EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT

EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON COGNITION

TOPIC OF OUR EXPERIMENT

 INTRODUCTION:

The experiment was conducted by all the three group members from fourth semester named Pakeeza Arif, Wajeeha Ghani and Soofia Hussain. This experiment was conducted in Bahria University on students and in between May 12 to May 17 2014.

SUBJECT PARTICIPANTS: There were two groups of participants in this experiment naming experimental and control group. There were total 16 participants, 8 in each group and were both male and females from Bahria University. They all were students of undergraduates. The experiment was conducted for 6 days and took as much time as participants required accordingly for experiment (performance).

ABSTRACT:This experiment was done in order to check the effect of physical workout on mental functioning that is cognition through the performance of participants. The participants were 16 in number that were divided into two groups, control group that was not indulged in exercise and an experimental group who did exercise on trade mill and cycling for 5minutes each. The results demonstrates that exercise enhances the performance of almost all the students in experimental group whereas control group performance took more time.

HYPOTHESISWorkout/exercise might have an effect on performance/Cognition.

AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT

We wanted to check the effect of exercise on performance/cognitive ability that whether after exercise the participants are perform better or not.

Operational definitions:It is a statement that describes how to measure a certain variable or how to define a certain term.

Use of Operational Definition:The operational definition is used extensively for abstract as well as physical concepts.

Example of operational definition:Weight:The weight of an object as measured on a scale

Independent Variable:A variable that is manipulated (controlled) by the researcher and evaluated by its measurable effect on the dependent variable or variables. Also called Experimental variable or predictor variable.

Definitions of keywords

Dependent Variable:The dependent variable is the variable that is being measured in an experiment.

For Example:Researchers want to know whether first-born children learn to speak at a younger age than second-born children. In this example, the dependent variable is the age at which the child learns to speak.

Operational definition of Exercise:5 minutes of cycling and treadmill with speed 4 .

Independent variable:Exercise/Workout

Dependent variable:Performance/Cognition

Design Between Subject Design

Participants: Control Group= 8 ParticipantExperimental Group=8 participantTotal= 16 participants

Population: University Students of any age group whether male or female.

Underlying theory:The theory behind experiment is that the exercise or workout have a profound effect on the performance and cognition and it enhances and improves the performance.

What we learned:•We learned how to apply theoretical concepts practically which helped us in better understanding of concepts.•We came to know how to behave in professional environment.•We had an insight of how to conduct an experiment on smaller scale which will help us in conducting any future experiment on larger scale.

 EXPERIMENTAL GROUP AND CONTROL GROUP:The experimental group was the group who had done exercise and the control group consisted of the participants who performed without exercise.

Method and procedure:The participants of experimental group were asked to exercise on treadmill for 5 minutes keeping the speed 4.0 and cycling of 5 minutes after which they were given the four activities in sequence. The first was the cross word and they were not told that we were measuring the time in stopwatch as it would make the participants conscious to do good and can have demand characteristics. They were told to at least find 20 words in the crossword and after that math problems were given which were four questions that include missing number simple addition subtraction problems and a word problem.

After this activity a coin activity was given where they had to arrange the 8 coins that were first in 4 head and 4 tail positions into the alternate positions of head and tail within four turns and that turns could be with adjacent coins only. After the instruction was given the participant performed it and the last was puzzle where they had to arrange the picture in original form. In all these the time was measured and participants were being deceived and also the real purpose was hidden from them so that to avoid Extravenous variables. The participants were debriefed after the experiment was done and told the time was measured and told the real purpose of experiment.

Materials:

•Cycle and treadmill•Coins•Pen or pencil•Eraser•Stop watch•Camera• Puzzle

Results Of Experimental Group:

Female:03

Male:05

S.No Names Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Activity 4

01 A 02 :41 05:00 54 sec(2 Trials)

2:35

02 B 01:30 05 :35 69 sec(3 Trials)

2:47

03 C 07 :36 08 :39 64 sec(2 Trials)

3 :11

04 D 02 :55 01:00 31 sec(1 Trial)

1:54

05 E 03:55 04:32 01:32(1 Trial)

03:52

06 F 05:25 04:06 67 sec(2 trials)

04:02

07 G 03:35 03:17 15 sec(1 Trial)

04:04

08 H 07:14 05:14 01:13(1 Trial)

03:57

Results Of control Group:

Female: 04

Male:04

S.No Names Activity 1

Activity 2

Activity 3

Activity 4

01 I 08:16 11:15 26 sec(1 Trial)

06:00

02 J 03:30 06:06 46 sec(1 Trial)

02:45

03 K 02:07 04:17 37 sec(1 Trial)

03:30

04 L 03:05 09:57 39 sec(1 Trial)

03:00

05 M 05:36 07:19 1:17(3 Trial)

05:10

06 N 09:45 14:36 26 sec(1 Trial)

07:31

07 O 05:39 04:45 1 min(2 Trail)

05:00

08 P 08:47 09:21 15 sec(1 Trial)

08:40

Proof of Hypothesis:Our hypothesis was proved.

Discussion Of Results

Experimental group:In experimental group the participants had done exercise so on average they took less time to complete the activities and only two participants took more time for completion for which are as in table; Abdul Rehman and Rehan took the maximum time. Control group:In control group almost all the participants took more time in completing the activities. Only one two participants solved it efficiently otherwise on average the performance was not as good as in experimental group. The maximum time taken by participants was from 8 to 14minutes.

Comments from ethical point:

Ethical considerations were kept in mind throughout the experiment and thus each participant consent was taken. The participants were informed about the experiments detail but certain things were hidden in order to avoid the confounding variables effects which were later told in debriefing. The permission for experiment was taken maintaining their rights of confidentiality. The pictures and video of experiments were also taken with their permissions.

RECOMMENDATIONS:  After the experiment was conducted we realized that ABA

design can also be used to check the hypothesis.

The experiment should be conducted when the subject is in a relax position and not in a hurry so performance will be better.

There should be more number of participants in the experiment.

Experiment should be carried out at a particular time so that fatigue effect can be avoided.

 

Evaluation:

Strength: There were no carryover effects because of

between subject design. The time consumed was less. The experiment conducted was easy and can

be replicated to check the validity of results. The experiment was not costly. High external validity

Weakness:

Environmental Factors:Due to time restrictions, we tested one group in the morning and one in the afternoon. Many studies show that most people are at their mental peak in the morning, so this will certainly have created an environmental bias  Individual Variability:The other problem is that it is impossible to maintain homogeneity across the groups; this method uses individuals, with all of their subtle differences, and this can skew datathe other problem is that it is impossible to maintain homogeneity across the groups; this method uses individuals, with all of their subtle differences. 

Difference in IQ levels of participants: Some people may be very intelligent but are nervous when completing tests and also the difference in IQ affects the performance of participants which might result in lower scores. These individual differences can create a lot of background noise, reducing the effects of the statistics and obscuring genuine patterns and trends.

Thank you