Reaction Time Training Starts at the Eyes
Brainpro is an eye training app for iPhone. It runs four guided visual drills, smooth pursuit, gaze stabilization, saccades and peripheral vision, in a three minute daily session, and records how eye control changes from one session to the next.
Reaction time gets treated as a single number, which hides where the time actually goes. Most of it is spent before anything moves: registering that something happened, getting the eyes onto it, and holding it still long enough to identify what it is. The muscle part is the short part.
Where the milliseconds go
| Stage | What is happening | Trainable |
|---|---|---|
| Detection | Something at the edge of the field registers as worth attention | Yes, this is peripheral awareness |
| Acquisition | The eyes jump to it and land accurately first time | Yes, this is saccade accuracy |
| Identification | The target sharpens and is recognised | Partly, through fixation stability |
| Decision | A response is selected | Yes, through practice in the specific task |
| Execution | The command reaches the muscle and it moves | Barely, this part is close to fixed |
Almost every product sold as reaction training works on the last two stages. The first three are visual, they are where most of the variation between people sits, and they are the ones nobody trains.
Train detection and acquisition directly. Four drills, three minutes, with the progression handled for you.
Download Brainpro on the App Store Free to download. iPhone, iOS 16 and later.Why tests are not training
A reaction time test measures one number under one set of conditions. Repeat it daily and the number improves quickly, then stops, because what improved was familiarity with the test: where the stimulus appears, what it looks like, how long the wait usually is. None of that transfers to a situation where the target is unexpected.
Training the underlying movements is slower to show up on a test and is the part that carries over, because a saccade that lands accurately does so regardless of where the target appeared.
Simple reaction and choice reaction
Simple reaction is one expected stimulus and one response. Choice reaction is several possible stimuli and a decision about which response fits, and it takes considerably longer. Real situations are almost always choice reactions, which is why a fast score on a simple reaction test predicts very little about performance in a game or on the road.
What to actually train
Peripheral awareness, so detection starts earlier. Saccade accuracy, so acquisition takes one movement rather than two. Fixation stability, so identification does not wait for the picture to settle. Those are three of the four drills in the session, and they are the stages where the time is being spent.
Questions people ask
Can reaction time be improved?
The nerve conduction part is close to fixed. The part that changes with training is how quickly the relevant information is registered and how little of it is needed before a response starts, which is where most of the variation between people sits.
What is a good visual reaction time?
Simple reaction to a single expected stimulus tends to fall somewhere around a fifth of a second in healthy adults, and tests vary enough that comparing scores across different tools is not meaningful. Compare yourself against yourself on the same test.
Do reaction time tests train reaction time?
Mostly they measure it. Repeating a test improves performance on that test quickly and then plateaus, because what is being learned is the test rather than the underlying capability.
Does caffeine improve reaction time?
It has a short-term effect on alertness, which is a different thing from training. It does not change how quickly the eyes acquire and hold a target.