What is reaction time? Explain determinants of reaction time.
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Reaction time or response time refers to the amount of time that takes places between when we perceive something to when we respond to it. It is the ability to detect, process, and respond to a stimulus.
Reaction time depends on various factors:
Perception: Seeing, hearing, or feeling a stimulus with certainty is essential to having good reaction time. When the starter shoots the gun at the beginning of a race, the sound is received by the athlete's ears (they perceive the stimulus).
Processing: In order to have good reaction time, it's necessary to be focused and understand the information well. Following the previous example, the runners, after hearing the gun, will be able to distinguish the sound from other background noise and know that it is time to start running (process the stimulus).
Response: Motor agility is necessary in order to be able to act and have good response time. When the runners perceived and correctly processes the signal, they started moving their legs (respond to the stimulus).
If any part of these processes is altered, reaction time will be affected as a consequence. In other words, if one of the athletes had poor reaction time, they would have a disadvantage against the other runners. Reaction time necessarily includes a motor component, unlike processing speed. This is why having good reaction time is associated with having good reflexes.
In this example, the processes (perceive, process, and respond), are done in a matter of milliseconds, but reaction time can vary depending on a variety of factors:
Complexity of the stimulus-The more complex the stimulus, the more information that has to be processed, the longer this process will take.
Familiarity, preparation, and expectations: If you have to respond to a known stimulus that you've responded to before, the reaction time will be lower. The less information that you have to process, the quicker the reaction time will be. If, as in the example with the runners, you are expecting the stimulus (waiting for the gun), reaction time will be even lower.
State of the organism: Some factors that may negatively affect the detection of the stimulus are fatigue, attention (being sleepy), high temperature, old age, or even eating too much food or substances like alcohol or other drugs. All of these factors may negatively affect the detection of the stimulus, processing it, and responding to it.
Stimulated sensory modality: Reaction time is shorter when the stimulus that triggers the response is auditory than if it is visual because auditory stimuli require less processing. Each sensory modality has a different reaction time.
Aside from other factors, the type of stimulus that we process also affects reaction time.
Simple: There is one single response to a single stimulus. For example, pressing the space bar on the on the computer when a word appears.
Choice: There are different responses to different stimuli. For example, pressing the right arrow key if a word appears in Spanish, and pressing the left arrow key if the word appears in another language.
Selection: There are different stimuli, but you only have to respond to one. For example, press the space bar only when the word appears in English. If it appears in Spanish, you don't do anything.
Reaction time depends on various factors:
Perception: Seeing, hearing, or feeling a stimulus with certainty is essential to having good reaction time. When the starter shoots the gun at the beginning of a race, the sound is received by the athlete's ears (they perceive the stimulus).
Processing: In order to have good reaction time, it's necessary to be focused and understand the information well. Following the previous example, the runners, after hearing the gun, will be able to distinguish the sound from other background noise and know that it is time to start running (process the stimulus).
Response: Motor agility is necessary in order to be able to act and have good response time. When the runners perceived and correctly processes the signal, they started moving their legs (respond to the stimulus).
If any part of these processes is altered, reaction time will be affected as a consequence. In other words, if one of the athletes had poor reaction time, they would have a disadvantage against the other runners. Reaction time necessarily includes a motor component, unlike processing speed. This is why having good reaction time is associated with having good reflexes.
In this example, the processes (perceive, process, and respond), are done in a matter of milliseconds, but reaction time can vary depending on a variety of factors:
Complexity of the stimulus-The more complex the stimulus, the more information that has to be processed, the longer this process will take.
Familiarity, preparation, and expectations: If you have to respond to a known stimulus that you've responded to before, the reaction time will be lower. The less information that you have to process, the quicker the reaction time will be. If, as in the example with the runners, you are expecting the stimulus (waiting for the gun), reaction time will be even lower.
State of the organism: Some factors that may negatively affect the detection of the stimulus are fatigue, attention (being sleepy), high temperature, old age, or even eating too much food or substances like alcohol or other drugs. All of these factors may negatively affect the detection of the stimulus, processing it, and responding to it.
Stimulated sensory modality: Reaction time is shorter when the stimulus that triggers the response is auditory than if it is visual because auditory stimuli require less processing. Each sensory modality has a different reaction time.
Aside from other factors, the type of stimulus that we process also affects reaction time.
Simple: There is one single response to a single stimulus. For example, pressing the space bar on the on the computer when a word appears.
Choice: There are different responses to different stimuli. For example, pressing the right arrow key if a word appears in Spanish, and pressing the left arrow key if the word appears in another language.
Selection: There are different stimuli, but you only have to respond to one. For example, press the space bar only when the word appears in English. If it appears in Spanish, you don't do anything.
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Reaction time is a measure of how quickly an organism can respond to a particular stimulus. ... Many factors have been shown to affect reaction times, including age, gender, physical fitness, fatigue, distraction, alcohol, personality type, and whether the stimulus is auditory or visual.
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