> In a test which involved pressing a button when I saw a light go on, my reaction times improved from an average of 650 milliseconds before the machine was turned on, to 550 milliseconds with it on. These findings are in line with results from other subjects.
The average reaction time is 256 milliseconds on this web site:
I have no idea how the quoted test was formatted, but a twitch reaction when a subject is prepared for it within a short time-frame (10s like this website) will be much faster than a test where the subject rests or is made to focus on another task for longer periods between sampling.
Also, It sounds like that particular sample was from a cohort of stroke victims, perhaps the stroke also affected their reaction times, or stroke victims represent a generally older demographic and have slower reaction times outright than the younger cohort a website might be measuring.
The average reaction time is 256 milliseconds on this web site:
http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime