LS1.3c Human Reaction Time

Auditory Reaction Time

Try it with your eyes open and closed.

What is Your Reaction Speed to Sound? | Playback.fmAre you as fast as a rabbit or slow as a sloth? Test your reaction times to sound now and see if you can beat 230ms to achieve superhuman speeds!

Ruler Drop Rxn Time Testing

You will be completing three different experiment simultaneously. You will be comparing

genders reaction time (girls v. boys),
dominant v. non-dominant hand and
multi-tasking non-dominant v. non-multi-tasking non-dominant.

For each of the experiments write a brief hypothesis of which reaction time will be faster. Include a brief explanation to support your hypothesis.

Procedure:

Practice Trials:

To ensure that you have consistent data, you will practice how to collect consistent data. Come to common agreements for the class.

Dominant Hand:

Using your dominant hand, collect data on how far the ruler falls before you catch it.

Repeat for your non-Dominant Hand and multi-tasking.

Drawing Conclusions from Data

On your spreadsheet, create a DUPLICATE SHEET.
1. Label Sheet 1: Raw Data
2. Label Sheet 2: Processed Data
3. Do all of you calculations and analysis off of Sheet 2
Complete calculations to determine reaction time per student. This will average the data per row.

Calculate Rxn Time from Falling Ruler:

To determine the reaction time from the falling ruler, use the following calculations. =sqrt(2*CELL/981)

Calculate Rxn Time from Online Simulations

To determine the reaction time from the online reaction timers, use the following equation. You will need to divide the average time by 1000 to change the units from milliseconds [ms] to seconds [s]. =average(RANGE)/1000

Optional: Find range of Individuals Trials: It may be easier to identify outliers if you know the range of the data. This may also aide in identifying sources of error in your analysis.

=max(range)-min(range)

Optional: Hide unnecessary columns. To make your data easier to visualize you will want to hide columns that are no longer needed. You can UNHIDE the columns, by clicking on the small triangles surrounding the hidden cells (in columns H and Y in the image below).

Comparison of Groups

Choose the groups you would like to compare, the example is Females v. Males (therefore you cannot use that for your formative).

Using the sort function of Spreadsheets, sort the data by GENDER. This will sort the data into the two groups.

Find AVERAGE of each group (average of only Females and only males). These values can be seen to the left.

Validity of Results:

Comparison to Published Data:

Since this site was created, it's recorded over 81 million reaction time clicks.

The median reaction time is 273 milliseconds.

The average reaction time is 284 milliseconds.

https://humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime/statistics

GRAPH Creation:

Because you will be making comparisons, a bar graph is the best method of representing your data.

Copy the graph into your document. Link to the graph to your source data. DO NOT take a screen shot of the graph.

Draw Conclusions from this Graph.

Evaluation of Your Experimental Design and Results

Goals:

Evaluates weaknesses and limitations.
- Evaluation of Results -
  - Were the measurements accurate (close to the true values(published)) and precise (close to each other)?
  - Is your conclusion (claim) reasonable or not, based on your evidence?
  - Each comment needs to be supported with evidence from your data.
- Limitations of Procedure -
  - Focus on Design of experiment
    - Control Variables: What variables did you not control or forgot to control?
    - # of Trials:
      - Did you collect enough trials to eliminate possible outliers?
    - Range of data:
      - Did you collect data over the entire range of possibilities that your equipment allowed for?
      - Did you collect too much of a range? Beyond the limitations of your equipment. Did you max out your sensors/measuring device?
Improving the Experiment:
- From the list of Limitations above, suggest reasonable improvements to the design of the experiment to increase the reliability of your evidence.
- Utilize a table as shown to the right
- Note: do not say “Measurements could have been more accurate…” or “there was error in measurement.” Or “we could have worked harder/paid more attention.” Those are not valid evaluation statements and you are just wasting paper.
- Are there further experiments that can be performed or did the data suggest other avenues to explore?

LS1-3 Rubric

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse