Age And Gender Differences In Reaction Time

Abstract

The human body reacts to various external environmental stimuli of various modalities with an ideal and deliberate response. Reaction time (RT) is characterized as the time interval between the introduction of stimuli and the presence of a corresponding reaction in the subject. Research has identified several influencing RT factors including age, gender, physical fitness, fatigue, left or right hand, vision, practice, exercise, distraction, alcohol, personality type, and knowledge of the subject. Using two reaction time tasks, simple reaction task (SRT) and a 4-choice reaction task (CRT), this study aims to determine the effect of age and gender on reaction time and support the hypothesis that younger females are more likely to have the fastest reaction time to tasks. The results indicated that younger males are more likely to have the fastest reaction time.

Introduction

Reaction time (RT) is a proportion of the speed with which a life form reacts to a type of stimulus. RT is characterized as the interval of time between the introduction of the stimulus and presence of proper willful reaction in the subject (Ritesh, et al, 2012). Human reaction time functions by having a nervous system perceive the stimulus. The neurons at that point hand-off the message to the cerebrum. The message then ventures out from the brain to the spinal cord, which gets to an individual's hands and fingers. The motor neurons communicate to the hands and fingers on how to respond. Reaction time in response to a situation has been extensively researched, as it can drastically impact our lives due its viable ramifications. For instance, Fast RTs can yield rewards in games while slow RT can endanger a person’s life when driving or engaging in road safety matters (Der, et al 2006).

Reaction time (RT) has been utilized as an assessment of cognitive functioning for over a century. There are three sorts of RT tests. Simple RT test in which there is one stimulus and one reaction which is replicated over trials. For example, grabbing a dropped stick, or striking a switch when a light change. Recognition RT test in which there are some stimuli that ought to be reacted to and others that ought not to get a reaction. An example would be grabbing a dropped stick with a word prompt, while disregarding other spoken words which are not prompts. Lastly, the Choice RT tests in which there are several stimuli with each having its own reaction; The response must match to the right stimulus. For instance, writing a letter which matches a printed letter prompt (Dykiert, et al, 2012).

Reaction time has physiological importance and is a basic and non - intrusive test for peripheral and central neural structures. Reaction time estimation is an indirect index of processing ability of the central nervous system. it helps in establishing sensory motor association and performance of a person. several factors have been indicated to influence reaction times, including age, gender, physical fitness, fatigue, left or right hand, vision, practice, exercise, distraction, alcohol, personality type, and knowledge of the subject (Ritesh, et al, 2012). Out of these various factors, in this study we had studied age and gender differences in reaction time.

Gender differences in cognition have been the topic of several studies in the course of recent decades. Research have demonstrated that gender differences are found in explicit cognitive capacities yet not in general intelligence. For instance, women will typically perform superior to men on tests of verbal capacity and episodic memory, though men surpass women on visuospatial and quantitative capacity (Dykiert, et al, 2012). Replicated longitudinal studies, testing participants for more than eight years, demonstrated constant slowing and increased inconsistency with age. Research have shown constant pattern of increased reaction time with age in both men and women in a series of tasks (Fozard, et al, 1994). To test the hypothesis that younger females are more likely to have the fastest reaction time to tasks, a cognitive study of 160 participants, which consisted of randomly selected 80 females and 80 males was conducted.

Method

This study was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting at the Premier Research Institute, Maryland. The experimental protocol was disclosed to every one of the participants and written consent was acquired from them. The topic was described and the procedure to be performed was demonstrated. The study used two types of reaction time tasks; the simple reaction time task and the choice reaction time task. Ethical clearance for the experiment was acquired from An Institutional Review Board (IRB), a form was completed at the University prior to conducting the study.

Participants

Household addresses were randomly selected from electoral registers utilizing a three-phase clustered design. From every household chosen, an individual was selected utilizing a random sampling technique. An invitation to participate in the study was mailed out to the randomly selected household individual with a stated compensation upon completion of the experiment. A sample of 180 subjects were selected from which 20 were removed by several exclusion criteria including any history of hearing or visual issue, smoking, alcohol abuse, cardiovascular and respiratory ailment, on any medicine influencing intellectual performance.

