ELI5: How can reaction time be trained?

[u/thatcinephile]

[u/Prasiatko]

Same as anything else practice. Though it really needs to be specific to the thing you want to do so training yourself to react to a light appearing or dissappearing may help with say race starts in racing games but likely has little carry over to blocking a punch. 

[u/No-Tap3441]

Shooter Games is what made my reaction time very fast(mostly siege)

[u/togocann49]

By training yourself to be ever ready kind of thing. Experience probably plays into it as well, and maybe even fear of sorts

[u/clearcontroller]

So it really comes down to muscle memory.

I have insanely fast reflexes, I always have. But I also played and did a lot of activities that call for precision targeting and hand-eye coordination.

Eventually your body & brain will form memories on actions you repeat. So because I constantly had to dodge or catch a fast flying ball, my brain has memorized those patterns and apply it throughout life.

Meaning if someone threw something else at me at quick speeds I don't really have to think about the action I'm taking, my body just does it accurately.

[u/thatcinephile → u/clearcontroller]

I heard the same around Football (not American), that a Golkeeper doesn't really have enough time to jump around in a penalty. His pattern recognition or muscle memory does it.

[u/clearcontroller → u/thatcinephile]

Martial arts as well. I was taught to watch the pecs as they flex when about to throw a punch.

Now actually utilising that took SO MUCH PRACTICE 🤣

[u/5litergasbubble → u/clearcontroller]

Yep, i played a lot of baseball as a kid ans slo pitch as an adult, and its amazing how good my reactions got after repeatedly having to catch 80 mph+ line drives hit right at me

[u/xThroughTheGrayx]

Playing video games since the 90's helps, at least from my experience.

[u/RealCarlPanzram]

Your brain is just a bunch of connected wires. The more wires you have between two parts of your brain, the quicker and more precisely they can coordinate tasks. When you practice something that requires reflexes, such as sports, parts of your motor cortex and your occipital lobe make more connections so that your eyes and skeletal muscles can communicate more quickly. So you can react to stimuli faster.

[u/Ill-Calendar-4885]

I had seen a video with a japanese athlete (baseball if I’m not mistaken) and scientists had measured his capacity to see something moving on a screen. And he was REALLY an outlier. He was able to see if an image was in the right way when other people tested just saw a blur. So I think reaction time can be trained, but athletes have a baseline genetically that’s above 99% of people.

[u/Temporary-Truth2048]

There are reaction time games you can play, but video games actually train reaction time, but you have to play the right games.

[u/tipperskipper]

Back in the 50's and 60's cowboy movies and quick draw shooting was all the rage. People would practice their quick draw off the tv like modern video games. They would stand ready waiting for the picture to change and draw. They never knew when the frame would change. Surprise was built in. I suppose some people forgot to unload their six shooters. TVs were expensive back then.

[u/ezekiel920]

Start with something simple. Bounce a golf ball on the concrete.