Reaction time
It takes a while for a person to react to a stimulus. This is because the signal needs time to be transmitted and processed. The reaction time for the three stimuli of visual, auditory, and tactile is generally as follows:
(tactile ≒ auditory?) < visual
According to various research findings, some studies suggest that tactile sensory perception is the fastest, while others claim that auditory perception is quicker. However, there is general agreement that visual perception tends to be the slowest.
This difference in reaction times arises because the brain processes each type of sensory information differently. For vision, a signal must go through several complex stages — from the retina, through image processing, and finally recognition. In contrast, auditory and tactile signals are processed through relatively simpler neural pathways, resulting in faster reactions.
For example, in track and field competitions, an athlete who starts within 0.1 seconds of the starting gun is considered to have made a false start. This is because such an immediate reaction is deemed physiologically impossible for the human body.