Free speed and decision drill — instant play, no signup, no download
Lightning Choice is a choice reaction time test: several possible signals, each with its own response, and you have to pick the right one as fast as possible. It is meaningfully different from a simple reaction test — adding options adds time in a way that has been measured since the nineteenth century.
Several possible signals are defined before you start.
One appears — react with the matching response.
Both speed and correctness are recorded.
Wrong responses cost more than slow ones.
Rounds add options, which lengthens everyone's times.
Choice reaction time — the decision component of speed, as opposed to the pure motor component. The decision is where almost all the time goes once you have more than one option.
Learn the mapping before you start. Any hesitation about which key is which is pure added time.
Rest your fingers on all the response keys at once so no option is further away than another.
Do not pre-commit to the option you expect. A wrong guess costs far more than the wait would have.
Look at the centre. Scanning for where the signal will appear adds a search step to every trial.
Because you are choosing as well as reacting. Hick's law describes the relationship: response time rises roughly with the logarithm of the number of options.
A finding from the early 1950s that decision time increases logarithmically with the number of alternatives. It is why menus with fewer options feel faster.
No. A wrong response is penalised more than the time you would save.
No. Reflex Test is a simple one-signal reaction; this adds the choice.