Understanding Response Time

I'm finishing up a weekly sport shot sweeper series and I finally feel like I'm gaining a bit more confidence on sport patterns. That said, I am trying to improve my understanding of ball motion. One of the crazy things about sport patterns is learning the intricacies of your equipment (maybe your "THS killer" no longer looks so good, but a previously written off piece looks amazing).

My question pertains to response time. What factors are most crucial to it? Are all pearls fast response? Does layout significantly alter response time? How do Asymmetrical cores generally compare to Symmetrical cores?

I had great success with the Jackal Ghost this summer and it is causing me to try to more fully understand the rest of my arsenal.