Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The time between the application of a stimulus and some reaction, as when a signal is rendered on the perception of some sensation.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • A review of reaction-time data for the 2004 games in Athens found a marked effect: Runners in lane one had an average reaction time of 160 milliseconds, whereas those in lane one got away in 171 milliseconds and sprinters in lane seven took 185 milliseconds to get off the blocks.

    It's a New Legal Era 2008

  • Alex Gage, Mr. Romney's director of strategy, says the campaign is looking at the reaction-time data to gauge the "intensity" of voters 'views.

    Reading the Mind 2007

  • Maybe you should have to get an eye and reaction-time exam every 3 years after a certain age in order to maintain your license.

    People who shouldn't drive. Any real answer? 2005

  • The interface was clunky and irritating, the narrative kept stopping for you to do almost irrelevant reaction-time tests to avoid situations that you were put in by cut-scenes...

    10 Underappreciated Games Greg Tannahill 2007

  • Anecdotally again, I've also heard the behavioral patterns of subjects who return for testing 1 week post-TMS are often subtly different from controls... so for example their reaction-time means might be the same, but the distributions are altered.

    Mind Hacks: Home transcranial magnetic stimulation 2006

  • The girls took a little while to realize that it was their own voices they were listening to, and I put this down to the quality of the recording rather than poor reaction-time.

    between silk and cyanide Marks, Leo 1998

  • If this creature was as fast on its mental feet as his reaction-time indicated, this meant trouble.

    Blue Adept Anthony, Piers 1981

  • But there were other kinds of papers too — P.T. Zeller-man's study on the difference in the length of time it took white rats to learn a maze when the corners were curved rather than angular, or Worfels paper on the effect of intelligence level on the reaction-time of rhesus monkeys.

    Flowers for Algernon Keyes, Daniel 1966

  • During this reaction-time, the cell or cells attacked upon the surface of the hand have conveyed news of the assault through numberless intermediate sensory nerve cells to the brain.

    Applied Psychology: Making Your Own World Being the Second of a Series of Twelve Volumes on the Applications of Psychology to the Problems of Personal and Business Efficiency Warren Hilton

  • The Clinton tried with me, and I had to keep my esper carefully aimed at the road ahead because I was definitely overdriving my eyesight and reaction-time.

    Highways in Hiding George Oliver Smith 1946

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