Reaction Time Essay

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Reaction Time of Dominant vs. Non-dominant Hand Anna Harvey Ashley Graham September 25, 2013 Introduction Reaction time is the time between the initiation of an action and the response. There are many factors that can affect human reaction time. Does the use of the dominant or non-dominant hand affect the reaction time of a person? If a subject’s reaction time is tested on both hands, then the dominant hand will have a faster reaction time. Methods For this lab, the required materials include a meter stick, a table top, someone to test the experiment on, and another person to carry out the experiment. The experiment began with the subject’s hand rested on a table top, extended slightly over the edge with the thumb and forefinger opposed and slightly separated. The researcher then held a meter stick above the subject’s fingers with the zero mark placed between the gap of the thumb and finger. The subject chose which hand they wanted to test first and continued to use the same hand for 25 trials. The researcher told the subject to grab the stick as soon as possible after it started to descend and let go of the meter stick without any warning. The place the subject grabbed onto the meter stick is recorded and after the first 25 trials were completed, the subject switched hands and went through the same process for 25 more trials. Finally the actual reaction time was found using the equation t = 0.045√d where d was the number of cm the meter stick fell. Observations, Data, & Analysis Left Hand (Non-dominant) Trial # | Distance dropped (cm) | Time (s) | 1 | 34.2 | .263 | 2 | 28.7 | .241 | 3 | 37.5 | .276 | 4 | 29.6 | .245 | 5 | 28.5 | .240 | 6 | 13.5 | .165 | 7 | 15.1 | .175 | 8 | 2.4 | .070 | 9 | 27.1 | .234 | 10 | 28.0 | .238 | 11 | 33.9 | .262 | 12 | 4.6 | .097 | 13 | 16.2 | .181 | 14 | 13.3 | .164 | 15 |

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