Effect of Distractions on Reaction Times of High School Students

Overview

Objectives/Goals To analyze how various auditory, visual, and vocal distractions effect the reaction times of high school students between the ages of 14-18. Then comparing these results to teenage drivers versus adult drivers on the road on the road. Methods/Materials A student-designed computer program was used to measure each student's reaction time to the one-hundredth of a second. A Laptop computer was used for all student testing. Students were always tested in an isolated environment. Results Student's reactions times were slowed down by an average of 44% by all three distractions. Each distraction alone, had a significant effect on slowing a student's reaction time down. Yet there was no significant difference between each distraction on a students reaction time. Conclusions/Discussion Auditory, visual, and vocal distractions significantly affected the students' reaction times. This slowed reaction time most likely takes place inside of an automobile also. This could contribute to the reason why young drivers are more frequently invovled in present day car accidents.

Awards (1)

• Category Award

Competition history

• CSEF 2005 Behavioral Sciences · Entry S0323

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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