Cameron Johanning Mr.

Jensen IB Biology HL II 9 January 2012

Planning (a) Question - How is the time for a person to perform an accurate Stroop Test affected by auditory and sensory distractions? The purpose of this experiment is to deduce the ability of persons to perform a task involving transmission of visual information to the brain, initiating the second task of correctly naming the color of the word in three situations. One situation has no distractions, the second one involves playing music in the test subjects ears at a high volume, and the third situation involves poking the subject with the point of a mechanical pencil behind the ears, on the side of the neck, and on the fingertips. These spots were chosen for their relatively high sensitivity

Hypothesis The test subjects will perform worse in situations of sensory and auditory distraction. It is difficult to perform any task, especially a mentally demanding one such as the Stroop Test, in the presence of things that one would normally give their full attention to. Units Present or not present Range Present or not present for each distraction, no more than one take place at the same time 0 5 minutes

Variables Independent Variable

, sensory, auditory distraction

Dependent Variables

Time taken to perform an accurate Stroop Test

Minutes: Seconds

Controlled Variables Noise levels

Units Hz

Possible effect(s) on results Presents another distraction to possibly allow the subject to become accustom to auditory distraction and to perform better

Method for Control

Volume of Auditory Distraction

Hz

Intensity of Poking in Sensory Distraction

The colors of each word in the stroop test

Frequency and distribution

Placed a single desk for the subject to sit in in a corner in a hallway. Tests were not conducted during passing periods. The location was appropriately noise-free for the duration of the tests Changes the level of The volume level was distraction for each set at 85% on the iPod subject, allowing some Touch 4th generation to overcome the and was not adjusted distraction easier, while until after every subject others may perform had performed their worse test with an auditory distraction If one subject is Kari Scheonike, the exposed to more force other investigator, in each poke, he/she poked at various levels would become more making sure to use one distracted than forceful poke on each somebody who was poking site, and one hardly touched. This gentle poke. This is a would in turn affect relatively difficult task how long it would take to perform and the to perform the test precise Newtons of each forceful and gentle poke could not be accurately measured given the available equipment. If the tests are too The subject is told to similar, the test subject convey the color of the would recognize font, not the color that patterns that they had the letters spell out. For previously seen and example orange would thus perform each be conveyed as blue. successive test more Each test had the same accurately. Higher words on it, but they accuracy the first time were colored reduces the overall time differently. taken to perform each test

Planning (b) Protocol Diagram Photograph of Lab Setup Procedure

Stroop Test 3 tests, same words different colors 1: control Just test no distractions 2: Auditory same song, loud volume, unfamiliar 3: sensory random poking delivered to side of the neck, back of ear, and finger tips

To address this question, we employed the Stroop Test. This test involves Age 18 17 18 17 18 17 17 18 Gender M F M F F M F M Stroop Test 1:42 1:59 1:20 2:04 1:48 1:40 1:29 1:31 Stroop Test w/Auditory Distraction 1:47 2:31 1:28 2:09 2:02 2:41 1:45 1:47 Stroop Test w/Sensory Distraction 2:13 2:25 1:28 2:25 2:05 3:23 1:49 2:19

According to Apples website, the volume of the music, as played through the stock apple ipod headphones at 85% is approximately 94dB.