Simple reaction time

Jacobsen, B. H., and Edgley B. M., Effects of caffeine on simple reaction time and movement time. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine 58, 1153-1156, 1987. 

One study has reported effects on neurobehavioral function in lead-exposed workers at mean PbB levels of 50 pg/dL (Williamson and Teo 1986). Neurobehavioral function was measured using tests that are based on information processing theory in 59 lead workers and 59 controls matched for age, type of job, time on the job, education level, smoking history, and alcohol consumption. Statistically significant decreases in the lead-exposed workers were seen for critical flicker fusion reaction, simple reaction time, tracking speeds, hand steadiness tests, and sensory store memory. Sensory store memory speed showed a low but statistically significant correlation with PbB concentrations. Measurements of neurobehavioral function seemed well chosen, and repeated measures with associated appropriate statistics were used. 

Rice DC. 1988. Chronic low-level lead exposure in monkeys does not affect simple reaction time. Neurotoxicology 9 105-107. 

In simple reaction times, a stimulus is presented that always requires the same response, even if the nature of the stimulus changes. A complex reaction time requires the patient to respond to some stimuli but not to others. 

One of six volunteers exposed to 150ppm of Stoddard solvent for 15 minutes had transitory eye irritation at 470ppm (2700mg/m ) all subjects had eye irritation and two had slight dizziness. Eight volunteers exposed at 4000 rag/rcL for 50 minutes had some changes in simple reaction time tests but not in perceptual speed, short-term memory, or manual dexterity compared with pre- and postexposure self controls. ... 

A relatively large number of studies have investigated the effects of opioids on tests requiring focused attention. Morphine (2.5 to 10 mg, IV)185 and propofol (70 mg, IV)193 impaired an auditory simple reaction time test, and fentanyl (1 to 2.5 ng/ml, IV)182 impaired a visual choice reaction time test. Jenkins et al.197 reported that IV (3 to 20 mg) and smoked (2.6 to 10.5 mg) heroin impaired performance on a simple visual reaction time task. However, other studies reported no effect of butorphanol (0.5 to 2.0 mg, IV),186 fentanyl (25 to 100 pg, IV),191 meperidine (0.25 to 1.0 mg, IV),192 and nalbuphine (2.5 to 10 mg, IV)189 on an auditory simple reaction time test. It may be... 

A relatively large number of studies have investigated the effects of marijuana on focused attention, including reaction time tests and the DSST. Marijuana (1.8 and 3.6% THC) was shown to slow responding on a simple, visual reaction time task 242 however, others have not found marijuana to impair simple reaction time performance.11,40,236 Similarly, some studies have shown that marijuana impairs complex or choice reaction time tasks,11,233 whereas others have shown no effect.234 O Leary et al.243 found no effect of a 20-mg marijuana cigarette on reaction time in a dichotic listening task. 

Simple Reaction Time Substitution (Symbol-Digit or Code) Continuous Performance... 

The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research s Department of Behavioral Biology has developed a field-deployable version of a commercial Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) that has been widely used in sleep research. The software runs on handheld PDAs running the Palm Operating System (Palm OS). It is modeled after the simple reaction time task of Wilkinson and Houghton,57 as modified by Dinges and Powell.58 The Palm OS version incorporates additional stimulus, feedback, control, and data options developed by Dr. Thome. In laboratory studies, performance on the PDA task has been shown to be sensitive to time-on-task fatigue effects, sleep deprivation, and circadian variation.18 Field studies have utilized the PVT to measure the efficacy of caffeine gum as a sleep loss countermeasure. 

Figure 1 Changes in anxiety state (a) and unprepared simple reaction time (b) in five-a-side players over 71 hr without any sleep. The data show a trend with time of sleep deprivation and a time-of-day effect. (Adapted from Ref. 10.)...

Horst K, Jenkins WL. The effect of caffeine, coffee and decaffeinated coffee upon blood pressure, pulse rate and simple reaction time of men of various ages. J Pharmacol 1935 53 384400. 

Response accuracy reflects the animal s capacity to remember the lever previously presented and therefore represents a measure of short-term memory. Simple reaction times reflect the animal s rapidity to respond to an unpredictable spatial stimulus and therefore represent a measure of attention. Choice reaction times reflect the animal s rapidity to choose between two levers and therefore represent a measure of decision taking or information processing speed. Performance on all parameters improves over the acquisition period and therefore indicates the animal s capacity to learn the new task. 

Fig. 14. Effects of diazepam and scopolamine on the 3 parameters measured during the acquisition of a delayed alternation task in the rat (mean performance over 10 sessions). Note that both diazepam and scopolamine significantly decrease the number of correct responses (impairment of learning/memory). Diazepam has no effect on simple reaction times whereas scopolamine significantly increases it (impairment of attention). Diazepam significantly decreases choice reaction times whereas choice reaction times are clearly increased by scopolamine. The increased choice reaction times with scopolamine probably reflect an impairment of information processing speed, whereas the decrease observed with diazepam probably reflects the disinhibitory effects of diazepam.

When co-administered with lorazepam 0.4 mg, moxonidine increased impairment of attentional tasks (choice, simple reaction time and digit vigilance performance, memory tasks, immediate word recall, delayed word recall accuracy, and visual tracking). These effects should be considered when moxonidine is coadministered with lorazepam, although they were smaller than would have been produced by a single dose of lorazepam 2 mg alone (26). 

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study in 18 young adults (mean age, 27 years), a single dose of lormetazepam 1 mg had no significant effect on either visual simple reaction time or visual choice reaction time (2). Lormetazepam caused mild dizziness in two subjects. 

Reaction time In psychology, the time interval between the application of a stimulus and the detection of a response. In a simple reaction time test, a subject is asked to press a button as soon as a light flashes. 

Night driving analogue —Target scanning low coffee users high coffee users Reaction time Simple reaction time Choice reaction time —Decision time —Motor time Verbal tests... 

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