Reaction time and cognitive strategies: The role of education in task performance

Abstract

Aim of the studyLearning is an integral part of human experience, and sometimes it can even occur outside of our awareness. Many paradigms have been used to investigate learning and Reaction Time (RT) is one of the most applied parameters used. The present study aimed to confirm the existence of the practice effect and the relation between RT and education, but also to find a relationship among education and Imprinting Index, a measure of mental predisposition to be guided by a previous stimulus. Materials and methodsExperiments were carried on 20 healthy adult volunteers, which performed a specific visuomotor task. ResultsThe reduction of RT over time demonstrated an improvement of subjects’ performance confirming a practice effect. Results indicated a negative correlation between education and mean RT, namely the higher the education the lower the RT. A positive significant correlation was also found between education and an Imprinting index, namely the higher the education the higher the value of the imprinting effect. Furthermore, the high accuracy of the fine K-Nearest Neighbor classifying the subjects’ education attainment using RT and Imprinting index as features highlight how much education affects these two parameters. ConclusionsIndividuals with a higher level of education tend to have faster responses. This processing speed may result in better output in preventing or slowing cognitive decline. Moreover, more educated people tend to be more influenced by previous stimuli during response choice. Education has been found to be a key component in cognitive task performance, greatly influencing various parameters.