Cockroach Lab

Stephanie Campbell James Wallace Jessalyn Gonzalez Tyler Quick STEM Biology Neuroscience

Cannibal (Top), Dead Tiki (Bottom)

Getting Started with the Spikerbox

Cockroach being knocked out in ice water

James cutting off Cannibal s leg

James attaching Cannibal s leg to the !pikerbo"

Completed !pikerbo" with cockroach leg attached

James touching the ner#e endings on the leg to stimulate the neurons$

!napshot of the spike from the neurons$

Microstimulation o Neurons and Muscles Observations:

The cockroaches leg responded more to the lo er !re"uencies# rather than the high !re"uencies$ When e played a song# the louder or lo er the bass# the more movement it had the leg$

Summary:
%uring our e&periment# e had trouble ith getting the leg to move to the music# but on the third day e got it to ork$ We hooked up the leg to the Spikerbo& by placing the pins in the correct place and then e connected the stimulation cable to the pins$ Once that as attached# e played di!!erent songs to see hich one had the best reaction$ We !igured out that the songs ith the lo est bass got the most reaction' e pulled up the app ith the di!!erent !re"uencies and e&perimented ith the high and lo !re"uencies to also observe hich had the most e!!ect on it$ We !ound out again that the lo er !re"uencies a!!ected the response more$

!ate Coding

Observations:
(!ter e hooked up the Spikerbo&# e ble on the leg to create a response ith sound$ We created a stimulus by blo ing on the cockroach leg# the response as the Spikerbo&)s speaker s"ueaking more than the base line s"ueak$ The leg)s tiny sensors on its leg noticed a change and that sends a *message+,impulse to the brain)s neuron$ This impulse as hat caused the Spikerbo& to s"ueak$

Summary:
We got the cockroach)s leg o!! by *numbing+ it in ater$ Since it)s cold-blooded# its temperature changed to that that o! the ater and as then unable to move$ We then had someone ho as com!ortable ith touching the cockroach cut o!! a leg$ We had to be sure to take the correct amount o! the leg o!!$ They then attached the leg onto the Spikerbo& and correctly placed the pins into the leg$ We turned on the Spikerbo& and heard a base line noise !or the response$ Then# e created a stimulus by blo ing onto the cockroach)s leg$ This hit the cockroach)s sensors, leg hairs$ This then sends a *message+,impulse through the neurons to the brain# hich in this case is the speaker$ This caused the speaker to make a higher pitched noise$ We then concluded that hen you create a stimulus on the leg# the response varies on either being high or lo in pitch$

!eaction Time
"bser#ations$
%art &'Sub(ect & )*ames+$ .isual: James visual reactions ithout sunglasses ere consistent all !our trials$ James) reactions ere slo er than Tyler)s# but not by much$

(udio: James reactions improved a!ter the !irst release and then ere rather consistent$ Tactile: James reactions improved a!ter each trial and this trial as better than both the visual and audio e&periments$ Sub(ect , )Tyler+$ .isual: Tyler caught the ruler !aster than James did and his results ere about as consistent as James$ This as the !astest trail o! Tyler)s$ (udio: Compared to James# Tyler as slo er# but improved very slightly$ Tactile: Tyler)s results ere about the same in this part o! the e&periment# but improved more than James did$ %art ,' Sub(ect )*ames+$ .isual: This trial as less consistent !or James and sho ed no improvement$ Compared to Tyler# James as slo er in his reaction times$ (udio: This trial as similar to James) visual trail and sho ed that he as not consistent in his reactions$ Sub(ect , )Tyler+$ .isual: Tyler as very consistent in this trial and had a !aster reaction than James did$ (udio: Tyler as more consistent and !aster in this trial# similar to his audio trial$ /or part 0 Tyler as overall !aster than James$

Chart Completion 1 cm 4 cm 6 cm 2$23s 2$55s 2$50s

7 cm 55 cm 51 cm 58 cm -ata Tables

2$51s 2$58s 2$540s 2$546s

.uestions
&/ 0hy do you think touch and audio stimuli ha#e a aster reaction time on a#erage1
Touch and audio stimuli make !or a !aster reaction time because the brain doesn)t have to process an image seen by the eyes$ When James sa the ruler drop# his eyes had to process the sight o! the ruler dropping and then send a signal to the hand to grasp it$ When he as touched or hen he heard something# he didn)t need to think about hat he sa to react$

,/ -o your results match the a#erages mentioned abo#e1

9es$

2/ 0ould you expect a di erence in the a#erage reaction times between a male and emale1 0hat about a more athletic person compared to a more sedentary person1
We ould e&pect to see a !aster reaction time in a more athletic person$ We also ould e&pect to see a di!!erence bet een males and !emales :males having a !aster reaction time;$

3/ -o you think it4s "5 to a#erage two people like we did1 0hat might be the problem1
We think it is ok to take the average o! t o people$ <o ever# a potential problem could be i! someone has better re!le&es$

6/ 0hy did we not test the 7tactile7 reaction time in the choice task1 8ow could you redesign the experimental setup to test tactile reaction times in the choice task1
We didn)t test the tactile reaction in the choice task because the person dropping the rulers can)t tap the other person because his or her hands are !ull$ 9ou could redesign to the e&periment so that a third person taps the shoulder$

Summary
=n conclusion to the reaction time lab# e !ound that responding to audio or touch stimuli is !aster than responding to a sight stimuli$ e conclude this is because reaction to these things is natural$ To see the ruler drop takes time !or the brain to process and respond$ We also believe that this is hy the cockroach have so many hairs and other sensors on its body' it can respond "uicker to a stimuli and ithout much thought process$ Something touching the leg ould cause a natural responds in the cockroach$