I’m releasing my script under the MIT License, which allows you to use, modify, and distribute it freely, including for commercial purposes.
My program is written in the free scripting language AutoIt and is based on an earlier script developed by the late psychologist Seth Roberts. My script will only work under Windows (either Windows 10 or Windows 11). Sorry, I don’t have versions for Macintosh or Linux (and no mobile app either).
You can download the zip file here. It contains four files: A Windows executable, the AutoIt source code, an R script that plots the reaction time data, and a license file. I’ve renamed the executable so that it’s not erroneously flagged as malware. You have to rename it by dropping the .abc extension from the end of the filename.
R is another free scripting language, and it’s widely used for doing data analysis, graphing, and related tasks. If you don’t know how to use R, I can provide you with some guidance on installing it and running it. It’s not hard. You’ll also have to edit the R script to provide a valid path to the data file.
The script displays a series of single-digit numbers on the screen. Your job is to hit the key that corresponds to the number. The program keeps track of how long it takes you to hit the key. A testing session consists of 35 individual trials, where each of the numbers 2 through 8 is presented as a target (in random order) five times.
When you run the executable the first time, just keep the defaults for the first session. You can always change them for subsequent runs. At the end of each session, the script will save all your settings and use them as the defaults the next time you launch it. The script will also create an output file with all your results. If the output file already exists, the script will append to it (not overwrite it). The script expects all these files to be in the same Windows folder. The specific location of the folder shouldn’t matter, so you can put it on your Windows desktop or wherever you prefer.
When you run the test, use your index finger to hit the target key on the keyboard. In between trials, you should hover your finger above the “5” key, or maybe lightly touch the top of that key. If you press the wrong key, or if you’re too quick or too slow, you’ll be forced to perform a correction trial to give you additional practice. The output file will contain a record of all the trials and an indication of which ones were valid, which ones were wrong, and which ones were the correction trials. You’ll be able to see this if you examine the .csv file that’s generated. The R script will read this .csv file to create the graphs. You might have run through two or more testing sessions before the R script will work.
A couple of other pointers:
The script seems sensitive to the refresh rate on your monitor. Faster refresh rates lead to faster reaction times. I also find that doing the test on a laptop produces slower reaction times, but this might be due to the refresh rate on the laptop screen.
When you are running the script, don’t use your mouse to click on anything during the testing session. If you do, you’ll start to hear little “activation beeps” when the targets are presented to you. There’s probably some way to fix this in the script, but I haven’t figure out how to do it yet.
There is a definite learning curve involved in doing the reaction time test. It may take several weeks or more before your scores reach a plateau.
If you do end up using the script, I’d be very interested in hearing about your experience. Email me at alexc@aya.yale.edu and let me know what you think. Questions, bug reports, and suggestions are also welcome.