West Point cadets that are all enrolled in PL 100 took part in an experiment designed to test both their simple reaction times as well as their choice reaction times; each participant was subject to both the experimental and control groups. What the experiment consisted of was a simple task in which the participant had to press any key as fast as possible upon being presented with a single stimulus.
The other task consisted of two different stimuli appearing, in no particular order or pattern, on a computer screen and the participant had to choose between two keys to click according to the color of each stimuli. After receiving all the data, it was obvious that the simple reaction times were quicker than the choice reaction time. This is because the brain takes longer to distinguish between the two stimuli that were presented and the two different keys that must be pressed as fast as possible.The simple reaction time proved to be quicker; the brain only had to see the stimuli and any key that was pressed would count towards the time of reaction.
Although there may have been fatigue or distraction factors involved, the results were still valid in concluding that the simple reaction time was indeed more rapid than the choice action time. Research Methods: Simple and Choice Reaction Times The purpose of this lab was to test the reaction time of cadets enrolled in General Psychology at the United States Military Academy through simple and choice reaction experiments.Participants were all subjects in both experimental and control groups as they completed the tasks of a) pressing a key as fast as possible after they identified the stimulus on their computer screen, and b) pressing a given key for each of the two different stimuli that appeared on their computer screen. It is predicted that students will be faster at completing the simple task rather than the choice reaction because it only includes the identification of one stimulus, rather than two. Methods Participants There were 390 cadets that were subjected to this experiment.
All of the participants are currently a part of the fourth class at the United States Military Academy, between the ages of seventeen to twenty-five. Participants included both males and females, all with a high school diploma, and a number of these with some prior college experience. Materials The materials used in this experiment were laptops with internet access to take OTOH reaction tests online, analyze data on Excel, and write the lab report, paper and pencil to write down the number provided after completing the experiment , and last, but definitely not least, 390 cadets willing to take both reaction tests.Procedures The design here is called a "repeated measures" design due to the fact that everyone taking part in the specific study is exposed to both the control and experimental groups; meaning that each individual is compared to their own performance rather than somebody else's. The variable being measured is the amount of time to the Tanat It takes can cadet to press ten Key rater ten stimulus comes visible on their computer screen; nothing else was really put into consideration.Initially, students were directed by meaner of e-mail to log on to opal.
Pap. Org using their class identification code and navigate to the reaction time experiment (1). Next, the participants submitted their gender and age and agreed to partake in the experiment (2). Following this step, the cadets read the directions and proceeded to complete the test online (3).
Once the test was completed, all students were given a number to verify their involvement; they recorded this figure to turn in to their instructor (4).After all 390 people submitted their test, data from each one of them was documented on an excel spreadsheet and distributed to every person to be analyzed (5). Students went on to calculate the mean, median, mode, and standard deviation from the entire values collected (6). Plebes were now able to draw conclusions and embark on to planning their conclusion and report (7). Results Data from 390 cadets was submitted and students calculated the three members of central tendency and standard deviation. The average, or mean, value from the simple reaction time was approximately 0.
75 seconds, whereas the choice reaction mime was 0. 418 seconds. Moving on, the median value of the simple reaction time was 0. 27 seconds, while the median in the choice reaction time was 0. 375 seconds.
The value that was most popular, or the mode, for the simple reaction time was 0. 259 seconds, and the mode for choice reaction time was 0. 32 seconds. The standard deviation for simple reaction time was about 0. 270 and the one for choice reaction time rounds to about 0.
166. Refer to the chart below for a visual representation of the data collected.Red, series 2, is the choice reaction time and blue, series 1, is the impel reaction time. Discussion The relationship found throughout this experiment was that nearly every cadet was generally faster at identifying one stimulus rather than two, making them quicker at the simple reaction time and thus slower at choice reaction time. Based off of the data collected, if additional stimulus were added into the experiment, we can anticipate the reaction times to be consequently slower as the number of stimulus amplifies.The experiment could be expanded by adding on shapes, instead of only colors as the stimulus, to make the human brain exercise a little more.
Conclusions The data collected for this experiment proved our hypothesis to be correct; choice reaction times were in reality slower than those of simple reaction times; reason being that it takes the brain longer to process the difference between two different colors and decide which key to press for the specific color that appears on the screen. Our experiment had a lot of room for error.One of the factors that may have affected the results we received could be the level of fatigue each cadet was at. Sleep deprivation may have slowed the reaction time of some participants, it is true that action time gets slower when the subject is fatigued (Welfare 1968, 1980). If the participants completed the tasks in a room full of noisy people or other distractions, this too may have contributed to slower reaction times; Trimmer and People (2006) Alcoves Tanat Docudrama knolls stretcher reaction time Dye slowing clown parts AT the cerebral cortex.
Under the conditions, this experiment proved that simple reaction times are in fact faster than choice reaction times. This makes sense because the brain only has to worry about a single stimulus. Next time we can test a variety of stimulus, such as shapes or words under a more controlled environment (I. E.
A quiet room), this way we can get a more accurate, better understanding of reaction times.
