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Coordination and control - The nervous system - AQA Required practical activity 7

The nervous system enables humans to react to their surroundings and to coordinate their behaviour. It comprises millions of neurones and uses electrical impulses to communicate very quickly.

Part of Biology (Single Science)Homeostasis and response

Required practical activity 7

Plan and carry out an investigation into the effect of a factor on human reaction times

You can carry out a number of investigations to determine the effect of a specific factor on human reaction times.

A suitable investigation could be the effect of caffeine or the amount of background noise in the room. A simple method to measure the effect is to use the ruler drop test.

Ruler drop test

  1. Work with a partner.
  2. Person A holds out their hand with a gap between their thumb and first finger.
  3. Person B holds the ruler with the zero at the top of person A's thumb
  4. Person B drops the ruler without telling Person A and they must catch it.
  5. The number level with the top of person A's thumb is recorded in a suitable table. Repeat this ten times.
  6. Swap places, and record another ten attempts.
  7. You can use the conversion table to help convert your ruler measurements into reaction time or just record the catch distance in cm.
On the left-hand side two hands hold both end of a ruler from top to bottom. On the right hand side one hand has just let go and the second hand at the bottom has caught ruler.
DistanceTime
1 cm50 ms
5 cm90 ms
10 cm140 ms
15 cm170 ms
20 cm200 ms
25 cm230 ms
30 cm250 ms
Distance1 cm
Time50 ms
Distance5 cm
Time90 ms
Distance10 cm
Time140 ms
Distance15 cm
Time170 ms
Distance20 cm
Time200 ms
Distance25 cm
Time230 ms
Distance30 cm
Time250 ms
AttemptDistance on rulerDistance on ruler
With noiseWithout noise
125 cm18 cm
238 cm15 cm
336 cm22 cm
431 cm24 cm
538 cm13 cm
Attempt
Distance on rulerWith noise
Distance on rulerWithout noise
Attempt1
Distance on ruler25 cm
Distance on ruler18 cm
Attempt2
Distance on ruler38 cm
Distance on ruler15 cm
Attempt3
Distance on ruler36 cm
Distance on ruler22 cm
Attempt4
Distance on ruler31 cm
Distance on ruler24 cm
Attempt5
Distance on ruler38 cm
Distance on ruler13 cm

Question

What effect does noise have on the speed of reaction, measured in centimetres? [2 marks]