1) The elapsed time from the presentation of an antecedent stimulus (cue, prompt, signal) and the response.

2) The time from the onset of one event to the onset of another. For example, the time it takes a rat to reach a goal box after it has been released in a maze.

3) The time from an event, usually the onset of a stimulus, to a response.

4) A dimensional quantity that refers to the time between two events. In the study of behavior, the first event may be an environmental stimulus and the second, a response. The two events may be successive responses (see Interresponse time).

5) The time between the signal for a response and the beginning of the response.

6) Latency refers to the interval between a stimulus and the organism's behavior which is controlled by it. In the case of a reflex, the latency may be the interval between a conditioned stimulus and the conditioned response. In the case of operant behavior, latency may refer to the interval between the appearance of discriminative stimulus and the operant performance it controls.

7) As a property of behavior, the resistance of behavior to change (e.g., resistance to extinction, to disruption by added stimuli, and/or to effects of reinforcing alternative responses). The term has also been used, in place of specific measures, to describe the general state of a response or reflex, on the assumption that the different measures vary together and reflect an underlying disposition to respond (e.g., if response latency decreases while magnitude, duration, and resistance to extinction increase, response strength is said to have increased). With operants, measures such as rate, latency, force, and duration have been used as indices of strength, but each is independently modifiable by differential reinforcement. For brevity without sacrificing generality, processes that might otherwise be described in terms of each of several different measures (especially rate, latency, and probability of response) are often described simply as increments or decrements in responding.