What is an average reaction time?
There is no single average reaction time that fits every person and test. A useful comparison needs the same cue, response, equipment and kind of average.
Start with your own result
Take a reaction test to see your own attempts, median and average.
Your browser score includes display and input delays. The studies below give context; they do not rank your result.
What published studies found
Adults using calibrated equipment
Woods, Wyma, Yund, Herron and Reed (2015) reported a mean visual simple reaction time of 231 ms, or 213 ms after correcting for measured hardware delays, in 1,469 New Zealand adults aged 18–65.
Participants responded to visual stimuli on calibrated equipment. The corrected figure removes delays measured for that equipment; it is not a correction you can apply to your own browser score.
A smaller group taking repeated tests
Woods, Wyma, Yund and Herron (2015) reported a first-session mean of 231.5 ms in the repeated-testing experiment's 48 control participants aged 18–46.
This is the paper's reported first-session mean, not a clinical cutoff. Volunteers came from the San Francisco Bay Area; this was a small selected group, not a sample of all gamers. The study's separate clinical and simulated-response experiments are not benchmarks for this site.
Why your result may be different
A simple reaction test asks you to respond when a cue appears. A choice test also asks you to decide which response fits. Audio cues, visual cues and start lights use different signals, so keep them separate.
A browser measures from its cue timestamp to the input event it receives. Display refresh, browser scheduling, your input device and audio output can add delay. We do not subtract an assumed device delay. A different score on another setup does not establish a change in your reactions.
Average or median?
The mean adds your attempt times and divides by the number of attempts. The median is the middle time after sorting them. One delayed response can move the mean more than the median. Our test shows both, alongside every valid attempt, so you can see what changed. See the reaction scoring rules.
Is my reaction time good?
Use your own comparable runs as a starting point. Keep the same cue, input, browser and device, and look for a repeatable change across sessions. A single best attempt is not your usual result. Age-group averages from one study are not personal limits, and these studies do not establish a fastest-human record.
Your scores are recreational measurements, not a health assessment. For a repeatable setup, follow the reaction practice routine. To try a task with a decision as well as a cue, use the choice reaction test.