Also, records in which gender was not detailed were additionally barred, to determine proportional examples for models including and excluding gender. Hence, this cross-sectional research was done on a total of 160, 80 male and 80 female, healthy participants who were physically normal within the age range 17–58 years. Each group completed two types of reaction time tests. Both reaction time tests took approximately 15 minutes to complete individually. Upon completion, the reaction time of males and females and between the age divided groups will be collected, compared, analyzed and discussed. Willingness to partake in the test was voluntary and informed written consent was acquired from each subject.

Materials and Procedure

Upon arriving at the laboratory, the participants were placed in separate cubicles isolating them from the screen of the other participants. 160 participants were divided into two groups of 80 males and 80 females. Each group was sub-divided into two groups based on age ranging from 17-30 years and 30-58 years. Each group will complete two reaction time tasks with 20 male and 20 female participants tested at a time. The Simple reaction task was presented first to the subjects. Participants were shown a square shape, after which, they were instructed to press a button whenever the shape is displayed. Then, the researcher proceeds to display different shapes at a time on a screen for 30 seconds, no feedback was given for incorrect responses. The task was completed after 20 sets of various shapes was shown and the number of correct answers and the reaction time of males and females and between the age divided groups was then computed and produced.

After completing the simple reaction time task, the researcher proceeds to administer a 4-choice reaction test. Four empty boxes were displayed on the screen. The participants were told to push the button associated with a box anytime the letter Y appears in it. A 2-set trial was conducted to ensure that the subject comprehend the given instruction. After which, a series of alphabets were displayed in the boxes at the same time. The task was completed after 20 sets of different alphabets was shown and the number of correct answers and the reaction time of males and females and between the age divided groups was then computed and produced. Once all results were received, reviewed and grouped into gender and age, the significance of the mean difference of both variables was then established using an independent sample t test with a. 05 alpha level.

Results

After each group of participants finished, the results were collected and calculated. a significant difference was shown between the mean values of both age and gender differences. On average, males have a faster reaction time than females (see Table 1). The results indicated a statistically significant difference between gender (p <. 0001). Also, the results indicated a significant difference between younger subjects 17-30 years and older subjects 31-58 with an average mean of 0. 85 and 2. 05 respectively. Data from subjects who made at least eight mistakes were rejected from the analyses, on the grounds that a 20% error rate demonstrates that an individual was not able or was reluctant to adhere to the instructions. The participants were from all sects of life and of different races.

Discussion

Based on the results from this study, men are more likely to have a faster reaction time than women. An analysis of the research on the significance of gender on RT notes that in most age group, men have faster RTs as opposed to women, and the disadvantage is not lessened by practice. The male-female distinction is, as a result, of the delay in the introduction of a stimulus and the start of muscle contraction (Dykiert, et al, 2012). Studies have shown that the muscle contraction time is equivalent for males and females however motor responses in males are relatively more potent than females. This might clarify why males have faster RTs for both auditory and visual stimuli. Furthermore, it has been stated that males adopt a more intricate tactic than females. while men were faster than women at pointing at a target, the women were more precise (Jain, 2015). This refutes a portion of the hypothesis that women have faster reaction time than men.

The main theory for the influences of age on reaction time expresses that older individuals have an increased response time in contrast with younger individuals (Fozard, et al, 1994). This supports a portion of the hypothesis that younger people will have a shorter response time in contrast with older individuals. The outcomes showed that individuals younger than 30 had a quicker response time. One conceivable clarification for this phenomenon might be the way that adrenaline levels and reflexes are better in the general population from the more youthful age groups than those in the older age groups. As an individual becomes older, these favorable circumstances may diminish with age, consequently causing the correlation in the data results above (Tun,2008). Partially supported by the reported data in the results, it is safe to conclude that there is not only a significant difference between females and males but also between younger and older people on the performance of this tasks. According to these results, the null hypothesis that there is not a variance relating to gender and age regarding reaction time must be rejected

References

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