Lane Changer – Reaction Time On The Highway
How To Play Lane Changer
Lane change is quite a simple game on the surface.
Use the arrow keys (note, as of this article the WASD keys are not an option) to move your little man on his motorcycle along the highway. The left and right keys make him go slower or faster while the up and down keys make him go up and down to change lanes.
As levels get harder there will be more traffic, but there will be lanes closed off to make your course narrower and that much harder to navigate! Also, the red lanes (the closed off ones) will sometimes randomly change!
Do all this while racking up as many points as you can … and not crashing into other vehicles of course.
Response Time
This is also called Reaction Time. It really boils down to how long it takes to when we perceive something to when we respond to it.
Reaction time depends on various factors:
- Perception: Seeing, hearing, or feeling a stimulus with certainty is essential to having good reaction time. When the starter shoots the gun at the beginning of a race, the sound is received by the athlete’s ears (they perceive the stimulus).
- Processing: In order to have good reaction time, it’s necessary to be focused and understand the information well. Following the previous example, the runners, after hearing the gun, will be able to distinguish the sound from other background noise and know that it is time to start running (process the stimulus).
- Response: Motor agility is necessary in order to be able to act and have good response time. When the runners perceived and correctly processes the signal, they started moving their legs (respond to the stimulus).
If any of these parts is altered or damaged, the entire cognitive process can be thrown off. But I can also depend on how complex it is. So, the harder it is, the longer it’s going to take to react. But how familiar you are with the stimuli also has an affect, but not in the way you think.
Actually, the more familiar you are, the slower you reaction time! Then there’s if you’re tired or sick. Also, which of your senses is getting the information? E.g. listening is one of the faster ones.
Shifting
When something different or unexpected happens, our brain needs the cognitive skill “Shifting.” It helps us problem solve and adapt to the twists and turns life throws at us (and we all know that happens ever single day – pause so we can all take a deep breath).
Combined with “mental flexibility”, it makes up part of our “Executive Functions” (which are key for whether we are successful in so many part of how we have structure our society).
Characteristics of someone with strong cognitive shifting may be the following:
- Good mental shifting allows you to adapt quickly to changes or new situations.
- Cognitive flexibility helps tolerate changes that may occur when problem-solving or carrying out a task. It allows you to create alternative solutions.
- People with good cognitive shifting are easily able to transition from one activity to another and know how to carry themselves properly in every situation.
- They can capture various dimensions of reality, see from different points of view, and recognize hidden relationships, which allows them to easily find different solutions to the same problem.
- People with mental flexibility can better tolerate errors and changes, are able to think about a situation from another person’s point of view, and are easily able to find compromises.
Estimation
“Estimation is one of our most important neuropsychological functions, as many of our daily activities depend on our ability to estimate speed, distance, or time.”
For example, if you’re playing baseball, your estimation skills are so important. Because if you have to catch the ball, you have to judge the speed, trajectory, your speed, etc. But it’s not just about what’s going on in that very moment. Our brains need Estimation that’s linked with past experiences as well so we can function easier from day to day.
- Driving requires you to estimate the speed of traffic, distance between cars, time it will take you to stop, etc. Being able to make safe decisions quickly requires estimation.
- Making any kind of judgement about an amount of something, like how much the bag of rice weighs, or how many apples you will need to reach 1 lb at the store.
- Estimation is essential to playing sports. You need to be able to estimate how fast a ball is coming at you, how far away it is, how long it’ll take to reach you, how heavy it is, etc.
- When walking on a busy street, you need to be able to estimate the distance between the people around you. If you’re planning on passing someone in front of you, you need to be able to calculate how much time you have to run ahead before someone will run into you.
Lane Changer Conclusion
Lane Changer feels like one of those old arcade games but with the added benefit of exercising vital cognitive functions. So, if you feel like adding this game to your regime (3 times a week 20 minutes per session), why not give it a try?
