Formal Lab Report

Douglas Mitchell Biology 111 Laboratory Report 18 FEB 2013 The Scientific Method design In disembodied spirit, both human and animal, answer snip deal spurious the difference between life and death. reaction condemnation is defined as the prison term it takes to react to a stimuli (Norman, 2011). In humans, hand dominance (left-handed vs. right-handed) can further furbish up this chemical reaction term. In this case a transparent study of reaction time and hand dominance is being employ to garnish the practical application of the scientific method in the laboratory. ObservationHuman reaction times vary person to person and often increase with age. This replace in reaction time can have little impact on a persons daily life, such as when answering a ringing telephone. But this change can overly have a dramatic impact when driving, working in stern environments, and negotiating busy streets and sidewalks. Literature Search Reaction time has been used as a psychologic al test since the mid-19th century (Deary, 1). Several studies have been conducted traffic with reaction time and the factors that can affect it.In their study titled formation of reaction time as a measure of cognitive juncture and quality of life in healthy egresss and patients, Jakobsen, Sorensen, et al studied and describe findings regarding diminished reaction times and the raise that poor health had on those times. Findings were conclusive that the healthier the individual, the better their replys. Hypothesis Individuals reaction time with their dominant hand is faster than those with their non-dominant hand. Conversely, there may be no statistically valid difference in the reaction time from one hand to the other. ExperimentTo test the variance in reaction time from dominant hand to non-dominant hand we set up an experiment victimization a simple reaction time test found in the free marketplace on an Android telephone. This application required the drug user to touch one of four colored stars that match the color of an determine star in the upper right hand corner. The subject was asked to echo this response 20 times and the total time was scored as the reaction time. If a subject made an incorrect touch then their time would continue until the correctly touched 20 stars. The subject would then be ask to repeat this test with their non-dominant hand.To standardize the testing instructions were provided by my team mates and it was decided that the subject would place the device on a flat surface in front of them and use the advocate finger on first their dominant hand and then their non-dominant hand. data was collected for 30 random subjects and analysis performed. entropy Analysis Data collected from the 30 random subjects was input and the following summary statistics were produced. rife Hand Mean Reaction fourth dimension (D) 18. 865 sec. Median Reaction Time (D) 17. 264 sec. Variance (D) 28. 235 sec. Standard Deviation (D) 5. 314 sec. Non-dominant HandMean Reaction Time (N) 17. 734 sec. Median Reaction Time (N) 16. 412 sec. Variance (N) 16. 130 sec. Standard Deviation (N) 4. 016 sec. The graphs below illustrate the mean for each hand as well as wrongdoing with in plus or minus one standard deviation. ending After conducting this experiment and reviewing the data, a few things became clear. One is that age of the subject had a significant impact on consequences with both hands. This is presumed to be the result of the interaction with a new technology. Younger subjects seemed to grasp the concept of what they were judge to do much quickly.Second, in this case, familiarity did non blood line contempt, but it did breed faster reaction times. As subjects became more comfortable with the application they were using, their response times decreased. The later of these two factors had a more global effect on our outcomes, thus disproving our hypothesis in this case. I do not believe these results to be conclusive or authoritative and simply put, more research is needed. References Deary, I. J. , Liewald, D. & Nissan, J. (2011) A free, easy-to-use, computer-based simple and four-choice reaction time class The dearly-liewald reaction time task.Behavior Research Methods (Online), 43(1), 258-268. Retrieved from http//search. proquest. com/docview/920259801? accountid=39001 Jakobsen, L. H. , Sorensen, J. M. , Rask, I. K. , Jensen, B. S. , & Kondrup, J. (2011). Validation of reaction time as a measure of cognitive function and quality of life in healthy subjects and patients. Nutrition, 27(5), 561-570. Doi http//dx. doi. org/10. 1016/j. nut. 2010. 08. 003 Norman, Celia (2011). General Biology 111 Laboratory Manual. Denver, CO Department of Biology, Arapahoe Community College.