People are quicker when reacting that when initiating
Inspired by Hollywood cowboy films, researchers have delved into the science of gun fights.
Scientists discovered that people move faster when reacting to something than when they perform “planned actions”.
In a gun-free experiment, described in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, they studied the speed of these two types of movement.
The work aims to answer why the first to draw his gun in a shoot-out was often the one to get shot.
But, as well as unpicking some of the mythology of the American West, the scientists say their results may be useful for diagnosing and helping people with Parkinson’s disease.
Pairs of participants were put in a button-pressing competition with each other. Each was secretly given instructions of how long to wait before pushing a row of buttons.
“There was no ‘go’ signal,” said Dr Andrew Welchman from the University of Birmingham, who led the research.
… Continue Reading


