Reaction Time Flashcards
To understand the difference between reaction, movement and response time. To be able to explain the Psychological refractory period, Hick's Law and Single Channel Hypothesis
What is REACTION time? What is it made up of?
Reaction time is the time between the onset of the first stimulus and the beginning of the response to it.
Reaction time combines:
- The times it takes for the information to be detected
- The time it takes for the detected information to travel to the brain
- The time it takes for the brain to recognise the stimulus
- The time it takes for the brain to initiate movement.
eg. the times it takes to START to respond to the ball travelling towards you in tennis
What is MOVEMENT time?
The time between the start of the muscular movement and the end of the muscular movement.
eg. The time it takes to physically complete the forhand
What is RESPONSE time?
Reaction time + Movement time
= RESPONSE time
How long is reaction time in humans?
Around 0.2 seconds for SImple Reaction time
What is SIMPLE reaction time?
SIMPLE reaction time refers is how long it takes to react to single stimulus
What is CHOICE reaction time?
When more choices need to be made (eg. deciding which pass to make) reaction time increases.
What is HICKS LAW?
HICKS LAW states that reaction time is LINEARLY related to the number of choices.
What is SINGLE CHANNEL HYPOTHESIS?
SINGLE CHANNEL HYPOTHESIS states that we can only PROCESS one piece of information at a time
What is the PSYCHOLOGICAL REFRACTORY PERIOD?
The PSYCHOLOGICAL REFRACTORY PERIOD is the time delay created when a second stimulus is presented.
The perfomer has to fully process the first stimulus before he/she can attend to the second. This creates a time delay.
If the first stimulus is a ‘dummy’ or ‘fake’ then the defender has to process it before they can respond to the actual movement.
What is ANTICIPATION?
ANTICIPATION is where a performer predicts what or when something might happen.
This could reduce the impact of the psychological refractory period.
There are 2 types of anticipation. What are they?
- Temporal - when will something happen
2. Spatial - what will happen
How many factors can you think of that might affect response time?
Some will affect the ‘reaction time’ and some will affect the ‘movement time’.
Reaction - age, distraction, drugs/medication, alcohol, confusion, stress, intensity of stimulus, impaired vision/audition/kinaesthesis
Movement - age, fitness levels, gross motor abilities, speed of movement etc
