title: Computerized and fingertip measures of reaction time compared in individuals.
abstract: The main purpose of our study was to discover the correlation between the field fingertip and computerized methods of measuring reaction time selectively of the dominant and non-dominant hands for individual, non-trained, healthy young people of senior school age. Forty one, 17 year old, strongly right handed scholars, 21 boys and 20 girls with body mass indices between 18.5 and 25.0, participated in the experiment. The field fingertip method employed a metal metric ruler and the computerized method used the Vienna Test System. The point biserial coefficient of correlation between these two methods was calculated for each individual. The results of demonstrated that the vast majority of participants, 95.2% of males and 85.0% of females for the right hand and 95.2% of males and 95.0% of females for the left hand had a high level of point biserial coefficient of correlation between the two methods. A small number of participants, 3 females and 1 male, did not demonstrate a high level of correlation. We speculate that this fact may be due to differential expression of muscle fibre types between males and females. The portability and ease of use of the field fingertip method are advantageous in the field research and provide a reliable measure of reaction time. It is important to control the initial gap between the thumb and index finger of the person being tested. A metallic metric ruler is adequate experimental instrumentation. The mass of the dropped item does not influence the measurement.
authors.affiliation: Physiology Department of Russian National Research Medical University by Pirogov, Moscow, Russsian Federation.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gutnik
authors.affiliation: Department of Theory of Sport and Kinesiology, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University of Physical Education in Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lyakh
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Theory, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University of Physical Education in Krakow, Poland.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gierczuk
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Social and Health Sciences, Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: dnash@unitec.ac.nz.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nash
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003201:Computers; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*