 How does age affect reaction
time?
Senior Adult
Adult
Child

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How quickly or slowly you react to something
is called your reaction time.
Your Reaction time is measured by how long
it takes for your eyes to tell your brain that
the ruler is falling and then for your brain to
tell your fingers to catch it.
The ruler falling is the stimulus and this type
of reaction is a simple reaction.
The simple reaction time is the time it takes
to react to a simple stimuli- or a small change
in your environment.
 To find out if age affects
reaction time. I want to
discover this to see if I need to
give my grandparents and
parents extra points when
playing wii tennis.

I think that the senior and the
adult reaction time will be
slower than the child’s
reaction time.
 ruler with centimeter marks
 table
 paper and pen for charting
results
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Sit in a chair with your arm resting on a table so that
your wrist hangs off the edge.
Have a friend hold the ruler so that it dangles above
your hand.
Make sure the end of the ruler is hanging between
your thumb and finger.
When your friend lets go of the ruler, try to catch it
between your thumb and finger as quickly as you can.
Compare the marking on the ruler where your fingers
caught it to the reaction time chart.
Make a mark on your graph next to the matching
reaction time over the Trial 1 column.
Senior Adult
Adult
Child
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
26 cm
24 cm
26 cm
Reaction Time Table: (from Brody, 1987,147)
Reaction Time in Seconds
25
20
15
10
5
0
Senior Adult
Adult
Child
 My hypothesis
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Thank-you Mom for helping me type up my
report and making my board.
Thank-you to my teacher for helping me
measure my results and make my graph using
excel.
Thank- you to my grandma, mom and my
friend who dropped the ruler for me.

Does my Reaction
Time improve with
practice?

Does my reaction time
increase with fast
music being played?

Is the reaction time
different with my right
hand compared to my
left hand?

Are boys reaction
times faster than girls?