Final Lab: The Electric Slide

Shaina M. Rippetoe

Psychology Department, Colorado State University – Pueblo

Dr. Janell Campbell, Psy.D.

PSYC 334 – Perception Lecture

 Final Lab: The Electric Slide

In the Perception lab at Colorado State University – Pueblo students learn about how

individuals see, hear, feel, taste, and smell the world around them, and how those senses are

perceived by different individuals. In the final lab students were instructed to watch a YouTube

video while keeping several questions provided by the instructor in mind.

In the results section the student discusses the answers to the questions presented by the

instructor: 1) What is happening in the video? Give a brief description of what you see, 2) Why

does the cockroach leg move? 3) When does the cockroach leg move the most? 4) Why doesn’t

the cockroach leg move during the first 30 sec of the song? 5) What do you think would happen

if you increased the volume of the song? 6) What parts of the cockroach leg are involved? 7)

Why does the cockroach leg remain upright during the rap portion of the song? 8) Could this be

done on a human? Why or why not?

Results

1. What is happening in the video? Give a brief description of what you see: in

the provided YouTube video it looks like a music player is hooked up to

earphones, but instead of delivering electric pulses to earphones, researchers

have removed the headphones and connected the wire to a leg of a cockroach

(after the leg has been removed from the cockroach). The leg responds to

some of the music, but not to other music in the video. It seems like the deep,

heavy drumming or the sharp tambourine/maracas noises make the leg move

the most, however, the rap music kept the leg activated consistently and may
 have provided strong electrical current to keep the leg pointing upward instead

of relaxing during the rap portion of the song (katherineawilkinson., 2011).

2. Why does the cockroach leg move? Due to electrical impulses delivered

through the wires and to the metal pins connected to the removed cockroach

leg. The brain signals that normally activate movement are electrical impulses

in the brain, so this makes sense (katherineawilkinson., 2011).

3. When does the cockroach leg move the most? The cockroach leg moves most

during the Indian music – most notably when the tambourine gets loud and

sharp, and the drum gets loud and very bass-like. It’s hard to tell if the

tambourine/maracas or the drum was the cause for the movement as they both

happened in unison in my opinion (katherineawilkinson., 2011).

4. Why doesn’t the cockroach leg move during the first 30 sec of the song? The

introduction did not include heavy bass or tambourine/maracas, which seems

to be what caused the leg to move the most. It’s possible that the maracas

made the leg move most as this is the sound the caused the sound to move first

at about 32 seconds into the video (katherineawilkinson., 2011).

5. What do you think would happen if you increased the volume of the song?

There would be more movement in the leg because there would be greater

electrical impulses (or stronger electrical impulses) sent when the volume is

turned up.

6. What parts of the cockroach leg are involved? The coxa is connected to the

metal pins and receive the electrical impulse that makes the leg move. This is

the part of the leg that’s usually connected to the thorax of a cockroach. The
 tarsus is the name of the part of the leg that an individual can see moving.

However, electrical pulses travel through the trochanter, femur, and tibia as of

the leg to facilitate movement as well (Wilson, T. V., 2006).

7. Why does the cockroach leg remain upright during the rap portion of the

song? There are consistent loud electrical patterns being delivered to the leg in

such a manner that does not allow for the leg to relax. This contrasts with the

Indian portion of the song where the drum and the tambourine/maracas only

make intermittent loud sounds. The rapper’s voice paired with the background

music keep the leg activated due to the strength of the electrical impulses.

8. Could this be done on a human? Why or why not? If the leg is not too far gone

in the decomposition process, then I believe this could be done on a human

leg (attached or unattached). TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve

stimulation) machines are already used to demonstrate how electrical pulses

can cause individuals to move against their will. One challenge on YouTube

called the “TENS Unit Challenge” demonstrates this happening. Individuals

are supposed to try to drink a beer while their muscles are being activated by a

TENS machine. Many people fail this challenge when the TENS machine is

turned to higher powers. This demonstrates that electrical impulses can be

used to move human body parts while still attached, and I assume the same

can happen if the body part was removed from the body before attaching and

activating the TENS unit (TheHowToRedneck., 2021).

 References

Campbell, J. (2021). Final Lab Material on Blackboard. Personal Collection of (Janell Campbell,

Psy.D.), Colorado State University - Pueblo, Pueblo, Colorado.

katherineawilkinson. (2011, November 7). Dancing cockroach leg: Science in action! YouTube.

Retrieved December 4, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr7Vra9Ok9c.

TheHowToRedneck. (2021, February 13). Tens Unit Challenge. YouTube. Retrieved December 4,

2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo2yL5Z1LWA.

Wilson, T. V. (2006, December 19). How cockroaches work. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved

December 4, 2021, from https://animals.howstuffworks.com/insects/cockroach1.htm.