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quade

On-line reaction time test

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It's a javascript timer so I'm sure it has a certain amount of lag depending on machine and whatnot.



yeah, that's what i'm finding. difference can be huge. so for those of you with slow scores (like me), cheer up and blame the machine...;)

Dell P4, 1GHz, 512mb ram, WinXP, JavaScript running on MSIE 6x:
i ran it a few times and got averages of 0.20-0.21.

Unknown processor, 333MHz, 128mb ram, RedHat, JavaScript running on Mozilla:
i ran it a few times and got averages of 0.28-0.29

no beers were consumed between tests :P off to get one now though...

cheers.

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it also obviously has a set of "discrete" times that you get nearly always (.187, .203, .219, etc.) while you rarely get the numbers in between. is that a flaw/peculiarity/feature of java?



For the record, it's Javascript, not Java.
Java is Sun Microsystem's infamous beast of a programming language
Javascript is a scripting language that originated in early versions of Netscape and now is standardized by the European Computer Manufacturers Association

And the timing issue you see is probably your operating system, not your web browser:
"SUMMARY The timestamps that you can obtain from Windows are limited to a maximum resolution of 10 or 15 milliseconds"

It's a basic design flaw in most versions of Windows, probably the newer ones as well but I've not got a handy reference on them. Most people can get by without that much precision anyway.

nathaniel
My advice is to do what your parents did; get a job, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Lebowski?

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So . . . you just keep tapping the button until the light changes? Or what?



That is one problem I saw with this test...there's no penalty if you press it early!

If it is pressed before the change it should generat a No Result for that attempt.

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But this has nothing to do with how fast a person can see something. Reaction time is once you see it how quickly can you respond. Once the image hits your retina, the object is recognized by your brain, your brain tells your muscles to move your finger to push the button, your muscles react, and your finger pushes the button.

From an article in StagingLight (a Drag Racing eZine) "Beard's Reaction Time Clinic"

"Through experimentation, both in my college physics lab, and with the practice tree, I have determined that human reaction time is roughly .21 seconds, plus or minus several hundredths for individual differences, and human inconsistency."

I'm sure there are hundreds more studies in this area... .02 seconds is not reaction time it is how well did I guess at when the light would change.

And for this simulation if you just keep pressing the button you can get a very low average.

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