A Wrist-Worn Multimodal Reaction Time Monitoring Device for Ecologically-Valid Cognitive Assessment

Abstract

Reaction time (RT) is a fundamental measure in cognitive and neurophysiological assessment, yet most existing RT systems require active user engagement and controlled environments, limiting their use in real-world settings. This paper introduces a low cost wrist-worn instrumentation platform designed to capture human reaction times (RT) across auditory, visual, and haptic modalities with millisecond latency in real-world conditions. The device integrates synchronized stimulus delivery and event detection within a compact microcontroller-based system, eliminating the need for user focus or examiner supervision. Emphasizing measurement fidelity, we detail the hardware architecture, timing control algorithms, and calibration methodology used to ensure consistent latency handling across modalities. A proof-of-concept study with six adult participants compares this system against a benchmark computer-based RT tool across five experimental conditions. The results confirm that the device achieves statistically comparable RT measurements with strong modality consistency, supporting its potential as a novel tool for non-obtrusive cognitive monitoring. Contributions include a validated design for time-critical behavioral measurement and a demonstration of its robustness in unconstrained, ambient-noise environments. It offers a powerful new tool for continuous, real-world cognitive monitoring and has significant potential for both research and clinical applications.