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Think Fast: Do Video Game Players Have Faster Reaction Times Than Non-Players?

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Abstract

When someone yells, "Think fast!" and throws you a ball, are you able to catch it? When the bell rings at the end of class, are you the first one out of your seat? Can you make it through a sudden hairpin turn in a video game without crashing? If so, then you likely have quick reaction times. In this science fair project, you'll look at reaction times (how fast people react to sensory events), and see if people who play video games have faster reaction times than those who do not.

Summary

Areas of Science
Difficulty
 
Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Prerequisites
None
Material Availability
You will need a personal computer with Internet access for this science fair project.
Cost
Very Low (under $20)
Safety
No issues
Credits

Kristin Strong, Science Buddies
Edited by Peter Boretsky, Lockheed Martin

Objective

To compare the reaction times of inexperienced and experienced video game players.

Introduction

In many action-packed video games, players have to quickly detect and avoid dangers. The highest scores are achieved by those players who respond the fastest to a detected danger. Playing action video games can be fun and highly entertaining, but can playing these games also improve a person's reaction time? Or do some people enjoy playing action video games because they already have fast reaction times?

Reaction time is the time between the start of a sensory stimulus and the time when a person responds to that stimulus. For example, if a person is told to push a button when he or she sees the color red flashed on a screen, the reaction time is the time between when red is first flashed on the screen and the time when he or she first pushes the button. Perhaps you've taken a hearing test for school. The reaction time is measured from when you first hear the beep to when you push the button.

Diagram showing the reaction time for when a stimulus is seen
Figure 1. This drawing shows that reaction time is the time from the presentation of a stimulus (in this example, the stimulus is the red screen) to the time of a reaction to that stimulus (when the hand pushes the button). (msec is milliseconds.)

During the reaction time in the example above, the person's visual system will see and identify the color red, and then the higher thinking centers will command the motor cortex to send a signal to the arm and hand muscles to push the button. That's a lot going on! In an action video game, the player is presented not with a red screen, but with a danger (for example, a monster), and the player must then detect, identify, and respond to that monster through the console's controller, keyboard, or mouse.

The sensory stimulus does not have to be a visual though. Reaction time can be measured as a response to other sensory stimuli, too, such as a sound (like the roar of a monster), or a touch. In fact, reaction times to sound have been shown to be faster, on average, than reaction times to visual stimuli. Reaction times have also been shown to be dependent upon many factors, such as a person's age, genetics, gender, health, right- or left-handedness, level of fatigue, and distractions (other competing stimuli). For example, reaction times continue to shorten as a child ages. They reach their fastest point sometime in a person's late 20's. After this age, however, reaction times slowly begin to increase until the 50's and 60's, at which point they begin to increase even more.

Can a lot of experience playing action video games also influence reaction times? It's time to find out with a series of online video game tests.

Terms and Concepts

Questions

Bibliography

This source describes how many factors—like age, gender, and handedness—can influence reaction times:

These websites offer reaction time tests:

This source uses a baseball pitch for a reaction time test. When you see the pitch, you click the image to see if you got a hit. It then displays your reaction time. You'll need to calculate your own averages after five tries, and you should turn off the sound to avoid distracting your volunteers as they play.

This source uses a stoplight for a reaction time test. When the light turns green, you click on a button, and your reaction time is recorded and displayed. After five tries, your average is displayed. This test will not allow a player to "jump the gun" and press the button too soon.

This source uses a sheep and a tranquilizer dart for a reaction time test. When a sheep runs out in the field, you click a dart button, and your reaction time is displayed. After five sheep, an average reaction time is given. This game does have a penalty for "jumping the gun," so you will need to redo any trial in which a volunteer presses the button before the sheep runs out. You will also need to turn off the sound in this one to avoid distractions for your volunteers.

Materials and Equipment

Experimental Procedure

  1. There are many websites available to test reaction times. We've provided a few examples in the Bibliography, or you can find your own. Select one website to do all your testing that gives at least five reaction time tests per game to the volunteers.
  2. Select a volunteer and have him or her practice with the reaction time test until he or she has completed 10 reaction time tests.
  3. When you and your volunteer are ready to begin the experiment, have your volunteer take five reaction time tests. Make sure the test environment is quiet and free from sound or visual distractions. Record the reaction time after each test, in a data table, like the one below, in your lab notebook. Create one data table for inexperienced players and one for experienced players.
Reaction Times (milliseconds [msec])
For Inexperienced Video Game Players
Volunteer 1 Volunteer 2 Volunteer 3 Volunteer 4 Volunteer 5
         
         
         
         
         
Average: Average: Average: Average: Average:


Reaction Times (milliseconds [msec])
For Experienced Video Game Players
Volunteer 6 Volunteer 7 Volunteer 8 Volunteer 9 Volunteer 10
         
         
         
         
         
Average: Average: Average: Average: Average:
  1. Repeat steps 2-3 until all the volunteers have been tested.
  2. Make a scatter plot of the reaction times, plotting the reaction time on the y-axis for each volunteer. Use one symbol for experienced players and another symbol for inexperienced players so you can distinguish the two groups. Get the average reaction time, also known as the arithmetic mean for each group. Do experienced video game players have faster reaction times than inexperienced players? If so, do you think that is because playing video games a lot made them faster? Or, do you think experienced players were born with fast reaction times and they enjoy playing video games a lot because their fast reaction times make them successful players?
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Variations

  • Compare reaction times between volunteers of the same gender and similar ages, but different handedness (right-handed, left-handed, and ambidextrous). After a practice session, have volunteers complete the reaction tests first using their right hands and then their left hands. Do all volunteers with a dominant hand have faster reaction times when they use that dominant hand? Or, do some volunteers with a dominant hand have faster reaction times regardless of which hand they use?
  • Compare visual reaction times and sound reaction times for the same group of volunteers. Do people with fast visual reaction times have fast sound reaction times, too, or do some people have fast reaction times for one of their senses and slower reaction times for another?

Careers

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Cite This Page

General citation information is provided here. Be sure to check the formatting, including capitalization, for the method you are using and update your citation, as needed.

MLA Style

Science Buddies Staff. "Think Fast: Do Video Game Players Have Faster Reaction Times Than Non-Players?" Science Buddies, 20 Nov. 2020, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/HumBio_p025/human-biology-health/do-video-game-players-have-faster-reaction-times. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

APA Style

Science Buddies Staff. (2020, November 20). Think Fast: Do Video Game Players Have Faster Reaction Times Than Non-Players? Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/HumBio_p025/human-biology-health/do-video-game-players-have-faster-reaction-times


Last edit date: 2020-11-20
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