Reaction Times and Performance Variability in Touch and Desktop Users During a Stroop Task

Reaction times (RTs) are a measure of the time elapsed between the sensory stimulation and the occurrence of a response. It depends upon many factors. This paper focuses on one of the possible sources of variability introduced by the device used to gather RTs data and compares RTs performance between subjects who completed a Stroop task through desktop or mobile devices. The research hypothesizes that mobile devices users’ (a) have faster RTs in incongruent trials than the desktop ones, (b) have a lower error rate, and (c) perceive the task easier. The results showed significant differences in RTs, error rate, and perception of the difficulty of the task between devices but only the last two hypotheses are supported by data. Subjects under 40 years achieved a lower error rate than older people in the incongruent and neutral trials. Moreover, participants always perceived the task easier when they complete it through mobile devices. Some implications of the results are discussed, and a second ongoing within-subjects study is described.