What is a good reaction time?
Each study uses its own equipment, so treat these as a guide, not a grade. In Pulse, times up to 0.30 s count as perfect and times under 0.40 s as a pass; those are the game’s rules, not a medical norm. Tapping before the lights go out is a false start.
How the test works
It is a simple reaction test: one signal (the lights go out) and one response (your tap).
- Press Start. The three lights come on one by one at an irregular pace, so you cannot guess the timing.
- When they are all out, tap anywhere on the panel or press the space bar.
- The time runs from lights out to your tap. Try several times and look at your average, not a single try.
Why your result can vary
Because reaction time depends on you and on your device. Factors that can change it include age, sex, practice and fatigue (Jain et al., 2015).
Age matters little: about 0.5 ms more per year between 18 and 65 (Woods et al., 2015). Sleep matters too: sleep loss slows responses and makes lapses longer than half a second more frequent (Lim & Dinges, 2008). Even within one long session, responses get a little slower: from 228.1 ms in the first block of 20 trials to 237.2 ms in the last (Woods et al., 2015).
Your device adds time as well: screen, mouse and software delays can add up to 100 ms to the measured time (Woods et al., 2015). Always compare your scores on the same device.
Want to see how it changes over the years? Read average reaction time by age.
What about in sport?
In athletics, a reaction off the blocks faster than 0.100 s is flagged as a possible false start.
When a certified start information system is used, it alerts the starter with an acoustic signal to a possible false start whenever an athlete’s reaction time is under 0.100 s, and the starter then checks the start (World Athletics, 2026, Technical Rule 16.6).
FAQ
Can you improve your reaction time?
Partly. On fast choice tasks, action video game players responded 11% faster than non-players with the same accuracy, and some training studies indicate that playing can speed up responses (Dye et al., 2009). Sleep loss, on the other hand, slows you down (Lim & Dinges, 2008).
Is a phone or a computer better?
Either works. What matters is comparing your scores on the same device, because every screen and mouse adds its own delay.
Do you save my results?
No account needed, and the test keeps no history of your times: reload the page and you start from scratch.