Tantasqua Science Fair Abstracts
Spring 2015
Project #1
Joshua Bolte, Kevin Riel
The purpose of this experiment was to understand why some people see the picture of the “mystery dress” as two different color schemes. Volunteers aged 14-18 were asked to complete an online color IQ test. Then, they were shown the picture of the dress, asked what colors they saw, and asked if they had ever seen the opposite color. The average for the data was calculated, and the conclusion was that individuals, who saw white and gold, generally did worse on the test with the average score being 43. People who saw black and blue had an average score of 39.This shows how people with a better ability to see contrast in do not see the dress as a certain color pattern. The two averages were extremely close, showing that there is not a score that makes people see a certain color pattern on the dress. The hypothesis was correct but there was only a small difference in the average.
Project #2
Super Bowl Ads: Worth the Cost?
Aaron Inthirath
The purpose of my experiment was to answer the question “Are Super Bowl Ads worth the cost?” This research might impact society because it will show that the amount of money put into these ads should be taken into consideration in the mere future and less money should be put into these ads. The question I investigated is if Super Bowl Ads are actually worth the money put into it. My approach was I had twenty-eight volunteers that watched a series of six super bowl ads, three were Super Bowl ads and the other three were non-Super Bowl ads. Then each volunteer answered a questionnaire about each ad which would analyze and conclude my results. The questionnaire had six questions each ad. The majority of volunteers in my experiment answered in the questionnaire that in the Super Bowl ads they only saw the logo/product once or twice and that they didn’t get what some of the Super Bowl ads were selling. Then in the non- Super Bowl Ads the data states that the logo/ product were shown multiple times. According to my data, I can conclude that Super Bowl Ads are not worth the cost because my data shows that Super Bowl Ads hardly make it obvious for the viewer to know what they were selling and what brand/logo was being presented and that the money spent on these types of ads are not worth the cost.
Project #3
The Impact of Politics on Stress
Kate Beland and Jessica Chrabasz
When watching T.V., listening to the radio, or completing everyday tasks, it’s not uncommon for one to encounter political topics through the media. Often times these subjects are debated issues that can cause tension. This project examines the impact of these influential political views on a person’s blood pressure and pulse as indicators of stress. To carry out this experiment, ten volunteers watched two videos on the topic of pro-life vs. pro-choice, a controversial issue that many are strongly opinionated about. Their blood pressure and pulse were taken before and after each short video was shown. Based on observations of the results, political beliefs, political parties, and the subjects’ age did not significantly impact the subjects’ blood pressure or pulse after watching either video no matter which argument it held. Due to this lack of trends in the resulting data, the project proved inconclusive, leaving the question of whether or not politics significantly impact stress open ended.
Project #4
Tyler Galuska, Anna Tenerowicz, Gavin Granitto
Differences in Gender based on Social Stimuli
This experiment was conducted in order to see if different gendered high school students would read react differently when presented certain social stimuli. This project investigates the differences in perceptions of different genders when introduced to certain social stimuli including scenarios, sounds and photos. 30 men and 30 women all high school aged were given a set of 20 social stimuli and asked how they felt on a scale of 0-10, 0 being angry and 10 being happy. There was no significant difference between the overall average score between men and women and in the sound section, but there were specific questions in the scenario and picture sections that showed a statistically significant difference. The results support that overall men and women don't respond differently to social stimuli but they do respond differently to specific stimuli.
Project #5
6
Sam Markey
This experiment was a test to see whether or not people work faster when they are promised a reward. The hypothesis was that participants would complete a task in less time when they were told that they would be getting a reward. Fifty people were given two identical tests; one taken normally and the other taken after being promised a reward for finishing it. Excluding a few outliers, most people did work faster on the second test. This result proved the validity of the hypothesis.
Project 7
How Does Coffee Affect Test Taking Skills?
Henry Valcour IV and Abbey Merow
Many high school students drink coffee every day before school. This experiment investigates how drinking coffee affects test taking skills in high school students. We had 9 volunteers take a ten question addition test. They had 2 minutes to complete the test. After the test, the volunteers drank a cup of coffee. After a half hour, the volunteers took a similar test with different numbers. On average, we saw an 18% increase in test scores among the coffee drinkers. This shows that coffee consumption did in fact increase brain processing capabilities, which means that drinking coffee improves your ability to take a test.
