Name: David Yee Date: 10/13/20

Student Exploration: Sight vs. Sound Reactions

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the questions and
prompts in the orange boxes.

Gizmo Warm-up
A stimulus is something that can cause you to react. A stimulus can
be something you see (visual stimulus), something you hear (auditory
stimulus), something you touch (tactile stimulus), or something you
smell (olfactory stimulus). In the Sight vs. Sound Reactions Gizmo,
you will compare your reactions to visual and auditory stimuli.

To start, check that the Test is Sight. Click the Start button. When
you see a red circle, immediately click your mouse. Take the test until
the results appear.

1. The Time from each event is the time (in seconds) between when the symbol appears and when you
clicked the mouse. This is your reaction time.

What was your best reaction time? 0.385 sight

2. The mean (μ) of a data set is a measure of the average value in the set.

What is the mean of your data set? 0.564 s

3. In many cases, the results of a test follow a normal distribution, or a bell-shaped curve.

Select the GRAPH tab. Is this graph shaped like a bell? Yes, the highest was in the middle
while the two ends had the lower
parts of the data.

Get the Gizmo ready:

Activity A:
● Click Clear data.
Interpreting data ● Check that the Test is Sight, the symbol is a
Circle, and the color is Red.

Question: How can you describe a data set?

1. Gather data: Click Start and run a test with the Gizmo. Record your results below.
Reaction times (seconds ±.5 seconds)
1.019 0.385
0.512 0.469
0.711 0.446

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 0.477 0.631
0.490 0.496

2. Calculate: To calculate the mean of a data set, add the values and then divide by the number of values in
the set.

A. What is the mean of this data set? 0.564

Activity B:
Get the Gizmo ready:
Visual and ● Click Clear data.
auditory stimuli

Introduction: We perceive stimuli through nerve cells in our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. When a nerve
cell is stimulated, it sends an electrical signal to the brain. After the signal is processed by the brain, other
signals are sent to our muscles as we react to the stimulus.

Question: Do we react more quickly to visual or auditory stimuli?

1. Gather data: Select the TABLE tab. Use the Gizmo to run five trials of the Sight test and five trials of the
Sound test. Click Same exam to start another trial, and New exam to switch to a different type of test. Use
the same visual symbol and the same sound for each trial.

In the tables below, record the mean reaction time for each trial.
In addition, record the maximum value and minimum value from each test. You will have to record these
from the SIMULATION pane at the end of each test.

Sight tests Sound tests

Trial Mean Max. Min. Trial Mean Max. Min.

1 0.49 0.582 0.412 1 0.024 0.048 0.001
2 0.464 0.57 0.40 2 0.027 0.046 0.009
3 0.485 0.67 0.389 3 0.035 0.091 0.001
4 0.441 0.499 0.405 4 0.030 0.047 0.010
5 0.431 0.502 0.385 5 0.033 0.044 0.018

2. Analyze: What patterns do you notice in your data?

The means for sight was always in the 0.4 area. There were a few outliers like 0.091 in sound
and 0.67 in sight. All the data in the sight minimum are really close. Sometimes the mean of
both sound and sight would increase or decrease and it was unpredictable if it was going to go
up or down.

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3. Interpret: Select the GRAPH tab to see a histogram of your data. Use the zoom controls (the “+” and “–”
symbols to the right of the graph) to adjust the graph so the data is clearly visible.

What does this histogram show? The sight took more time but the sound usually took more
counts. Sight is further than sound on the x axis on
average while sound was higher than sight on the y axis
on average.

4. Summarize: Based on the results of your experiments, do you react more quickly to visual or auditory
stimuli?

I react more quickly to auditory stimuli according to the experiment.

Option: Design an Get the Gizmo ready:

experiment using
this gizmo ● Click Clear data.

Introduction: The Sight vs. Sound Reactions Gizmo can be used to do an experiment. The first step is to
come up with an interesting question to investigate.

Write a question
Here are a few suggestions to get you started. You can choose a topic from this list or come up with a topic on
your own. THESE ARE VERY GENERAL. YOURS SHOULD BE MORE SPECIFIC.

● The effect of sight vs sound on reaction time

● The effect of type of symbol or color of symbol on reaction time
● The effect of volume of a sound on reaction time
● The effect of the type of sound on reaction time
● The effect of age on reaction time
● The effect of gender on reaction time
● The effect of different groups of people (such as athletes or video game players) on reaction time
● The effect of a particular food on reaction time
● The effect of a particular drink on reaction time
● The effect of a distractor (music, talking, flashing lights, etc.) on reaction time
● The effect of the type of computer on reaction time

Design your experiment

The key to designing a successful experiment is to control your variables. Everything in your experiments
should be the same except for the one variable you are investigating. For example, if you are comparing the
visual reaction times of boys and girls, they should use the same symbol and color. Be sure that the test
environment is the same for each participant.

Question: What is the effect of different types of colors on visual reaction speed?

Independent variable: The different types of color, in this experiment, the colors will be red, green blue, and
yellow.

Dependent variable: How fast will be my reaction time depending on the type of color.
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Constants: What type of shape is it (circle), how large it is, and how fast a shape appears

Hypothesis: If I take 4 simulations with 4 different colors then yellow will have the fastest reaction speed
because according to my research it is the most visible color.
https://www.colormatters.com/color-and-vision/color-and-vision-matters#:~:text=On%20the%20other%20hand
%2C%20since,text%2C%20or%20as%20an%20accent.

Carry out your experiment

A well-designed experiment isn’t any good unless you carry it out according to your plan. Gather data from as
many subjects as possible. In general, the more data you collect, the more reliable your results will be. After
your data has been collected, analyze the data using the statistical tools (mean, range, and standard deviation)
discussed in the previous activities. Draw conclusions based on your data, not on what you expected to
happen.

Color Mean Max. Min.

Red 0.331 0.598 0.274
Yellow 0.322 0.369 0.286
Green 0.309 0.327 0.28
Blue 0.344 0.483 0.271

I expected yellow to have the fastest reaction speed but green actually had it. I expected red and blue to be the
slowest which happened to be true. I conclude green has the fastest reaction speed out of the 4 colors.

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