Human Reaction Time Project

Do YOU believe these are stereotypes?

Would you like your next airline pilot to have FAST, ACCURATE reactions? You certainly do not want her (or him) to be INACCURATE.
In many ways speed is of less importance in the modern world. Think about driving, for example.

This is the screen display of a version of the program used.

Short red lines mean a rapid correct red response.
Short green lines mean correct reaction to green.
Long yellow lines are penalties for incorrect response!

These were real results- the graph below shows idealised results.

There is usually an initial improvement then a slow deterioration. All results have random fluctuations- girls tend to display far fewer of these than boys.

The original programs were written for the Acorn computers so widely used in the UK. I had despaired of writing such programs easily until I discovered Liberty BASIC for the PC & rewrote the LB programs. Best thing out for Windows programs- FAR easier than Visual BASIC for beginners to use.

The full suite of programs gathered anonymously the times of sets of 50 consecutive tests of reaction speed to a visual stimulus. In addition the sex, age and handedness were requested, as all three seemed likely to be associated. The results of my students and colleagues doing several of these 50-test runs was that I could average them, and analyse by sex, etc.

Since anyone guessing and twitching at random might get a fast apparent time, any wrong answer gets a 1 second penalty. Just one of these is enough to badly affect your average, so CONCENTRATE!

I am not publishing all the programs, as they were an 'excuse' to get students programming, and I hope may interest other students or teachers in that context.