Question: Why do some people have faster reactions than others?

Keith Siew answered on 28 Jun 2013:

Well that’s a complex question… alot of it has to do with what has become a reflex for that person… do that when the sense perceive something rather than it going to the higher control centres of the brain for processing, it is sent straight to the lower centres which have learnt what the appropriate response is and can instruct the reaction very quickly…

An example would be when someone trains themselves to block a hand moving toward them in martial arts… this can be trained and practised to the point it becomes a learned reflex response…

Another factor as to why some people respond faster than others would be obviously genetic differences that make their nerve cells work a little more efficiently than others… Or it can have to do with things like height… because the distance for the nerve impulses to travel in a 6ft6 person from someone stepping on their toe it travelling all the way to the brain and then a message back down to tell the foot to move out of the way would take longer than it would for the same signal to travel in a 5ft6 person!