Decision making and reaction time

1. Decision making and reaction time By: David Nippard Hkin 416 Presented to: Dr. Martell

2. Overview • Decision making • Reaction time • How to develop faster reaction time

3. What is decision making ? • The process of making choices among possible alternatives. • Example: During a game of hockey there is a 2 on 1 opportunity, do you pass to your teammate? Or do you shoot on the goaltender? • *Note: The number of stimulus effects the decision.

4. 2 on 1 options

5. What about the goalie? • Will the player shoot, pass or deke?

6. Reaction time is critical

7. What is reaction time? • The time between stimulus and response: ”the interval of time between the application of a stimulus and the first indication of a response” • Senses (eyes, ears)---Brain (formulate response)---Motor Units (nerves)---Action (muscle) • Athlete’s ability to react to the information that is processed through the nervous system.

8. Benefits of reaction time • Faster reaction time= advantage • Athletes with faster reaction time have the ability to monitor movements for longer periods of time. • Ability to recognize cues in the environment, or even begin the movement earlier. • E.g., Returning a tennis serve, saving a goal kick, hitting a baseball etc. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kTxTWwkY6k

9. 3 types of reaction time • Simple Reaction time: Only 1 stimulus and 1 response. (e.g. 100m race) • Choice Reaction Time: More than 1 stimulus, but each stimulus has a designated response. (what shot to choose in a game of badminton. Forehand, backhand, smash, drop-shot). • Discriminate Reaction time: Multiple stimuli but 1 response. (determining which colour is brighter by hitting an appropriate button)

10. Movement Time • The time it takes to complete the movements of a particular action, from the initiation, to the termination.

11. Influences on Reaction time and decision making • Age (Older = slower reaction time) • Intensity of stimulus (Bigger, Louder, Brighter stimuli= faster reaction time) • Anticipation (If prepared, reaction time may decrease) • Gender (females show a slower reaction time compared to men) • Previous experience of stimuli (faster reaction time when exposed to stimuli repeatedly)

12. Influences on Reaction time and decision making .con’t • Number of Stimulus response alternatives • Hick’s Law • Relationship between reaction time and the number of stimuli presented. The more stimuli available, the longer the reaction time. -This occurs to a certain point, where the response time remains constant despite the increase of stimulus.

13. Is it possible to develop faster reaction time? • Practice- with the same stimulus/response, where the outcome is the same response=faster reaction time. The response becomes Automatic. • Anticipation- the action in predicting or expecting something. • E.g. Anticipating where the goal kick is going to be placed.

14. Two kinds of anticipation • Spatial anticipation: ability to predict what will happen in the environment. • E.g., predict a badminton player’s type of shot (drop-shot vs smash) • Temporal anticipation: ability to predict when an environmental event will occur • E.g., predict when the referee will drop the puck, or when the referee will toss the basketball for a jump-ball