What Is a Good Reaction Time?

Reaction time tests measure how quickly you respond to a visual stimulus — typically, a screen changing color. Your measured time includes not just your neural processing, but also display latency, browser event processing, and input device delay. This makes browser-based reaction time tests useful for self-tracking, but not directly comparable to lab measurements.

MetricRally Reference Ranges

MetricRally uses the following broad reference bands for browser-based visual reaction time tests. These are not population percentiles — they are general ranges based on common browser-test observations.

What Affects Your Score

• ▸ Display latency: Monitor refresh rate (60 Hz vs 144 Hz) affects when the stimulus becomes visible. A 60 Hz display adds up to ~16 ms of display delay.
• ▸ Input device: Mouse polling rate, wireless transport, and touchscreen processing all add delay. Touch results are typically higher than mouse results.
• ▸ Browser and system load: Background processes, browser extensions, and rendering engine differences can introduce jitter.
• ▸ Attention and fatigue: Your state of alertness, time of day, and recent sleep all affect neural reaction speed.

How MetricRally Measures Reaction Time

MetricRally uses performance.now() for high-resolution timing. The test runs 5 attempts, discards false starts (clicks before the stimulus appears), and reports your average, median, best, and worst times. The average of 5 attempts is your final score.

How to Get More Consistent Results

• ▸ Use the same device, browser, and input method each time.
• ▸ Keep the test tab focused — background tabs may throttle timers.
• ▸ Rest your hand near the mouse or screen. Position matters.
• ▸ Look at the center of the test area, not the edges.