<p>This overlaps a lot with these two questions: So check them out</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/1722/52">How to measure group differences incorporating reaction time / accuracy trade-off?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/660/how-to-analyze-reaction-times-and-accuracy-together">How to analyze reaction times and accuracy together?</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Regarding some specifics of your question, reaction time variance will often be strongly correlated with reaction time mean. So in routine measures of individual differences where speed is the main focus, it may be sufficient to focus on mean reaction time and accuracy. E.g., mean reaction time possibly with some sort of penalty for errors (see the above answers).</p>

<p>If you are wanting to get very precise, then there are a range of modelling approaches that may be relevant (e.g., this question on <a href="https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/1773/52">LBA and diffusion models</a>).</p>

<p>With regards to go-no-go, I believe there are fairly standardised procedures for scoring such tests.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T15:03:40.793Z
If you want to model go-nogo with the LBA there's tutorials for doing that here: https://osf.io/pbwx8/
steveLangsford
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T05:48:17.103Z
2018-07-26T08:17:42.860Z
2018-07-26T08:17:42.860Z
Jeromy Anglim
<p>Say I have a go/no-go task and my output data includes 3 parameters: 
average reaction time, variance of reaction time, and number of errors.
I want to composite all of the parameters into a single index score. </p>

<p>What is the best way to do it? All of the parameters are equally important to me.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-25T21:36:28.007Z
Welcome to Psychology.SE!  I am not sure by reading this question that it has anything to do with Psychology or Neuroscience.  This seems to be a stats question to me which would suit CrossValidated.SE more than here.  Is there more you can provide to show it is on topic here?
Chris Rogers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T05:37:27.360Z
@ChrisRogers go/no go and reaction time measures are predominantly used in psychology. So, I think it is in scope.
Jeromy Anglim
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T07:34:00.850Z
@ChrisRogers as said [over in meta](https://psychology.meta.stackexchange.com/), this is ontopic.
AliceD
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-26T08:20:07.643Z
I think the difference is that how to create this composite is grounded in psychological theory. I.e., it's not just a generic question about how to do a t-test. It's about how to score a psychological measure, where the rule for scoring depends on the psychological meaning of the components. Conference presentations and journal articles in mathematical and cognitive  psychology are devoted to the topic of how to trade-off speed and accuracy in reaction times.
Jeromy Anglim
<cognitive-psychology><methodology><attention><psychophysics><task-analysis>
What's the best way to calculate an index score based on reaction time, variance and accuracy?
Amir
# What's the best way to calculate an index score based on reaction time, variance and accuracy?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-25)

Say I have a go/no-go task and my output data includes 3 parameters:
average reaction time, variance of reaction time, and number of errors.
I want to composite all of the parameters into a single index score.

What is the best way to do it? All of the parameters are equally important to me.

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology, methodology, attention, psychophysics, task-analysis

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Welcome to Psychology.SE!  I am not sure by reading this question that it has anything to do with Psychology or Neuroscience.  This seems to be a stats question to me which would suit CrossValidated.SE more than here.  Is there more you can provide to show it is on topic here?  
> **username_2**: @ChrisRogers go/no go and reaction time measures are predominantly used in psychology. So, I think it is in scope.  
> **username_3**: @ChrisRogers as said [over in meta](https://psychology.meta.stackexchange.com/), this is ontopic.  
> **username_2**: I think the difference is that how to create this composite is grounded in psychological theory. I.e., it's not just a generic question about how to do a t-test. It's about how to score a psychological measure, where the rule for scoring depends on the psychological meaning of the components. Conference presentations and journal articles in mathematical and cognitive  psychology are devoted to the topic of how to trade-off speed and accuracy in reaction times.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-07-26. Score: 1

This overlaps a lot with these two questions: So check them out

* [How to measure group differences incorporating reaction time / accuracy trade-off?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/1722/52)
* [How to analyze reaction times and accuracy together?](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/660/how-to-analyze-reaction-times-and-accuracy-together)

Regarding some specifics of your question, reaction time variance will often be strongly correlated with reaction time mean. So in routine measures of individual differences where speed is the main focus, it may be sufficient to focus on mean reaction time and accuracy. E.g., mean reaction time possibly with some sort of penalty for errors (see the above answers).

If you are wanting to get very precise, then there are a range of modelling approaches that may be relevant (e.g., this question on [LBA and diffusion models](https://psychology.stackexchange.com/q/1773/52)).

With regards to go-no-go, I believe there are fairly standardised procedures for scoring such tests.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: If you want to model go-nogo with the LBA there's tutorials for doing that here: https://osf.io/pbwx8/  

---

