demands were min imal, response execution affected P3 latency, with increased response butto n distance resulting in increased P3 latency. However, these movement effec ts were modest, and in most protocols, would not be a confounding factor. T he stimulus-response compatibility task examined the interaction of stimulu s evaluation demands and response requirements, RT, MT, and P3 latency were affected by stimulus congruency, whereas RT and P3 amplitude were affected by response compatibility.