Reaktionsbereitschaft

Reaktionsbereitschaft is a German term meaning “readiness to react” and is used in various scientific and applied contexts to describe how quickly and appropriately an individual or system can respond to a stimulus. The concept combines elements of perception, cognition, and motor execution. It is closely related to, but not identical with, reaction time, which measures the exact interval between stimulus and response, and attentional readiness, which refers to the state of attention.

In psychology, Reaktionsbereitschaft is often operationalized through tasks that require rapid responses to visual or auditory cues, such as go/no-go or stop-signal paradigms. Researchers assess both speed and accuracy, recognizing that high readiness can come at the cost of increased error rates. The construct is relevant for studying executive function, impulse control, and age-related changes in cognitive processing.

The term is also applied in biological and medical research, where it may denote a physiological capacity to mobilize specific inhibitors or excitatory mediators in response to inflammatory signals. For instance, the readiness of neutrophils to migrate toward chemokines is sometimes described using this phrase.

In engineering and robotics, Reaktionsbereitschaft denotes a system’s capability to detect a change in the environment and execute a corrective action within a safety-critical timeframe. The design of sensor fusion algorithms often targets optimal readiness.

Overall, Reaktionsbereitschaft is a multi-disciplinary notion that captures the readiness dimension of reactive behavior, bridging neuroscience, behavioral science, and technology.