Reaction time test
Measure visual reaction time over five attempts, with the median reported.
How it works
Click or press a key when the colour changes, five times. The median of your attempts is reported rather than the mean, because a single distracted trial skews an average badly and the median ignores it.
Typical simple visual reaction time for a healthy adult is 200 to 250 milliseconds. Auditory reaction is consistently faster, around 140 to 160 ms, because sound reaches the brain through fewer processing stages than vision does.
What you are measuring here is not purely your nervous system. Display latency, input device polling and browser timing all add to the figure — commonly 20 to 50 ms of it on a typical setup, and considerably more on a wireless controller or a television. That means the absolute number is only loosely comparable between devices, while comparing your own attempts on the same machine is meaningful.
Reaction time lengthens with age, fatigue and alcohol, and shortens slightly with practice and with expecting the signal.
This tool runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to a server, logged or stored, and the page keeps working with the network disconnected.
Common questions
- What is a good reaction time?
- Typical simple visual reaction time is 200–250 ms for a healthy adult. Under 200 ms is quick; sub-150 ms usually means an anticipated rather than reacted click.
- Why is my reaction time slower here than elsewhere?
- Display latency, input polling and browser timing add 20–50 ms on a typical setup, and much more on a TV or wireless controller. Compare attempts on the same device rather than across devices.
- Are people faster reacting to sound than sight?
- Yes, consistently. Auditory reaction runs around 140–160 ms because sound passes through fewer processing stages than vision.
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Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place