- Angela, Haley, and I first tested our photopupillary reflexes. Haley covered her right eye for two minutes and quickly removed her hand at our count. Angela shined a flashlight at her right eye, and I recorded the video of the transformation of the pupil of her right eye. The pupil of her right eye constricted, or grew smaller, which was a fascinating process to watch. I knew that the photopupillary reflex is triggered when exposed to an increase in sunlight, causing the pupil to contract. But to actually view the transformation of the pupil live was amazing, fascinating.
- After testing the photopupillary reflex, we moved on to test the knee jerk reflex. Once again, Haley was our subject in experimenting reflexes. I recorded Angela hitting Haley's knee with a reflex hammer. It took Angela a couple of times for the leg to immediately kick out. What caused Haley's leg to immediately kick out was the knee jerk reflex. Angela's tap to Haley's knee caused the thigh muscle to stretch. Information was sent to the spinal cord and then the information was sent back out to the muscle, causing the knee to jerk. The second part of testing the photopupillary reflex was to test the reflex after the subject had done 30 air squats. Haley reacted quicker to the reflex hammer hitting her knee, proving that exercise increases the knee jerk reflex.
- Moving onto testing the next reflex, the three of us tested the blink reflex. I recorded Angela throwing a cotton ball at Haley, who was holding plastic wrap to protect herself. Although Haley was partly protecting herself with the plastic wrap, her blink reflex, an involuntary blinking of the eyelids caused by stimulation of the cornea, was still triggered when a cotton ball was thrown to her. I believe that the blink reflex is just a reflex we have evolved from the beginning of humankind in order to protect us from imminent dangers, such as spitting poison. Such dangers are not as prevalent in our lives, but the blink reflex is still useful for us in protecting us from... cotton balls.
- After the learning the "hazards" of cotton balls, we moved on to test our plantar reflexes. Haley took off her shoes and socks for us to test the plantar reflex. I recorded the video, but the experimenter this time was actually our teacher Mr. Orre. He demonstrated to us how the toes will flex due to the plantar reflex as he slid the pen up along Haley's foot. This reflex became important in the medical field, as doctors can diagnose nerve damage in adults and Babinski's sign in newborns.
- The last test the three of us performed was designed to measure our response time to something we see. The experimenter would hold a yard stick and drop the stick in the next five seconds unannounced. The subject would have to grab the yardstick after the experimenter dropped the yard stick. The reaction time of the subject would be measured by how many centimeters or inches was in the lapse time between the drop time and grab time. Then, the centimeters or inches was translated into seconds, which represents the subject's average reaction time. The process of us responding to something we process requires visual information to our brains. Then a motor command would be sent to our brains to our muscles of our arms, helping us to catch the ruler. Later, we tested our response time while being distracted by texting. Our results are posted below.
Texting tended to slow down our response time significantly, since we were distracted by texting (or at least attempting) on our cell phones. Angela and I, for example, were slowed down when texting as shown by the table below, though I had a significantly worse reaction than Angela had.
| Name | Avg. Reaction Time (s) | Avg. Reaction Time While Texting (s) |
|---|---|---|
Kelly H
|
0.176
|
0.28
|
Angela L
|
0.15
|
0.19
|
Angela and I were slightly better than the average female reaction. I, however, was slightly worse than the average for the female reaction while texting. We both were below 0.18 seconds as the average reaction time, and Angela scored 0.15 seconds from the average reaction time while texting, which was almost half the time of the average female reaction while texting. Based on my average reaction time while texting, I should definitely not text while driving!
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