I recently cited a BBC news story on reaction time:
In a series of “laboratory gunfights” — with pistols replaced by electronic pressure pads — researchers found that participants who reacted to their opponent’s movement were on average 21 milliseconds faster to the draw.
That was true as far as it went, but — like many popular science stories — it missed the point almost entirely, as this New Scientist article makes clear:
The reacting players took 21 milliseconds less time to move, on average, than the first ones. Welchman thinks reaction movement involves a faster brain pathway than intentional movement. So Bohr was right? Not quite.There was also a “reaction time”, a delay of 200 milliseconds before the players started to respond to their opponent’s actions. So although they moved faster, they never won.
Sort of changes things, doesn’t it?
(Hat tip to Johnny Abacus.)