Design and Implementation of a Reaction Timer Device Based on Visual Stimulation and Motor Reaction

Reaction time (RT) is one of the most essential characteristics of people, which depends on the speed of the information processing in their brains. It is a crucial ability of the athletes, and they usually try to improve their RT by practice and mental concentration. In this study, a novel device is designed to measure the motor response of the subjects to the visual stimuli. First, the visual stimulation, through the halogen lamps placed in a unique circular surface applied. Then, the practitioners should touch the sensors connected to the lamps with their feet in the shortest possible time. Finally, the total time between the visual stimuli and the motor responses will be measured as the reaction time. The implemented device consists of an Arduino UNO controller, 8 halogen lamps, and TTP223 Touch sensors. To approve the performance of the device, 40 subjects were invited to participate in our experimental trials, which were categorized into two groups of athletes and non-athletes. The differences between the RTs of the groups were investigated based on the analysis of variance statistics. Our results showed that the reaction times associated with the athletes were significantly lower than those of non-athletes (p<0.001). Also, the implemented device can be an appropriate tool for quantifying the performance of the athletes and designing practical training.