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A simulation experiment of the same reminisces was created by a website using flashing colors on a screen and the participants’ reaction time to pressing a button. It makes sense to state that the test with the more complicated variables would have a slower reaction rate as the brain has to process more information at one time, but one does not know for sure. In the end, it turned out with a p-value of less than 0. 01 as a whole study; the results supported the hypothesis and confirmed all of the initial guesses.
This is applicable to the real Army in that in high stress tuitions, soldiers will have to make tough, yet quick, decisions to do the right thing and potentially save someone’s life. The Relationship between the Reaction Times of Open and Asymmetric Warfare Experiment As an infantry platoon leader, he/she notices that his/her soldiers perform urban warfare in a different way when placed in two dissimilar combat environments. The first environment is a conformist, open, environment when there are no civilians, only hostiles; the other atmosphere is more complex containing both civilians and enemies.
This creates a predicament as when moving through the latter setting, the soldier must make quick reactions to distinguish adversaries versus non-adversaries to avoid unneeded deaths. To simulate this, the platoon leader creates an online simulator to replicate what the soldiers go through when moving through open and asymmetric warfare environments. The first scenario, the simple reaction time, simulates the open warfare in which soldiers must press a key on the keyboard as quickly as possible after the color red flashes on the screen.
The second test, the choice reaction time, incorporates some session-making skills where the soldier must now press keys that correspond with two different colors, red and blue, where red imitates the enemy and blue represents the civilian. The prediction the platoon leader comes to before initiating the experiment is that the reaction time of the second scenario will be noticeably slower than the first because of the added complexity of not knowing which of the two colors will pop up on screen.
Methods Participants For this experiment, a total of 438 soldiers took participation. Of those 438 soldiers, 376 were males and 62 were females. The age groups being studied ranged from 17 years of age to 25 years of age. There were about 3. 86% soldiers at the age of 17, 48. 41% at the age of 18, 27. 50% at 19 years of age, 8. 18% at 20 years of age, 5. 68% at the age of 21, 4. 77% at the age of 22, 1 . 14% at the age of 23, and a mere 0. 23% for each 24 and 25 years of age. Figure 1. Pie Chart of Age Distribution.
Materials Research Methods Paper Handout Leno AXIS Tablet Microsoft Excel 2007 Internet Access Website (Figure 2): http://pool. Pap. Org/Experiments/Start. Asps? DID=19 Class ID from Instructor/Handout (“6037”) Procedure 1) Receive information about experiment from instructor. 2) Conduct “Reaction Time Color” at http://pool. Pap. Org/Experiments/Start. Asps? Led=AAA. Log in with Code from Instructor: “6037” b. Follow directions on-screen throughout Scenarios 1, 2, and 3 until completed. Take note of the first and third scenarios as they are the open and asymmetric warfare simulators. ) Receive, by email, raw data in an excel file and the PAP template for the paper from the instructor. 4) Calculate the pie chart for the age atmosphere using Microsoft Excel. ) Calculate the three measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) and standard deviation for both the simple and choice reactions using Excel formulas. 6) Analyze the data and determine if hypothesis was proven. 7) Type Research Paper in accordance to the PAP template and directions outlined in the Research Methods Paper Handout.
Experimental Design All the participants will be tested in both the simple reaction time and the choice reaction time. The simple reaction time experiment consists of the participant watching the computer screen as the screen flashes with a color. The participant will then press any key as quickly as possible whenever a red color flashes on the screen. The choice reaction time experiment constitutes of the participant reacting to two different flashes in an unpredictable order. The participant will press the for any blue flashes as they appear.
This type of experiment is called a “repeated measures” experiment because each participant is completing both tasks, thus each cadet is a part of both the experimental group and the control group signifying “each person is compared to his or her own performance” (“POLIO: General Psychology,” 2013). Because each cadet is a part of both groups, in order to maintain variability control throughout all the tests, the tasks are presented at random to eliminate any factors that may give the participant an advantage over others such as pre-anticipation and adaptability.
This difference is logically sound because when one only has to focus on eliminating a target without other variables to take into account, he or she will anticipate the test’s next stimulus. Whereas in the latter test, instead of having to worry about Just enemies, or the red flash, he or she has to be concerned with the blue flash, civilians, as to not kill any of them. When the flashes are played at random, the participant must stay attentive and aware of what is coming s he or she could be facing a non-lethal target.
The inferential statistical value, p=O. 006149, is virtually zero and is less than five percent, therefore the study rejects the null hypothesis: there is no relation between the reaction times of an open warfare and an asymmetric warfare. It already takes into account the randomness of the experiment including its sampling error. In fact, it supports the initial hypothesis by verifying there is a relationship between the two tests and that the decision-making one requires more time. As with any experiment, there is always room for improvement.
A way to further this study would be to have a third test that incorporates complete random timing of the pictures, not at nice and even three second intervals, but rather in an erratic pattern of numbers. Having this erratic problem could symbolize how a soldier would respond in real life to sudden, horrifying, and glorious moments. Conclusions Three hundred seventy-six males and sixty-two females later, the Reaction Time Experiment started. This is the end of the study and all f the findings support the initial hypothesis.
There are not any sources of error as the point of this experiment was to keep the data anonymous and tests completely random so there could have been no prior preparation. However, with that being said, there are several factors that could have adjusted our set of data points in such a way to throw us all. These threats to validity include fatigue, low levels of attentiveness, the mind being somewhere else at the time, not being focused, worried about other agenda items, etc.