Reaction Time Test — Measure Your Reflexes in Milliseconds
Wait for green. Tap. See your milliseconds.
- Reflex
- 2 min
- Easy
This is the simple reaction time task, first measured by Franciscus Donders in the 1860s and still the cleanest way to time the gap between a signal arriving and your hand moving. Your score is the average across several rounds, so one lucky tap will not carry you.
Play Reaction TimeHow it works
1Wait on red. The delay is unpredictable on purpose.
2It turns green. Tap immediately.
3Several rounds, averaged. That average is your score.
How to play
- 1
Wait on red
The screen holds red for an unpredictable interval so you cannot time it in advance.
- 2
Tap on green
The moment it flips to green, tap or press a key. Tapping early voids the round.
- 3
Repeat, then average
Several rounds are averaged. The average is your score — outliers matter.
What it trains
Cut the delay between seeing and acting. Simple reaction time isolates the delay between a sensory signal and a motor response, with no decision step in between.
- Brain area
- Primary motor cortex + basal ganglia
- Based on
- Donders, 1869
Leaderboard
Weekly season resets every Monday. Scores show as 250ms.
Leaderboard
Questions
What is a good reaction time?
The typical adult lands between 200 and 280ms. Under 200ms is fast. Under 160ms usually means you anticipated rather than reacted.
Why is my phone slower than my laptop?
Touchscreen input adds roughly 20–40ms of hardware latency over a physical key or mouse. Compare yourself against your own device, not across devices.
Can reaction time be trained?
Only a little — it is largely fixed by nerve conduction speed. What does improve with practice is consistency and not jumping the gun.
