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Reaction Time Research Question: To design on investigation into stimuli ( sight/sound ) that may affect reaction time ( time taken for a response to occur in reaction to a stimulus. ) Background information: Humans perceive their outside world through five senses: touch sight, taste, smell and sound. The reason why we have the 5 major senses is to detect and discriminate among the signals that comes from our environment. These signals carry information necessary for us to support our vital functions, such as taste and smell in eating, as ell as functions used in communicating with others and in our work, such as sight, touch, and hearing. HTTPS://www. Dana. Org/news/brainteaser/detail. Asps? Id=10064 Reaction time shows that sound stimuli is faster that visual stimuli. This because the sensory process for light is more neurologically complex than for sound stimuli. Sound stimuli have shorter distance to the brain than the visual stimuli. The sound stimuli is processed in ear then it sent to the temporal lobe and back to the ear, but the visual stimuli is going to the back of the brain to occipital lobe and then back to eyes. This is why the distance of sound stimuli is shorter, because the light or the picture can not sent straight to the brain.
Hypothesis: The reaction time will be smaller when the tested person is going to be exposed to the sound stimuli. , because sound reaches the brain faster than a visual impulse. Independent Variable: Stimuli (Sight/ Sound) Dependent Variable: Reaction time Controlled Variables: Controlled Variables I How do we control them? I Timer I After each trial, we have to press the button restart, because we have to start counting from seconds) I Partner’s Hand I The person that I was testing ad to hold his hand above the Stop button.
So whenever he She hears the sound of a button or sees when I press the Start button, he/she has to react and press stop button as fast as possible. I Age of the partner I I used only one person to test this experiment. So we could see the reaction off 17-18 years old girl each trial. I I In the experiment we used the same timer for each trial. I Partner was Timer female I I had only one female partner that was controlled I Apparatus: 1. Timer Method: 1 . First of all take the timer and place it on the table. 2. Then you and your partner have to sit next to the timer. 3.
When your partner is ready, by using the sight , he has to follow you, till you press the button Start. 4. When you press the button Start, your partner has to press the same button to Stop it. 5. Then take the result in second. 6. Restart the timer after every trial. 7. Carry on until you finish fifth trial 1 . The second part of our experiment is the same as the first part, but this time we only use the sound stimuli. 2. Partner has to close his eyes. 3. When you pressed the button Start, by hearing the sound click” from the button, ratter has to stop the timer by pressing the same button. . Restart the timer after 5. Carry on until you finish fifth trial Raw Data: Table shows the difference of a partner’s reacting time by using visual stimulus first 5 trials and then sound stimulus. Trials I Visual Stimulus (seconds) I Sound stimulus (seconds) II | 0. 37 | 0. 21 | 2 10. 4 10. 22 1 3 | 0. 52 | 0. 36 | 4 10. 35 10. 3 1 5 10. 36 10. 4 1 Average | | 0. 298 *SD | 0. 066 10. 079 1 Calculations: *Standard Deviation calculated by Excel ** (0. 37+0. 4+0. 52+0. 35+0. 36)/5 = 0. 328 seconds ( calculated by Excel) Graph:
Bar graph shows the difference of reaction time between the visual stimulus and the sound stimulus. *Error Bars represents Conclusion: the Standard deviation The purpose of this lab was to determine whether people respond faster to the visual stimuli or to the sound stimuli.. The lab clearly shows that human body responds faster to sound stimulus than sight stimulus. Hypothesis were accepted , because as it was hypothesized that the reaction time will be smaller when the tested person is going to be exposed to the sound stimuli. , because sound reaches the brain faster than a visual impulse.
The average number that was with closed eyes, by using only sound of the button we’ve got 0. 298 seconds. Which is less than visual stimulus that is 0. 328 seconds. Bar graph shows the average seconds of sight stimulus and sound stimulus. From the graph we can see that, my partner’s body reacted faster to the sound stimulus than to sight stimulus. This experiment provides that sound stimulus is more effective in motor responses than in sight stimulus. Error bars represents the standard deviation. The standard deviation was calculated by using Excel. Error bars are showing how varied data is.
The conclusion of this lab asserts that the sight and sound stimulus are very important in our daily life. Sound stimulus adds speed to the sight stimulus, as the sound reaches the brain faster than the sight stimulus. E. G. The alarm clock will wake you up if it made noise rather than it shown the light. Evaluation: Error I Improvement Noise in testing room (class room) I People were carrying out similar experiments. Some of them were using music. Noise was the biggest error in this experiment. My partner couldn’t concentrate on the sound (click) of the button, that’s why sometimes he was distracted.
To improve it, to carry out this experiment, we will need a silent room. So its easier to concentrate on experiment. I A lot of people in the same class room I People were using different computers, different lights, different experiments that was distracting the partner when we were carrying out the first part of our experiment with opened eyes. To improve this error we have to be alone in the room. I Only one person to test. I To improve this experiment we need to test different people more than 5 trials, to see the difference of the reaction in each person. I