response time

English

Noun

response time (plural response times)

1. (biology, medicine) The period of time between the application of a stimulus and the associated response from a cell or tissue
   • 1896, The medical chronicle, page 136: 

     Professor G. Fano (Florence), after accurately determining the "latent period," or "response time," following faradic stimulation of a given motor area

2. The time taken for a person (or human-controlled system) to respond to a request
   • 1931 September 2, “Police Praise Radio as Best Crime Weapon”, Chicago Tribune:

     the average response time on a call was 3.1 minutes

3. (electronics) The time taken for the display of an instrument to move to a new value following a step change
4. (computing) The period of time between a request for a service and the associated response; typically the request is caused by a user at a terminal hitting the return key, and the response is displayed on a screen

Derived terms

• fractal response time

Translations

Time between stimulus and cell or tissue response

Time between request and human response

Time between step change and instrument display update

Time between request and computer service response

• Portuguese: tempo de resposta (pt) m