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Experiment HN-8: Game Show Physiology

Background

Do you know how to play Jeopardy? Press the buzzer to ring in and be the first person to answer the

verbal question correctly for big money!

How about Password? Have the 'MC' give single word clues and the first person to ring in and guess

the secret word, wins!

Can you come up with the right answer? Try playing the anatomy version of Trivial Pursuit or Who

Wants to Be a Millionaire?

This lab will investigate the both the reflex response and the heart rate in subjects who are “under

stress” to answer chapter review questions, or any game show questions, accurately.

Gain an understanding of the time taken between a stimulus (the asking of the question or the single

clue) and the response, as well as what happens to the heart rate of the subjects involved in the Game

Show scenario.

What a great way to study physiology and also gather data appropriate for use in both Physiology and

Psychology classes or research studies. Make up your own question cards or use the flashcards and

interactive study information that come with your textbook. Have prizes, have fun, and Get Smart!

Equipment Required

PC or Mac Computer

IXTA data acquisition unit

USB cable

IXTA power supply

2 – EM-220 Event Markers

2 – PT-104 Pulse Plethysmographs

Contestant Note Cards or Review Flash Cards (use the ones for your textbook)

IXTA Setup

1. Place the IXTA on the bench, close to the computer.

2. Check Figure T-1-1 in the Tutorial Chapter for the location of the USB port and the power

socket on the IXTA.

3. Check Figure T-1-2 in the Tutorial Chapter for a picture of the IXTA power supply.

4. Use the USB cable to connect the computer to the USB port on the rear panel of the IXTA.

5. Plug the power supply for the IXTA into the electrical outlet. Insert the plug on the end of the

power supply cable into the labeled socket on the rear of the IXTA. Use the power switch to

turn on the unit. Confirm that the power light is on.

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Start the Software

1. Click on the LabScribe shortcut on the computer’s desktop to open the program. If a shortcut is

not available, click on the Windows Start menu, move the cursor to All Programs and then to

the listing for iWorx. Select LabScribe from the iWorx submenu. The LabScribe Main window

will appear as the program opens.

2. On the Main window, pull down the Settings menu and select Load Group.

3. Locate the folder that contains the settings group, IPLMv6Complete.iwxgrp. Select this group

and click Open.

4. Pull down the Settings menu again. Select the GameShowPhys settings file.

5. After a short time, LabScribe will appear on the computer screen as configured by the

GameShowPhys settings.

6. For your information, the settings used to configure the LabScribe software and the IXTA unit

for this experiment are programmed on the Preferences Dialog window which can be viewed by

selecting Preferences from the Edit menu on the LabScribe Main window.

7. Once the settings file has been loaded, click the Experiment button on the toolbar to open any

of the following documents:

• Appendix

• Background

• Labs

• Setup (opens automatically)

Event Marker Setup

1. Locate the 2 - EM-220 event marker (Figure HN- 8 -S1).

2. Plug the connector to the EM-220 event marker into the EM1 Channel input on the back of the

IXTA (Figure HN- 8 -S2). Plug the 2nd EM-200 into channel EM2.

Figure HN-1-S1: The EM-220 event marker.

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Figure HN-8-S2: The IXTA with the EM-220 event marker. The 2nd event marker will be plugged into

EM2.

3. Locate the 2 – PT-104 Pulse Plethysmographs. Plug one into channel A5 and the 2nd into

channel A6. (Figure HN-8-S3)

Figure HN-8-S3: IXTA with one PT-104 connected to channel A5. The 2nd PT-104 will be connected to

channel A6.

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Exercise 1: Reaction Time and Heart Rate

Aim: To measure the reaction time and heart rate of two subjects involved in a Game Show type

scenario.

Procedure

1. Read all instructions carefully before beginning to record.

2. Information for the subjects:

• Instruct the subjects to sit in a chair and face the “Emcee”.

• He or she should hold the event marker in a manner that enables the subject to push the

button as quickly as possible.

• Place the PT-104 (pulse sensor) on the volar portion of the thumb of the hand that is not

holding the event marker. Make sure the sensor is comfortably snug, but not too tight

that it cuts off circulation.

• As soon as the subject knows the answer to the question or clue, he or she will click the

event marker and state the answer.

3. Directions for the “Emcee”

• The person who is the Emcee is in charge of verbally asking questions or giving single

word clues to the “Contestants”.

• If this person is also the computer operator, he or she will click the F1 key as soon as the

question or clue is asked. If another person is operating the computer, this will be their

responsibility.

