TechJournal JacksonBabb ErikBoyle KeeganHarrington KyleDeWitt JosephCupchack 6thHourTechnology Spiece/Radjewski

Monday,May21,2012 finishedSpikerBox cutthelegoffofacockroachandstartedanexperiment startedtechjournal Tuesday,May22,2012 cutanotherlegoffandrecordedtheactionpotentials Wednesday,May23,2012 cutanotherlegoffanddidtheactualexperiment

Experiment1and2discussionquestions

DISCUSSIONQUESTIONS
1.Whenusingalaptop,whydoyouneedtounplugthecomputerandincreasethescreen brightnesstomaximum?Whatmethodsdoresearchersusetodecreaseelectrical interference? Youneedtounplugyourlaptopandincreasethescreentomaximumbrightnessinorderto decreasetheelectricalinterference.Thereiselectricalnoisethatisemittedwhenthelaptopis chargingbecauseitisgettingalotofpower.Themonitorhasinterferencebecausewhenitisnot runningatfullpoweritredirectstheenergywhichcreatesasmallamountofinterference. 2.Whydoesloweringthetemperatureofthecockroachmakeitstopmoving?Whatareother waysyoucouldanaesthetizeit? Sincecockroachesarecoldblooded,theyareaffectedbytheoutsidetemperatureandbecome frozenbytheice.Youcouldalsoanaesthetizeitbygivingitchemicalstoinhibitaction potentials. 3.Baseduponyourinitialresults,areyouprimarilylisteningtospikescomingfrommotor neurons(neuronsthattellmusclestocontract)ortosensoryneurons(neuronsthatsend informationfromtheperipheryintothebrain).Why? Webelievewearelisteningtomostlysensoryneuronssincetherearenosignalsfromthebrain totellthelegtomove.

Condition NoStimulation

MethodNotes watchedthe randomspikes inAudacity

TimingNotes aboutaminute

Toothpick Stimulation

wepokedthe aboutaminute cockroachlegin differentplaces untilthe SpikerBox begantoreadit. TheAPswere morerandom aboutaminute

BlowingThrough Straw

andfrequent

Condition NoStimulation ToothpickStimulation BlowingThroughStraw

Amplification 20dB 20dB 20dB

Threshold .5 .6 .5

Table3.SpikeAmplitudesNoStimulation Bin
0.2to0.3 0.3to0.4 0.4to0.5 0.5to0.6 0.6to0.7 0.7to0.8 0.8to0.9 0.9to1.0

PeaksObserved alot alot alot 18 11 7 2 0

Total alot alot alot 18 11 7 2 0

Table4.SpikeAmplitudesToothpickStimulation

Bin
0.2to0.3 0.3to0.4 0.4to0.5 0.5to0.6 0.6to0.7 0.7to0.8 0.8to0.9 0.9to1.0

PeaksObserved alot alot alot 32 14 26 10 2

Total alot alot alot 32 14 26 10 2

Table5.SpikeAmplitudesBlowingThroughStraw Bin
0.2to0.3 0.3to0.4 0.4to0.5 0.5to0.6 0.6to0.7 0.7to0.8 0.8to0.9 0.9to1.0

PeaksObserved alot alot alot 57 42 36 12 8

Total alot alot alot 57 42 36 12 8

1.Howdoyoucomparetheamplitudevaluesofdifferentpeaksoncethesignalhasbeen amplified? Youcancomparethembyusingafeaturecalledbinning.Thisallowsyoutofocusonaspecific amplitudeandprovideconsistencywithcountingpeaks. 2.Howcanyoutellwhichelectrodeisyourrecordingelectrodeandwhichisyourground? Youcantellwhichoneiswhichbecauseifyouswitchwhichoneisinthecoxaandwhichoneis inthefemur,thentheSpikerBoxwillnotfindtheimpulses.Ifyouusesomedeductionand knowledgeaboutelectricityandthebox,thenyoucanfigureoutwhichiswhatbyyourself. 3.Howdidtheneuronsrespondtoblowing?Wasthereanysortofattenuationintheneural responseovertime? Theneuronsrespondedmorethanthetoothpickbecauseithadconstantsupplyofstimulation. Yes,therewassomeattenuationintheneuralresponseastimewenton. 4.Howmanyneuronswereexcitedbythetoothpick?Howmanybythestraw?Howdothese responsesdifferfromoneanother? Therewerelotsofneuronsexcitedbythetoothpick,butmorewereexcitedbythestraw.