Distractions Effect On Reaction Time

As mentioned, our results suggest that the distraction times vary greatly on different individual factors. However, with the overall averages at 237 for no distractions compared to 315 for distractions, our team’s hypothesis still holds true that distractions greatly affect reaction time. Our experiment demonstrated to us that there are two factors intertwined in influencing reaction time: the distraction itself and the individual’s ability to react while distracted. For example, a cellphone app and the individual’s ability to use that app. This is evident by our second participant, Nicole Scholl, who had the best average distraction time of the group at 293. She performed the best out of the group while distracted by a cellphone. She could text and achieve better times than any of the other participates. If the participant had more experience with the distraction, such as trying to text on a cellphone, they generally performed better than those who had not texted or used there cellphone as much. Further testing is needed to see if Ms. Scholl would still maintain the best
This is emulated especially by our third participant, James Ondak who also used his cellphone for the distraction. He had the highest average distracted time. His first distracted reaction time was very good at an impressive 210. However, in the second and third trails, James decided to perform user-intensive tasks on his phone. Tasks like replying to a text, reading a text, and any other task that forced James to focus solely on the screen of is phone. As a result, his second and third distracted attempts lead to the highest times, both attempts at 430. This is evident across the board for all participants for their third attempt, such as Ms.Scholl’s third attempt at 350 or Mr. Green’s third attempt at 350 as well. There is a direct link between the amount of user-input in a distraction and the reaction time of the