8
Patrick Sorensen
Every day students study for tests and quizzes, but could studying be done more efficiently? The hypothesis tested was that listening to music, chewing gum, and eating healthy food would all improve memory. Test subjects completed a memory assessment five times, while listening to upbeat music, listening to classical music, chewing fruity gum, and eating two slices of apple and a cup of water. The experimental group proved that my hypothesis was completely correct, every memory tool did better than the control group on average. But when the test subjects ate two slices of apple and drank a cup of water, their scores improved the most. The test scores while eating healthy foods were approximately 20% better than the control group. Adults did better than freshman students and males did slightly better than females. The hypothesis showed that healthy food improved memorizing, and concentrating the best. Eating two slices of apples and drinking a cup of water while playing the memory game, were on average over 6 scores better than the base test, being the most effective memory tool.
9
Alyssa Stolecki
Symmetric faces are proven to be more attractive according to two different theories. This experiment examined the response of people to symmetrical and asymmetrical faces. To test this, 10 males and 10 females of three age groups were given 15 seconds to choose which face they found more attractive. Data showed that every age group of males and females found the symmetric faces more attractive. Males in general found female symmetrical faces more attractive. However, females in general were not gender specific in which faces they found more attractive. The hypothesis, which was that people of all age groups will find symmetric faces more attractive than asymmetric faces, was proven correct.
10
Arndt M.M.
People often wonder about memory, the capability the mind has to remember. Some people need background noise to be able to clearly remember. This experiment tested the hypothesis, If calming, quiet music is played then human memory will be maximized. Fourteen girls, age 14-15, were tested while listening to heavy metal music and then again while listening to calming music. Results indicated memory was best with the calming music. Data supported the hypothesis. This is useful information particularly for students who listen to music while studying.
11
Aliya Zubi and Sarah McCarthy
Having the ability to recall information is a crucial factor in completing many tasks. Passing a test, playing trivia games, and finding theway home requires memory. However, it is a common belief that memory worsens with age. The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether or not this is true. The hypothesis states thatif people from ages 13-25 are tested on memory recall, then their results will be better than those of people over 25 or under 13.Inthis experiment, people were tested by studying a code for ten seconds and then were asked to repeat the code based on what they remembered. Three age groups were tested, 6-12, 13-25, and 25-57. Their replies were recorded and were scored. The average was then calculated for each age group. Ages 6-12 had the lowest average score, and ages 25-57 had the highest average score. In conclusion, these results show that memory does not weaken with age, as it actually improves.
#12
Victoria Bowler
Over the years males and females have argued who is better at certain takes than others and by doing the test it will give scientific proof who is better with memory, accuracy, and emotion recognition. This project investigates which gender has the better memory, emotion recognition and accuracy. On 20 test subjects I tested their accuracy by throwing 5 darts at a dart board and recording the section and number each dart landed on. I tested their emotion recognition by showing them 10 different eyes for 2 seconds each and having them circle if the emotion was happy, sad, scared, or angry. Finally, I tested their memory by laying out 16 pairs of cards face down on a table and timed each subject 2 times to see how fast they could find all the pairs. The results I received for the emotion recognition was that the average score for adult males was about 7 out of 10 and for adult females it was 8 out of 10. But the results for the teenagers were different, the females scored an average of about 7.2 and the boys were just a little higher with a 7.4 out of 10. For accuracy, adult males scored with a 10.8 but adult females scored with a 13.8. Accuracy for teenagers showed us that the females received the score of about 15.6 whereas the boys received a 16.2. The memory test showed that adult males take on average of two tries about 62 seconds and adult females take about 59 seconds. For teenage boys they took about 66 seconds whereas teenage girls took only 49 seconds to complete the memory test. My results have made me conclude which gender and age group is better at certain tasks than others. For emotion recognition I concluded that adult females were the best at this test because they received an 8 out of 10, which is better on average compared to the other three groups who were all sevens. The gender and age group that was the best with their accuracy was the male teenage group who received an average of 16.2. The memory test made me conclude that the teenage female group was on average the best at the game. On average, they received 49 seconds. Teenage males won the accuracy tests but females won the rest of the competition.
