Reaction Time and Cognition: An Analysis of a Mental Chronometry Test

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Added on 2023/05/28

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This experiment would measure
reaction time RT) to a visual stimulus.
A software application will be used that
will flash either a red or a blue light on
the screen.
The participant have to press the ‘space’
button every time the red light flashes.
‘Space’ button is not to be pressed when
blue light flashes on the screen.
The lights will flash randomly for several
times and reaction time for each attempt
will be recorded.
A mean response time will be calculated
and the results will get shared
automatically with the researchers
Link to the software will be shared by
researchers along with a guidance to
use it.
Consent will be taken from every
participant.
Mental Chronometry Test
Name of Researcher:
Importance of maintaining confidentiality of participants: Protects
research participants from the misuse of their information.
Strategies to ensure confidentiality of the research participants and their
information:
1. Maintaining the anonymity of the participants in the records and results
2. Securely maintaining the names and reaction times of the participants
3. Randomly generated codes will be used to identify each participant
4. Document relating the codes of the participants to their personal
information would be maintained on separate documents to enhance
confidentiality
5. Identifiable data (such as names, contact information and reaction times)
would be encrypted to prevent unauthorized access and data breach
6. Personal identifiers would also be removed from the document containing
the reaction times
7. Access to the identifiable information of the participants would also be
restricted on a need to know basis
8. Storage of the data would also be properly secured to prevent
unauthorized access and breach of data security as well as to prevent
tampering of information
(Goodwin & Goodwin, 2016; Radford et al., 2016; Bierhoff & Wornefeld, 2016;
Lupia & Elman, 2014)
No risk of physical harm either short term or long term.
No risk of long term psychological harm.
The experiment can however lead to apprehensions that can cause some
psychological stress (Glendon & Clarke, 2015).
The experiment can also cause participants to start anticipating the stimuli
leading to wrong reactions due to misperceptions of the stimulus (Belling et
al., 2015).
Minimizing the risk of psychological stress: Using a sequence of stimuli
that can help to understand the average response times of each participant
and therefore eliminate the probability of incorrect results due to anticipation
or apprehensions (Glendon & Clarke, 2015)
Qualifying Criterion: Age between 17 to 60 years.
Participant Selection: Random selection
The participants would comprise of individuals who use computers from
various age groups who would be selected using an online application to the
intended participants.
Interested participants would be sent an online link for the software used in
the test.
Importance of Random Sampling: It is an effective research technique as it
helps to overcome selection bias and can effectively represent the target
population (Emerson, 2015).
The participants will be debriefed after the completion of the experiment.
Debriefings would be done both individually (sharing the performance of
each participant in the experiment and its implications) and through an open
seminar (where the key findings, significance of results, scope for further
studies
The researchers would also assure the participants that the experiment or its
experience did not cause any physiological or psychological harm to them.
The purpose of the test is to measure the reaction time (RT) to visual
stimulus of the participants using perceptual motor tasks that can help to
understand and time the duration and temporal sequence of cognitive
functions (Jain et al., 2015; Woods et al., 2015).
This study is also referred to as ‘mental chronometry test’ which is an
important aspect of cognitive and experimental psychology (Quaiser‐Pohl et
al., 2016).
Mental Chronometry Test can help to understand how the reaction time can
vary as a function of age and gender (Greiner et al., 2014).
Reaction Time (RT): It is the time elapsed between the presentation of a
sensory stimuli and the response to that stimuli (Jain et al., 2015).
RT is an important indicator of information processing speed of an individual
and indicates the speed with which an individual perform mental operations
that is required to complete a particular task (Woods et al., 2015).
Aim: The experiment aimed to assess the information processing speed of
the participants and measure how fast they responded to the visual stimulus
(of the color red) with the correct action (pressing the blue button) thus
measuring the simple reaction time.
INTRODUCTION
Qualifying Criterion and Selection of Participants
Belling, P. K., Suss, J., & Ward, P. (2015). Advancing theory and application of cognitive research in sport: Using representative tasks to explain and predict skilled anticipation, decision-
making, and option-generation behavior. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 16, 45-59.
Bierhoff, H. W., & Wornefeld, B. (2016). The Social Psychology of Trust with Applications. Trust and Community on the Internet: Opportunities and Restrictions for Online Cooperation, 48.
Dufrene, C., & Young, A. (2014). Successful debriefing—Best methods to achieve positive learning outcomes: A literature review. Nurse Education Today, 34(3), 372-376.
Emerson, R. W. (2015). Convenience sampling, random sampling, and snowball sampling: How does sampling affect the validity of research?. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness
(Online), 109(2), 164.
Gardner, A. K., Kosemund, M., Hogg, D., Heymann, A., & Martinez, J. (2017). Setting goals, not just roles: Improving teamwork through goal-focused debriefing. The American Journal of
Surgery, 213(2), 249-252.
Glendon, A. I., & Clarke, S. (2015). Human safety and risk management: A psychological perspective. Crc Press.
Goodwin, C. J., & Goodwin, K. A. (2016). Research in psychology methods and design. John Wiley & Sons.
Greiner, J., Schoenfeld, M. A., & Liepert, J. (2014). Assessment of mental chronometry (MC) in healthy subjects. Archives of gerontology and geriatrics, 58(2), 226-230.
Jain, A., Bansal, R., Kumar, A., & Singh, K. D. (2015). A comparative study of visual and auditory reaction times on the basis of gender and physical activity levels of medical first year
students. International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Research, 5(2), 124.
Lupia, A., & Elman, C. (2014). Openness in political science: Data access and research transparency: Introduction. PS: Political Science & Politics, 47(1), 19-42.
Petrova, E., Dewing, J., & Camilleri, M. (2016). Confidentiality in participatory research: Challenges from one study. Nursing Ethics, 23(4), 442-454.
Quaiser‐Pohl, C., Jansen, P., Lehmann, J., & Kudielka, B. M. (2016). Is there a relationship between the performance in a chronometric mental‐rotations test and salivary testosterone and
estradiol levels in children aged 9–14 years?. Developmental psychobiology, 58(1), 120-128.
Radford, J., Pilny, A., Reichelmann, A., Keegan, B., Welles, B. F., Hoye, J., ... & Lazer, D. (2016). Volunteer science: An online laboratory for experiments in social psychology. Social
Psychology Quarterly, 79(4), 376-396.
Woods, D. L., Wyma, J. M., Yund, E. W., Herron, T. J., & Reed, B. (2015). Factors influencing the latency of simple reaction time. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 9, 131.
Debriefing
Potential for physiological or psychological harmConfidentiality
REFERENCES
Figure 2. Stimulus processing Figure 3: Space bar.
Figure 1. Reaction time to red light
Mental Chronometry Test
CONTACT