The Effect of Colored Filters on Reaction Time
People wear different types of glasses for various purposes ranging from improving vision to blocking UV rays, and more recently, for playing sports and video games. Glasses designed for video games and sports claim to improve performance through colored lens technology. The purpose of this research was to determine how different colored filters effect a person’s reaction time. In order to test this, human test subjects performed a reaction time test using a Java program on a computer. The Java program asked each test subject to type five randomly generated letters, and it recorded the time from when each letter initially appeared to when the subject typed it and pressed enter. The average of the five times was recorded. Each test subject performed the Java program nine times, three times with two colors of filters, red, blue, green, or yellow, and with their unfiltered vision. The average time for both filters and unfiltered vision was recorded. For each test subject, two differences in reaction time were calculated.
Two statistical tests were used to analyze the data obtained in this research. First, an ANOVA test was run to determine if there was a difference in reaction time between any of the four colors of filters. The results of the ANOVA test determined there was a difference among the four colors, so Two-Sample t Tests were run to compare reaction times of the six color combinations. Based on the Two-Sample t Tests, it was determined that the yellow filter produced the smallest mean change in reaction time and the fastest reaction times. The red, blue, and green filters produced slower reaction times and about the same, larger changes in reaction time.
Research Conducted By:
Marisa Perez
Lakeview High School
Emily Solecki
Fraser High School
Warren Consolidated Schools