PROJECT 13
Will Farland + Jared Hammond
Talking on the cell phone has been known to impact reaction times and therefore driving and your ability to focus. This is connected to the new law trying to ban cellular use in the car for young drivers. This project investigates the impact of talking on the cell phone to your reaction time. We used or the click test and a simple ruler test to conduct the reaction time without talking on the phone and the reaction time while talking on the phone and answering a series of general questions. The website test measures the subject’s ability to respond to different color changes and how fast a subject can respond to it. The ruler test uses a 36 inch ruler and is dropped at different intervals of time randomly and the subject has to grab the ruler as soon as it is dropped. The ruler test concludes that for all 5 of each person’s tests averaged, when not talking on the phone they scored 14.6 inches. While talking on the phone the average of all tests was 22.3 inches. For subjects not talking on the phone on the click test the average was a 313.5 milliseconds and while talking on the phone the average was 472.7 milliseconds. These results conclude that using a phone usually impacts the subject’s reaction time greatly. The average was a 64 percent increase for the ruler test and a 30 percent increase for the click test. Phone while taking the tests. The results were positive which leads to the conclusion that using the phone for calling is a big distraction for a person’s reaction speed and could induce crashes.
Science Fair Number: 14
Kristy Cournoyer
The process that our brains partake in when we encode information into memories affects how we remember things, and asking certain questions can force one to see the memory in a different way or distort the memory. Learning about how this works can help us understand which study methods are most affective for different people and for different situations. This project investigates what affect a quiz on a specific video has on the recollection of information acquired from the video, as well as how different people’s brains encode information. 19 people watched a 1:55 minute video, and then 11 out of those 19 people completed an 8 question quiz immediately following the video. The next day, 8 people completed the very same quiz. The quiz also had a question asking what the quiz-taker’s study method is, and whether they enjoyed the video or not. I found that the people who took the quiz the second day had a lower average. The average score on the first day is 54.5% accuracy, and the average score on the second day is 40.6% accuracy. I also found that the people who took the quiz on the first day and received a 72.7% or better all use a form of short-term memorization, or cramming, as their study tactic, and that on the second day, 62.5% of the people who received a 37.5% use short-term memorization as their study tactic. Finally, I also calculated that on the first day 90.9% gave the correct answer to the multiple choice questions, and 33.7% gave the correct answer to the fill in the blank questions; and in addition, on the second day 87.5% gave the correct answers to the multiple choice, and 12.5% gave the correct answers to the fill in the blanks. What I derive from this information is that taking a quiz on a video immediately after viewing that video procures better results than taking in at a later point in time. This data also shows that cramming is affective as a study tool only if the quiz happens immediately afterwards, because if you take the quiz later in time, since your brain didn’t have time to store the information as a long-term memory, you will not remember. And finally, these results show that multiple choice questions, which activates recognition, or only needing to identify items previously learned, are easier to answer than fill in the blank questions, which involve recall, or retrieving the information from your brain. Ultimately, these results show that encoding information into your short-term memory is only affective for remembering it for a short period of time, and that different sorts of questions trigger different components in our brain that makes certain questions easier to answer than others.
Project #15
The Emotional Intensity of Color vs. Black and White
Alicia Famulari
Photographs are used in marketing and advertising to provoke emotions from the viewers. This project investigates the emotional intensity of photographs based on their color or lack of color. Twenty volunteers looked at ten of the same pictures in both black and white and in color. They rated each picture on a scale of one to ten; with one being very sad, five being neutral and ten being very happy. On average the sad pictures got a lower scoring in black and white than in color, and the happy pictures got a higher scoring in color than in black and white. These results support the fact that a picture provoking an emotion of happiness is more intense when in color, and a picture that is provoking an emotion of sadness is more intense when in black and white.