Answer:
Reaction time (RT) is a measure of the response to a stimulus. RT plays a very important role in our lives as its practical implications may be of great consequences. Factors that can affect the average human RT include age, sex, left or right hand, central versus peripheral vision, practice, fatigue, fasting, breathing cycle, personality types, exercise, and intelligence of the subject.
e visual RTs (VRTs) and auditory RTs (ARTs) on the basis of gender and physical activity levels of medical 1st year students.
The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 120 healthy medical students in age group of 18–20 years. RT for target stimulus that is, for the beep tone for measuring ART, and red circle for measuring VRT was determined using Inquisit 4.0 (Computer Software) in the laptop. The task was to press the spacebar as soon as the stimulus is presented. Five readings of each stimulus were taken, and their respective fastest RT's for each stimuli were recorded. Statistical analysis was done.
In both the sexes’ RT to the auditory stimulus was significantly less (P < 0.001) as compared to the visual stimulus. Significant difference was found between RT of male and female medical students (P < 0.001) as well as between sedentary and regularly exercising healthy medical 1st year students.
Conclusion:
The ART is faster than the VRT in medical students. Furthermore, male medical students have faster RTs as compared to female medical students for both auditory as well as visual stimuli. Regularly exercising medical students have faster RTs when compared with medical students with sedentary lifestyles.
Introduction
Reaction time (RT) is a measure of the quickness with which an organism responds to some sort of stimulus. RT is defined as the interval of time between the presentation of the stimulus and appearance of appropriate voluntary response in the subject.[1] Luce[2] and Welford[3] described three types of RT. (1) Simple RT: Here there is one stimulus and one response. (2) Recognition RT: Here there is some stimulus that should be responded to and other that should not get a response. (3) Choice RT: Here there are multiple stimulus and multiple responses.
Human RT works by having a nervous system recognize the stimulus. The neurons then relay the message to the brain. The message then travels from the brain to the spinal cord, which then reaches person's hands and fingers. The motor neurons then tell the hands and fingers how to react. The accepted figures for mean simple RTs for college-age individuals have been about 190 ms for light stimuli and about 160 ms for sound stimuli.[3] RT in response to a situation can significantly influence our lives due its practical implications. Fast RTs can produce rewards (e.g. in sports) whereas slow RT can produce grave consequences (e.g. driving and road safety matters). Factors that can affect the average human RT include age, sex, left or right hand, central versus peripheral vision, practice, fatigue, fasting, breathing cycle, personality types, exercise, and intelligence of the subject.[5]
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Materials and Methods
A total of 130 medical students were taken out of which 10 were excluded by various exclusion criteria comprising of any history of hearing or visual disorder, smoking, alcoholism, cardiovascular and respiratory disease, on any medication affecting cognitive performance. Thus, this cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 120 (60 male and 60 female) healthy medical students who were physically normal in the age group 18–20 years. The subjects were randomly selected for the study. Ethical clearance for the study was obtained from Institutional Ethical Committee. Participation in the test was voluntary and informed written consent was taken from every participant.
The tests were done using Inquisit 4.0 computer software released in 2013 by Millisecond SoftwExplanation:
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