What the study measured
Each person saw a simple signal on a screen and pressed a button as fast as possible. The average was 230.8 ms. Of that, 17.8 ms came from the screen and the mouse: without them, the average was 213 ms. About two people in three were within 27 ms of the average.
| Faster than | Time |
|---|---|
| 99% | 168 ms |
| 95% | 186 ms |
| 90% | 196 ms |
| 75% | 213 ms |
| 50% | 231 ms |
| 25% | 249 ms |
| 10% | 265 ms |
Estimated from the study’s mean and standard deviation. In a browser, add about 15 to 50 ms.
Reaction time and age
Reaction time grows by about 0.55 ms a year, or 5.5 ms every ten years. The youngest group averaged 217.8 ms and the oldest 239.1 ms. Sex and education made no difference.
Why online tests are slower
A web browser adds its own delay between the moment you press and the moment the page records it. A 2020 study measured about 15 to 50 ms on most browsers and systems. Wireless mice, TVs, touch screens and 60 Hz screens can add more. That is why most adults average between 230 and 290 ms on a test like ours.
How to compare fairly
Compare results taken on the same device and browser: the delay stays the same, so a lower number really means faster reactions.
Questions and answers
What is a normal reaction time?
About 230 ms in a lab. On a browser test, most adults average between 230 and 290 ms.
Does reaction time get worse with age?
Slowly: about 5.5 ms every ten years, according to a study of 1,469 adults aged 18 to 65.
Why is my result different on my phone?
Touch screens and phone browsers add their own delay. Compare results on the same device.
Sources
- Woods, Wyma, Yund, Herron, Reed: Factors influencing the latency of simple reaction time (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2015)
- Bridges, Pitiot, MacAskill, Peirce: The timing mega-study: comparing a range of experiment generators, both lab-based and online (PeerJ, 2020)