A SIMPLE WAY TO RECORD LATENCIES.

Verhave (1958) shows how to wire a 1950s Grason-Stadler box so it can time responses to one-tenth of a second.

The author swaps one capacitor for another inside the machine. The fix lets a Sodeco counter click ten times each second.

No people or animals were tested. The paper is a one-page shop note for lab techs.

The circuit change gives 0.1-s resolution without buying new gear.

That level was sharp enough for most animal work of the day.

Robertson et al. (2013) used the same idea fifty-five years later. They plugged a microswitch into an iPod so Alzheimer’s patients could start their own music. Both papers care about exact latency, one with tubes, one with chips.

Howlin et al. (2006) asked if extra lines on graphs help BCBAs see trends. They found the lines don’t help much. Verhave (1958) fixes the data before it ever reaches the graph, showing hardware can do the heavy lifting.

Blackman et al. (2022) and Yaw et al. (2014) looked at staff who record behavior by hand. Training plus feedback made their counts better. Verhave (1958) says automate the timing and you skip human error altogether.

If you need millisecond-level latency in the lab, today’s software does the job. Still, the paper reminds you to check the guts of your setup. A cheap dip-switch or a USB box can be wired to give clean pulses, just like the old capacitor trick. Before you blame the learner for “slow responses,” make sure your clock is fine.