Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, United Kingdom.
Dev Psychol. 2012 Sep;48(5):1262-76. doi: 10.1037/a0027550. Epub 2012 Mar 5.
Men are often found to have faster and less variable reaction times (RTs) than do women. However, it has not been established whether these differences occur in children. One suggestion is that sex differences in RT variability may be due to the effect of sex hormones on the brain and, by implication, may be expected in adults but not in children. The present study investigates sex differences in RT mean and intraindividual variability in a sample that includes both children and adults (age range = 4-75 years). Mean and intraindividual variability of simple RT (SRT) and 4-choice RT (CRT) were measured in 1,994 visitors to science festivals held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2008 and 2009 and in Cheltenham and Cambridge, England, in 2008. The commonly reported pattern of decreasing RT mean and variability in childhood and adolescence, followed by an increase in mean and variability through adulthood and into old age, was confirmed. Greater intraindividual variability for females in SRT and CRT was observed in adults but not in children. Males had significantly faster mean SRT than did females across the life span, but there were no sex differences in mean CRT.
男性的反应时间（RT）通常比女性更快且更稳定。然而，这些差异是否在儿童中存在还没有得到证实。有一种观点认为，RT 变异性的性别差异可能是由于性激素对大脑的影响所致，因此可以预期这种差异在成年人中存在，但在儿童中不存在。本研究在一个包含儿童和成年人（年龄范围为 4-75 岁）的样本中，研究了 RT 均值和个体内变异性的性别差异。在 2008 年和 2009 年在苏格兰爱丁堡以及 2008 年在英格兰切尔滕纳姆和剑桥举行的科学节上，对 1994 名参观者的简单 RT（SRT）和 4 选择 RT（CRT）的均值和个体内变异性进行了测量。研究结果证实了在儿童和青少年时期 RT 均值和变异性下降，然后在成年期和老年期 RT 均值和变异性增加的常见模式。在成年人中观察到 SRT 和 CRT 的女性个体内变异性大于男性，但在儿童中则没有性别差异。在整个生命周期中，男性的 SRT 均值都明显快于女性，但 CRT 的均值没有性别差异。
