What does latency measure regarding behavior?

Latency measures the time that elapses from a specific stimulus until the onset of a behavior. In behavioral analysis, understanding latency is crucial as it provides insights into how quickly an individual responds to a given cue or event. Measuring this latency can help identify if a response is quick or slow, which can be indicative of various behavioral or cognitive processes.

For instance, if a teacher asks a question and you want to measure how long it takes a student to start answering, that time interval is considered latency. This measurement can be significant in contexts such as assessing a student's responsiveness to prompts or evaluating the effectiveness of a behavioral intervention.

In contrast, total time spent on a behavior, frequency of occurrences, or duration across intervals pertain to other aspects of behavior analysis, such as overall engagement or consistency in behavior, but they do not capture the specific delay in response following a stimulus. Understanding these differences is key to applying the concept of latency effectively in various behavioral contexts.