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Experiment 1. Discussion

1. The document discusses an experiment comparing reaction times using sight versus touch. It asks questions about the results. 2. The sensory pathway for sight is much shorter than for touch, so sight was expected to produce faster reaction times. 3. It asks about calculating nerve impulse speed from the touch experiment results and identifies issues with assumptions made in that calculation.

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Anshu Movva
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21 views

Experiment 1. Discussion

1. The document discusses an experiment comparing reaction times using sight versus touch. It asks questions about the results. 2. The sensory pathway for sight is much shorter than for touch, so sight was expected to produce faster reaction times. 3. It asks about calculating nerve impulse speed from the touch experiment results and identifies issues with assumptions made in that calculation.

Uploaded by

Anshu Movva
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Human senses 1.

02

Experiment 1. Discussion

1 Was there a significant difference in reaction times using sight and touch (a) for your own
results, (b) for the class results when averaged?
2 The nervous pathway for the motor impulses from brain to forearm was probably the same for
both experiments but the sensory pathway from eye to brain was much shorter than from
finger-tips to brain. What differences in results would this lead you to expect?
3 State whether you think the class results fulfilled this expectation. If they did not, discuss
possible reasons for their not doing so.

4 Assuming, for the moment that, in the touch experiment, the time of reaction is the same as the
time taken for the nerve impulse to travel from the sensory organs in the finger-tips to the brain
and back to the forearm, calculate the speed of conduction, in cm per second, of the nerve
impulse by dividing the distance travelled by the reaction time.
5 The conduction velocity of nerve impulses in, mammalian nerve fibres ranges from 2 to 100 m
per second. Your results are probably about 5 to 15 m per second. What are the faults in the
assumption made in question 4 that might account for this low value?
6 Although it was the fingers which gripped the ruler, you were told to measure the distance to
the forearm. Why was this?

experimenter distance time in distanc time in


in cm seconds e in cm seconds
1 0.045 21 0.207
2 0.064 22 0.212
3 0.078 23 0.217
4 0.090 24 0.221
5 0.102 25 0.226
6 0.111 26 0.230
7 0.120 27 0.235
Fig. 1 8 0.128 28 0.239
9 0.136 29 0.243
10 0.143 30 0.247
11 0.150 31 0.252
mark on 12 0.156 32 0.256
thumb 13 0.163 33 0.260
subject’s 14 0.169 34 0.263
forearm rests 15 0.175 35 0.267
on bench 16 0.181 36 0.271
17 0.186 37 0.275
18 0.192 38 0.278
19 0.197 39 0.282
20 0.202 40 0.286

Table 3

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