A penalty kick is coming. You don’t have time to think—just to react. The ball moves, and in an instant, your brain processes the direction, sends signals to your muscles, and you dive. But what happens in those milliseconds before you move?
This experiment shifts the focus from a simple go-no-go reaction to making a subtle motor decision. With electrodes now on both arms, a familiar green LED still signals the known response, but a red LED introduces a new challenge: use your opposite arm. This change adds an extra layer of complexity to your reaction-time measurement.
Setup
After completing the Visual-Motor Reaction Time experiment, prepare for this new challenge. Connect the Human SpikerBox and Reaction Timer as before, and attach electrodes to both arms. Ensure both the green and red LED systems are functioning properly.
This is a single-participant experiment. The green LED signals you to use the arm you’re familiar with, while the red LED instructs you to switch and move your other arm. Open the SpikeRecorder software and verify that both channels are active before beginning your randomized series of 10 trials.
It’s time to test your Motor Decision Reaction Time! With electrodes on both arms, you’re challenged to quickly choose which action to execute. When the green LED signals, use the familiar arm. When the red LED flashes, switch it up with your other arm. Each trial will reveal how well you adapt to this unexpected twist.
Examine your reaction times for both green- and red-LED trials. Did choosing which arm to move affect your speed? Compare the “green-light” results with your earlier Visual-Motor experiment and your inhibition experiment to uncover insights into how adding a split-second motor decision impacts performance.
an you measure the speed of cognitive processes with just our muscles? We will find out! In this experiment!
How fast can you react? Here we explore visual reaction time—the interval between seeing a stimulus and responding with movement.
