NATURE OF EXERCISE:
Recognition Reaction Time, also referred as Go/NoGo Reaction Time, uses a bit more of the cognitive process than Simple Reaction Time (Exercise 1 series). Instead of simply responding to the presentation of a stimulus, it requires the user to respond to one particular stimulus but ignore all other stimuli. Accordingly, it not only challenges your ability to recognize the correct stimulus, but it also challenges your ability to inhibit inappropriate reactions. As in the Intermediate version (Exercise 2A), upon the random on-screen appearance of the word REVERSAL, you must give the reverse of the correct answer. This shift in momentum, called “task shifting” in psychology, or mental flexibility in real life, actually requires high order cognitive processing to perform quickly. To maximize the difficulty of this advanced version, the lights have been placed on the diagonal and the interval between trials has been shortened considerably from that of the Beginner and Intermediate versions. This latter change allows you minimal time to re-set mentally after responding.
RELEVANCE TO EVERYDAY LIFE:
Impulsiveness is a problem for so many of us, whether in our personal life (friends, relationships, shopping) or in our business and financial matters (unwise investments, imprudent remarks made to a co-worker or supervisor).
Training your inhibitory mechanisms increases your ability to deal with unexpected surprises that may arise in your life.
INSTRUCTIONS:
A diagonal display of lights is presented. If the light changes from red to green, press the DOWN ARROW key on your keyboard as quickly as possible. If the light changes from red to yellow, do NOT press any key. If you press the key before the light changes or when it turns yellow, this counts as an error and serves to reduce your score. However, if the word REVERSAL appears, then press the DOWN ARROW key upon the appearance of the yellow light and do NOT press any key upon the appearance of the green light.
You must respond/not respond correctly 20 times to complete the exercise.
