Somatosensation: Two-Point Threshold Lab Report 2 Alexis Ziemba Florida State University Introduction Somatosensation was defined in the lab manual as the sense of touch. The four types of mechanoreceptors that were discussed in class were the Merkel complexes, Ruffini endings, Meissner’s corpuscle, and the Pacinian corpuscle (Lab Manual). The Merkel complexes were slow adapting mechanoreceptors whose primary function was to discriminate the texture, or pattern of an object (Lab Manual). The Ruffini endings were also slow adapting mechanoreceptors, but their primary function was to differentiate finger position and stable grasps (Lab Manual). The Meissner’s corpuscle was a fast adapting mechanoreceptor whose primary …show more content…
The only materials needed in the experiment were a single dial caliper, and the skin of the participant that was measured (Lab Manual). A dial caliper was available for purchase online through the use of a simple Google search. The dial caliper was a long metal object with one dial, that was adjustable and that moved the two sharp points at the end of the caliper further away from each other. The purpose of the dial caliper was to measure the length of space between the two sharper points of the dial caliper. In the experiment, the experimenter was a 20 year old, female, psychology student at Florida State University. The role of the experimenter was to place the dial caliper on the skin of the participant in various places on the palm, finger, forearm, and back in order to record the amount of area needed between the points of the dial caliper before the participant was able to realize that two points were touching the skin rather than one (Lab Manual). The experimenter also used the method of limits through the use of ascending trials in order to record the participant’s ability to discriminate between the two points on the dial caliper (Lab Manual). Three trails were to be conducted by the experimenter before the experiment was to be considered completed. It was essential to ensure that the two points of the dial caliper were touching the participant at the same time and with the same amount …show more content…
In regards to figure 1, the means were calculated using a simple formula which consisted of finding (x1+x2+x3)/3 (Lab Manual). In the formula, x1 was the recorded threshold from trial 1, x2 was the recorded threshold for trial 2, and x3 was the recorded threshold from trial 3. The formula was repeated and calculated for each body part. Once the means were calculated, they were placed into a graph and displayed in figure 1. The thresholds used to calculate each mean were not highly variable between trials. The data recorded over each trial were highly consistent between one another, except for a slight deviation in the measurements recorded on the palm of the hand. During ascending trial three on the palm, the results deviated from the norm in reference two the two prior trails. On trial one and two, 0.05 was the only measurement that was not felt. On trial three, not only was 0.05 not felt, but 0.10 was also not felt, which deviated from the norm set forth in the two prior
Another weakness in the experimental design was that the reliability of the experiment was very low. As each test subject was only tested against each amount of prior exercise once, the impact of random errors is likely very large, which can be seen by the spread of the data on the graph. Although, this was attempted to be rectified by averaging the results of all four test subjects, it does not improve reliability too
The study was set up as a "blind experiment" to capture if and when a person will stop inflicting pain on another as they are explicitly commanded to continue. The participants of this experiment included two willing individuals: a teacher and a learner. The teacher being the real subject and the learner is merely an actor. Both were told that they would be involved in a study that tests the effects of punishment on learning. The learner was strapped into a chair that resembles a miniature electric chair, and was told he would have to learn a small list of word pairs. For each incorrect answer he would be given electric shocks of increasing intensity ranging from 15 to 450 volts. The experimenter informed the teacher's job was to administer the shocks. The...
...e been beneficial to the experiment. An error may have occurred due to the fact that measurements were taken by different individuals, so the calculations could have been inconsistent.
When comparing quantitative measures such as gravimeter with visual analog scales, the quantitative measures, subjective ratings have a relatively high level of diagnosis sensitivity and specificity (48,49B). This method, however, is preferably used in research field, and is rarely used in clinical practice.
For this statistical inference, the question was whether the means were truly different or could they have been samples from the same population. To do draw a conclusion, we must first assume normal distribution. We must also set the null hypothesis to m1 - m2 = 0. And per this assignment we must set the a-level at .05 and the hypothesis alternative to m1 - m2 ¹ 0; thus requiring a two-tailed test.
The experiment consists of two people that take part in a study of memory learning, one of them referred to as the "Teacher" and the other as the "Learner." The experimenter explains that the study's main goal is to observe the effect of punishment on learning. The learner will be seated in something similar to the electric chair, his arms will be strapped and an electrode will be attached to his wrist. The learner will be told that he will be tested on his ability to remember the second word of a pair when he hears the first one again. If he makes a mistake, he will then receive electric shocks of increasing intensity.
Going into details of the article, I realized that the necessary information needed to evaluate the experimental procedures were not included. However, when conducting an experiment, the independent and dependent variable are to be studied before giving a final conclusion.
The independent variables in this experiment are the time and the foils presented to the subject. The dependent variable is the discrimination index. The...
In this lab we apply the technique known as a two point discrimination test. This test will allow us to determine which regions of the skin are best able to discriminate between two simultaneous sensory impulses. According to (Haggard et al. 2007), tactile discrimination depends on the size of the receptive fields located on the somatosensory neurons. However receptive fields for other types of sensations are located elsewhere. For vision we find that the receptive fields are located inside the visual cortex, and for hearing we find receptive fields in the auditory cortex. The ability for the body to discriminate two points depends on how well that area of the body is innervated with neurons; and thus conferring to the size of the receptive fields (Haggard et al. 2007). It is important to note that the size of the receptive field generally decreases in correlation to higher innervations. As was seen in the retinal receptive fields, the peripheries of tissue had contained larger receptive fields (Hartline, 1940). In our test we hypothesized that the finger region will be able to discriminate better than the forearm. This means that they will be much more innervated with neurons than the forearm, and likewise contain smaller receptive fields. This also means that convergence is closer to a 1:1 ratio, and is less the case the farther from the fingers we go. We also think that the amount of convergence is varied with each individual. We will test to see if two people will have different interpretations of these results.
Cizek, G. J. (2003). [Review of the Woodcock-Johnson III.] In B. S. Plake, J. C. Impara, & R. A. Spies (Eds.), The fifteenth mental measurements yearbook (pp. 1020-1024). Lincoln, NE: Buros Institute of Mental Measurements.
... affected the data table. Not going in 0.5 intervals for every muscle at every workload would conclude to inaccurate data if not all electrical stimuluses’ were tested.
4) Describe the methods in your words.- Karate athletes that were competing in the same tournament were selected and volunteered to be tested on their auditory and visual reaction times. These included auditory reaction time, simple reaction time, and choice reaction time. There were 227 athletes that participated in the study and ranged from the ages of 10 to over 18. The researchers conducting the study followed the same protocol for each participant, which included the athlete's using their dominant hand during the
The experiments were quite simple, in that there was a seemingly harmless task to be performed, and the participants were instructed to choose the estimation of the lengths of a line when compared to two ...
I have spend frustrating hours trying to find the right solution. I could have looked up the answer but I wanted to figure it out on my own. I wanted the challenge. That is why I want to be a Benjamin Franklin Scholar. The program challenges me to understand the mystery humans are and their place in this world and the BFS seminars require me to emerge deeply into a topic. “Introduction to Experimental Psychology”, for inst...
Weiner, I. Healy, A. Freedheim, D. Proctor,R.W., Schinka,J.A. (2003) Handbook of Psychology: Experimental psychology,18, pp 500