Biology Practical Reference Transmission of Nerve Impulse

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Discussion questions:
1. Would having a warning about the when the ruler will drop change how quickly the catcher
responds?
Yes! Our brains will be able to anticipate when the ruler will drop and can start sending the signal to
the hand to catch it before the eye sees the ruler fall.

2. Is reaction time impacted by the environment? (Outside vs. inside, etc.)

3. Are you able to improve your reaction time?


Practicing a skill over and over again will generally make us more efficient at performing that skill.
Test it out with your experiment and see if people get faster over time.

4. If the ruler falls farther, does that mean the catcher has slower or faster reaction time?
Usually slower, but might depend on other factors.

5. Does practicing the ruler drop improve reaction time? Why or why not?
Yes, over time you can improve your abilities on any skill.

6. Does using your right hand vs. left hand alter your reaction time? Why or why not?
Yes, your dominant hand tends to be faster

7. How do reflexes differ from reactions?


8. Describe a real-life situation, other than driving, in which your reaction time matters.
9. When researchers wanted to determine the peak age for reaction time, they tested more
than 3,000 volunteers. Their results would not have been as convincing if they had tested
only 30 volunteers. Why?
10. Did your reaction times improve in the tests you performed?
11. Do you think reaction time is more heavily influenced by genetics or the environment?
12. How are reaction times involved in maintaining homeostasis?
13. Specifically, which parts of the nervous system were used when the student responded to
the dropped meter stick in the tests for visual stimuli?
14. What factors would ultimately limit your speed of response?
15. Draw a simple reflex arc that would occur when a person steps on a nail. Label all of the
neurons involved.
16. What are the factors that affect reaction time and explanation.
https://www.hptinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Factors-Affecting-Reaction-
Time1.pdf

17. What is reaction time?


Reaction time is a measure of how quickly an organism can respond to a particular stimulus.

18. What are the factors that affect the reaction time?
Many factors have been shown to affect reaction times, including age, gender, physical fitness,
fatigue, distraction, alcohol, personality type, and whether the stimulus is auditory or visual.

19. Explain that in order to catch the ruler a lot of messages have to be passed along different
nerves:
 The eye sees the ruler drop.
 The eye sends a message to the visual cortex in the brain.
 The visual cortex sends a message to the motor cortex in the brain.
 The motor cortex sends a message to the spinal cord.
 The spinal cord sends a message to the hand/finger muscle.
 The finger muscle contracts to catch the ruler.

20. Is the dominant or the non-dominant hand faster?


When comparing hands, students will usually find that their dominant hand is faster. Because the
dominant hand is used more often every day, the neurons that carry messages between that hand
and the brain are faster at transmitting electro-chemical signals. They are communicating along
well-worn pathways. By running the same messages along the same pathway repeatedly, students
can improve their motor skills.  The phrase “practice makes perfect” is scientifically accurate.

21. Why computer must be used to find the reaction time accurately?
22. Why must short breaks be taken in between repeated tests?
This is to ensure that the accuracy of the test is maintained. Practice does make perfect because
you can create a “muscle memory” that means you do not have to think so much to catch the ruler.
You can take the time it takes to decide things out of the equation. Much of the time it takes you to
react to the ruler dropping is the time it takes electrical signals to travel along your nerves. Moving
at about 100 metres per second, a signal telling a finger to move has to travel from your brain down
your spinal cord and into your arm. Signals for muscle control generally move faster than other
ones. (Pain signals for example, move very slowly, often less than one metre per second). 

23. What affect does noise have on the speed of reaction, measured in centimetres?
There is a clear difference between length of ruler that passed through the fingers before they
managed to catch it, with and without noise.

For example, the average distance travelled by the ruler before it was caught with noise was 33.6
cm compared to 18.4 cm without noise. This suggests that noise increases the reaction time of the
person in this experiment.

Curiosity Zone – Time To Experiment


After you’ve tested yourself, why not experiment further. Here’s a few suggestions, do reaction
times vary:
 for people of different ages (children versus adults)?
 if you use your dominant hand versus non-dominant hand?
 if you are tired or alert?
 for men or women?
 depending on your mood?
 after an alcoholic drink?

Curiosity Zone – Time For Some Answers

 generally the older you are the longer your reaction time (that ruler keeps hitting my foot!)
 as you might expect, the dominant hand has a faster reaction time.
 in ‘Catch the ruler’, it helps to pay attention – so being alert is a great asset.
 who is faster ‘men or women’? …you tell me?
 mood affects attention and therefore reaction times.
 alcohol greatly increases reaction times. Because alcohol slows down your reaction times,
which makes it more likely that you will have an accident.

24. Can the speed of the signals be controlled by our mind?


But these signals are “involuntary” which means that no matter how hard you try, you cannot
control how quickly they occur.

25. How does the information flow within an organism?

Sensory neurons convert a stimulus into an electro-chemical signal, which flows the length of the
sensory neuron(s), then through a neuron or neurons of the central nervous system, and then
through the length of the motor neuron(s). Generally, motor neurons will cause a muscle to
contract or a gland to secrete a substance. Reactions that involve only the receptor, the spinal cord,
and the effector, are faster than those which involve processing in the brain. Reactions which only
travel to, through, and from the spinal cord are often called spinal reflexes or cordmediated
reflexes; withdrawing one’s hand from a hot stove is an example of such a reflex.
In ‘simple reaction time’ experiments, there is only one stimulus and one response. Catching a
dropped stick, or hitting a button when a light changes are examples. In ‘recognition reaction time’
experiments, there are symbols to respond to and symbols to be ignored. There is still only one
correct stimulus and one response. An example would be catching a dropped stick with a word cue,
while having to ignore other spoken words which are not cues. In ‘choice reaction time’
experiments, there are multiple stimuli and multiple responses. The reaction must correspond to
the correct stimulus. Typing a letter which matches a printed letter prompt is an example of this
type of experiment.

Table
Group Name Reaction Distance (in cm) Reaction
Time
(sec)
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial Average
3
1

10

Drop test Ruler measurements in cm Reaction times in seconds


attempts Person 1 Person 2 Person 1 Person 2

10
Reaction Time
0.6
0.5
0.4
Time (sec)

0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Alicia David Joseph Max John
Name of students

Calculation:

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