4 ms·

I'm not familiar with the reaction time test. Based on some reading I've done, ADHD is associated with higher variance in reaction time. Despite my ADHD symptom

I'm not familiar with the reaction time test. Based on some reading I've done, ADHD is associated with higher variance in reaction time. Despite my ADHD symptoms, I've never thought reaction time was one of them. Quite the opposite really. The hours and hours honing my "skills" in first person shooters puts my reaction time and precision well above human average. But basically the only time I'm testing my reaction speeds is when headed towards those ADHD hits. The few times I've had opportunity to test it, it's felt very "game like" in science centers and places like that and I still have consistently fast reaction times. The "clumsy" aspect is similar. I'm not clumsy. My balance and coordination are a little above average based on observations like rock hopping to cross streams while hiking.

teamonkey 1y ago
Out of interest, how are you with fighting games (Steeet Fighter, Mortal Kombat etc.) and Souls-like games where you have to predict and parry at the correct moment?
- tstrimple 1y ago
  I never got into fighting games outside of Bushido Blade which I think translated quite well in my domination of Souls-like games. Domination is an exaggeration. I don't feel like I'm particularly good at those games, but I don't think they are nearly as difficult as the reputation conveys. It took me fewer than a dozen tries to kill Malenia in Elden Ring and most of the bosses I was able to kill in the first or second run. On the other hand I had a hell of a time getting used to the parry sequences in Expedition 33. It felt at times like they were intentionally trying to fool me into parrying at the wrong times based on visual cues. Which... they were. The auditory cues were more reliable and once I got used to that I breezed through the rest of the game.
  - teamonkey 1y ago
    That’s interesting, I’m more-or-less the same. I ask because FPS gameplay contains a whole host of different skills, including the precision of your movements, the ability to accurately predict and track the enemy’s position on screen, as well as your reaction times, sequencing movements and so on. Potentially you could be exceptionally good at some of these and unusually bad at others and still emerge as a good FPS player. Fighting games are a bit more pure, leaning more heavily on reaction times, timing and sequencing of moves. Recent understanding of dyslexia is that it’s actually a kind of sequencing problem in the brain. I wonder if this is more descriptive of the issues faced by ADHDers?
    - tstrimple 1y ago
      I wonder now if I tended to avoid those more frenetic fighting games because to your point it becomes reaction, rection, rection. It's almost constant throughout a fight to the point where it looks like button mashing to the uninitiated. If my reaction times are a more limited pool, I could see them getting exhausted in a fast fighting game where as something like Bushido Blade just needs those great reflexes for a couple exchanges. Similar in FPS where you can balance reactions and game sense. Even Elden Ring boss fights aren't as crazy as a Tekken match against a skilled opponent.
DrewADesign 1y ago
It’s not a simple quantitative reaction time test— they use it to look at various qualitative things based on what you’re reacting to. For example, how often and in what ways you improperly gave anticipatory reactions based ostensible patterns that change without warning. I have no expertise in the matter but I imagine someone with very slow reaction time or particularly bad pattern recognition would make it much more difficult to get reliable results from that test.

teamonkey 1y ago

Out of interest, how are you with fighting games (Steeet Fighter, Mortal Kombat etc.) and Souls-like games where you have to predict and parry at the correct moment?

tstrimple 1y ago
I never got into fighting games outside of Bushido Blade which I think translated quite well in my domination of Souls-like games. Domination is an exaggeration. I don't feel like I'm particularly good at those games, but I don't think they are nearly as difficult as the reputation conveys. It took me fewer than a dozen tries to kill Malenia in Elden Ring and most of the bosses I was able to kill in the first or second run. On the other hand I had a hell of a time getting used to the parry sequences in Expedition 33. It felt at times like they were intentionally trying to fool me into parrying at the wrong times based on visual cues. Which... they were. The auditory cues were more reliable and once I got used to that I breezed through the rest of the game.
- teamonkey 1y ago
  That’s interesting, I’m more-or-less the same. I ask because FPS gameplay contains a whole host of different skills, including the precision of your movements, the ability to accurately predict and track the enemy’s position on screen, as well as your reaction times, sequencing movements and so on. Potentially you could be exceptionally good at some of these and unusually bad at others and still emerge as a good FPS player. Fighting games are a bit more pure, leaning more heavily on reaction times, timing and sequencing of moves. Recent understanding of dyslexia is that it’s actually a kind of sequencing problem in the brain. I wonder if this is more descriptive of the issues faced by ADHDers?
  - tstrimple 1y ago
    I wonder now if I tended to avoid those more frenetic fighting games because to your point it becomes reaction, rection, rection. It's almost constant throughout a fight to the point where it looks like button mashing to the uninitiated. If my reaction times are a more limited pool, I could see them getting exhausted in a fast fighting game where as something like Bushido Blade just needs those great reflexes for a couple exchanges. Similar in FPS where you can balance reactions and game sense. Even Elden Ring boss fights aren't as crazy as a Tekken match against a skilled opponent.

DrewADesign 1y ago

It’s not a simple quantitative reaction time test— they use it to look at various qualitative things based on what you’re reacting to. For example, how often and in what ways you improperly gave anticipatory reactions based ostensible patterns that change without warning. I have no expertise in the matter but I imagine someone with very slow reaction time or particularly bad pattern recognition would make it much more difficult to get reliable results from that test.