• The computer operator will also need to keep track if the question was answered

correctly or incorrectly. Any incorrect answers will not be counted and can be given to

the opposing “contestant”.

• In this exercise, the “Contestants” will answer a total of 10 questions.

Beginning Recording

1. Type GAME SHOW BEGINS in the Mark box to the right of the Mark button. Press the Enter

key to mark the recording.

2. Click on the Record button.

3. Instruct the subject to press the Mark Button or Enter key to mark the recording with the “Game

Show Begins” notation (Figure HN- 8 -L 1).

4. Use the event marker to be the FIRST to say that you know the answer to the question or the

one-word clue.

• If the contestant answers incorrectly, give the same question or clue to the opponent.

They must “ring in” with the event marker when they think they know the answer.

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5. After the tenth question has been answered, click Stop to halt recording.

6. Select Save As in the File menu, type a name for the file. Choose a destination on the computer

in which to save the file, like your lab group folder. Designate the file type as *.iwxdata. Click

on the Save button to save the data file.

Figure HN-8-L1: Data recorded while answering three questions as part of the Game Show Scenario.

Note that the data are only showing one contestant, the other has been minimized on screen to make

viewing easier.

Data Analysis

1. Scroll to the beginning of the data recorded for Exercise 1 to display the first question/answer

combination on the Main window.

2. Use the Display Time icons to adjust the Display Time of the Main window to show both the

question made with the F1 key and the mark made by the event marker for the contestant’s

response. This trial can also be selected by:

• Placing one cursor before the beginning of the beginning of the F1 mark of the question

and the second cursor after the event marker wave made by the subject; and

• Clicking the Zoom between Cursors button on the LabScribe toolbar to expand the

complete trial to the width of the Main window (Figure HN-8-L2).

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bFigure HN-8-L2: The LabScribe toolbar.

3. Use the mouse to click on and drag a cursor to the mark made by pressing the F1 key. Drag the

other cursor to the leading edge of the square wave made by the subject responding to the

question by pressing the event marker (Figure HN- 8 -L 3).

4. Once the cursors are placed in the correct positions for determining the reaction time and heart

rate, record the value for T2-T1 and Mean HR on the data table below.

• T2-T1 is located in the upper right corner of the window.

• Mean Heart Rate is located on the right edge of the Heart Rate channel – labeled

“Mean”.

5. If you want to use the on-screen notebook, transfer the data to the Analysis window and record

the data for T2-T1 and Mean from the Heart Rate channel into the Journal. These values can be

recorded by typing its name and value directly into the Journal. You may also record any data

on separate data tables.

• Place the cursors at the locations used to measure the reaction time and heart rate.

• Transfer the name of the T2-T1 and Mean functions to the Journal using the Add Title to

Journal function in the Heart Rate Channel pull-down menu accessed by clicking the

arrow to the left of the channel name.

• Transfer the value for T2-T1 and Mean to the Journal using the Add Ch. Data to Journal

function in the Heart Rate Channel pull-down menu.

• Make sure to note whether the response is from Contestant 1 or Contestant 2.

8. Once the reaction time and heart rate of the first question/answer is measured and recorded, use

the scroll bar at the bottom of the window to move the data to the second trial onto the window.

If needed, use the Display Time icons to adjust the width of the window to show both the

question and answer marks.

9. Repeat the analysis steps on the data from the second question/answer trial.

10. Use the same techniques to measure the reaction times and heart rates from the other eight

trials.

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11. Once the reaction times and heart rates for all 10 questions have been measured and recorded,

open the Journal and use the values to determine the mean reaction time and heart rate of the

each of the contestants. Record the individual times and heart rates for each Q/A trial and the

means in Table HN- 8 -L1.

Figure HN-8-L3: A single trial for one question and answer by Contestant 1. The two cursors are

positioned at the beginning of the F1 mark and on the leading edge of mark made by the event marker

for measurement of the subject’s reaction time (T2-T1) and heart rate (Mean) in this trial. Reaction

time in this example is 3.155 sec and Mean HR is 99 bpm.

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Table HN-8-L1: Reaction Times and Heart Rates for Questions (or clues) 1-10.

QUESTION CONTESTANT 1 CONTESTANT 2

Time (sec)Heart Rate

(bpm)Time (sec)

Heart Rate

(bpm)

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

Question 7

Question 8

Question 9

Question 10

MEAN

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