Are Gamers reaction times faster than a non Gamers?

So me and a friend of mine have been debating about this for a while now. And we decided, why not actually test that? So we found this online reaction test that will help us gather info on the reaction times of other people and broke into two sides. My friend will cover testing the non gamers and I will test the gamers. Unfortunately there are little to no gamers in my area so why I would like to ask the community for help. Since KI is such a fact paced game, one would assume you would need faster reflexes right? For this graph this work accurately, I will need at least 15 helpers for data collecting.

  1. If you are a gamer (as in those who like to play on a daily basis) go to this website
    https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/redgreen.html

  2. When you done, collect the numbers and place them on your posts (all of the times not just the average). Once I have enough data I will ask the mods to lock this up.

I will later collect the results and combine it with my friend’s non-gamer data to make the ultimate decision. Thank you all for your help. It’s really appreciated.

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Not for nothing, but I’m pretty sure there have been studies on this. If I remember correctly some of the best show that reaction times for things you are actively paying attention to are not better for gamers (I.e. Stare at this light when it turns red hit the button). But the ability to see and respond to things that you are not focused on (I.e. Colored dots appearing at the edge of a screen rather than in the middle) and react accordingly is MUCH better. The conclusion of that study was that peripheral attention and reaction probably meant that gamers were safer drivers (all else being equal).

EDIT:
I did this on my phone, which may not be ideal. I got an average of 0.75159999999

Alright, I think its great you decided to test it and see.

Here’s my data:
1: 0.266
2: 0.266
3: 0.296
4: 0.277
5: 0.275

Average: 0.27599

Let us know what you find!

I got an average of …0.24559999

Okay, I did it again on my PC and got an average of 0.2612 (whew! I knew I couldn’t be THAT much slower than these guys…).

So, don’t do it on a touch screen phone. Apparently it has 3 frames of input lag, lol.

ha ha…I was gonna say something earlier and call you OLD Andy but I didnt…I figured it was your phone LOL… Im pretty old myself…hell i may be older than you! 39

I tell you what though…MK X needs very quick reaction speed. If your thumb isn’t flying 90-0 you cant pull off some of the long advanced combos. MK X combos are some of the most challenging combos Iv e every tried. Much harder than KI.

I’m 39 too. It must be going around.

KI is very forgiving with timing - except for manuals (groan).

MKX is not. I don’t think the combos are conceptually hard, it’s just they throw in a few moves that require strict timing (and sometimes setups, like they only work in the corner). This is the “execution” barrier that some people seem to feel is really important. I guess they only want people competing who can score 0.12 or less on the reaction test.

age 33, got results and they are:

1 0.242
2 0.249
3 0.243
4 0.229
5 0.241

average: 0.240

being a gamer helps, but being an advanced level driver does too. i feel slow still, wish i was faster but i guess ill chalk it up to not being a spring chicken anymore haha.

I got very different results, depending on my browser.

Firefox:
0.294
0.312
0.307
0.353
0.321

Average: 0.3174

Chrome:
0.258
0.297
0.289
0.262
0.294

Average: 0.279

IE:
0.298
0.26
0.256
0.265
0.288

Average: 0.2734

I mainly prefer chrome, but firefox and ie are fine.

I got 0.2322 in Chrome, 0.2721 in MS Edge.

Everybody may be in the 0.22-0.27 range, I don’t think gamers have better reflexes.

That’s why you may play Metal Slug or Aerofighters for months, yet somebody plays it for the first time and does better than you already.

Test #1 Reaction Time: 0.726
Test #2 Reaction Time: 0.759
Test #3 Reaction Time: 0.704
Test #4 Reaction Time: 0.811
Test #5 Reaction Time: 0.722

Average Time: 0.7444

So, nobody? Apparently Olympic sprinters can manage ~0.11 on reaction to the starter’s gun, ~1 in 1000 attempts – but that’s an auditory response (which people respond to quicker than visual cues) to a simple “go when you hear the gun” kind of cue. The Wikipedia article cites some resources on this. The same section notes average auditory reactions among college students that are pretty close to those of a sprinters (a tiny bit quicker, even – could assume that applying pressure to the starting block takes a little longer than the button setup used in the college tests?), which suggests that sprinters aren’t generally managing to improve on what the average young adult is capable of. I recall hearing that any response to the starter’s gun quicker than 0.1 is considered a false start, actually.

Anyway, the Wikipedia article linked in the previous paragraph also claims that mean reaction time to visual cues among college students has been found to be ~190ms, which, when you add the ~5 frames of monitor display lag you’re dealing with on the online test (and in a game like KI), puts response times at around the ~270ms ballpark that most of you are landing in. So congratulations, guys in this ballpark, you probably have the reactions of an Olympic athlete! :slightly_smiling:

Not to pre-empt the OP’s findings, but I think the take-home message here (and one that I’ve been harping on about for a while now, so please excuse the gloatyness) is that response times are incredibly invariant among humans, and basically drop out entirely at under a quarter of a second. So in training to be better at a fighting game, your emphasis should be on optimizing strategies, expected risk-reward decision making, prediction and staying unpredictable, and execution; and where training for reactions is concerned, it should be about internalizing the stimuli and appropriate strategies to apply in response, so that you respond to the earliest part of the event you possibly can and so that you know an effective response (or can quickly piece one together) ahead of time.

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these marks are very strange, as if you almost need a full second to react. Are you on your phone/tablet? Do you have any kind of physical impairment / nerve damage?

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In my case a tablet and more specifically an iPad 2 that I used to take that reaction test on

LOL…that made me laugh… ahhhh :grinning:

lol sorry, but the question was serious, anybody needing eight tenths of a second to react is either damaged or drunk.

0.263
0.269
0.337
0.285
0.264
Avg 0.28359999999999996

0.7849999999999999 Average

0.239
0.245
0.046 :smiley:
0.259
0.262

avg. 0.210

(there was no significant difference between the “clicking” method and the “any key” method)