Design and construction of a system for reaction time test and anticipation skill estimation

Background and Aim: Measurement of reaction time and anticipation skill are used widely in therapeutic exercises or sport programs. Improvement of anticipation skill and reaction time in any exercise or activity that need fast and correct reaction time for deciding and doing a suitable movement, can improve the motor control and its strategies as well as central processing. There is a need for an easy-to-use program that can run reaction time tasks and anticipation skills with no special experiments. There is no system for objective measurement of above variables in our country, so designing and construction of a system for reaction time test and anticipation skill estimation was carried out. Materials and Methods: A system that consist of software, lap top, LCD and key board was designed. The software of the system had two subsystems for measuring reaction time and estimating anticipation skill. Results: By use of the above equipments, 6 tests of video choice reaction time, audio choice reaction time, video complex choice reaction time, audio complex choice reaction time, high speed anticipation skill and low speed anticipation skill were performed. Structural and content validity of the system was estimated very high. Conclusion: Current system can use in many therapeutic and sport centers simply and provide basic data about motor control strategies. By use of it, there is a better judgment about effectiveness of various treatments and sport-men selection, too. Key words: Reaction time, Anticipation skill estimation, Test, System