Effect of Alcohol on Reaction Times: Experiment

Effect of Alcohol on Reaction Times: Experiment The experiment tested whether alcohol had any effect on reaction time. Abstract Objective: The experiment tested whether alcohol had any effect on reaction time. Method: Subjects were required to identify the threshold at which a flickering light became constant (critical flicker fusion threshold) using a computerised flicker fusion system.   Frequency increased at a rate of 4 hertz per second.   Critical flicker fusion threshold is a well accepted and documented non-invasive measure of reaction time.   Ten female subjects were tested under control conditions and following ingestion of 2 units (80 mg) alcohol.   It was hypothesised that alcohol would cause an increase in reaction time, which would translate to a delay in recognising the critical flicker fusion threshold, thus higher frequency results. Results:   Ingestion of 2 units (80mg) of alcohol was associated with an increase in mean critical flicker fusion threshold from 14.6 hertz to 15.4 hertz (p Conclusion:   2 units of alcohol had the effect of increasing reaction time by an average of 0.2 seconds, which has serious implications for the consumption of alcohol prior to tasks involving complex motor skills such as driving. Introduction Alcohol and its effects Alcohol is believed to be the oldest drug used by humans, predating even the use of opium by 2000 years to around 8000 BC (Kerr, Hindmarch 1998).   Whilst legal age limits exist for the purchase of alcohol in the United Kingdom, it is widely regarded within the Western world as an acceptable drug. In recent household studies in the UK it was found that 75% of men and 60% of women consumed at least one alcoholic drink per week.   In addition, 40% of men and 23% of women were found to have exceeded the national recommendations on alcohol consumption within the previous week (Office for National Statistics 2005).   The Institute For Alcohol Studies ranks the United Kingdom as 9th in per capita consumption of pure alcohol within European Nations, with 9.6 litres of pure alcohol being consumed per capita in 2002 (Institute for Alcohol Studies 2005). Alcohol is known for its psychoactive effects, which include alterations in vision, motor tasks and skills such as car driving and flying.   In addition it is repeatedly shown, whether anecdotally or via scientific measurements, that a strong correlation exists between alcohol consumption and violence. Alcohol is known to be a contributory factor in road accidents, with 9% of casualties showing evidence of alcohol consumption, this figure rising to 31% when considering pedestrians (The Scottish Office Central Research Unit 1998).   Research carried out in the 1980s by the Transport Research Laboratory indicated that alcohol was involved in 35% of fatal road traffic accidents, with the figure falling slightly to 31.5% in a similar study completed in 2000 (Tunbridge, Keigan James 2001).  Ã‚   However neither of these reports explained why the association existed between alcohol and road traffic accidents, whether resulting in death or not.   Of import for this report is the association between alcohol and reaction time.   The majority of alcohol consumers can identify a slowing down of their faculties following alcohol consumption, regardless of claims to the contrary.  Ã‚   Research has shown that alcohol impairs the ability of individuals to carry out complex motor tasks. One example involved bus drivers being asked to drive a vehicle through a narrow space, or highlighting the fact that the gap was too narrow if necessary.   It was shown that alcohol consumption was correlated with a reduced ability to accurately guide the bus through the gap, coupled with an inability to accurately gauge the width of the gap.   Hence bus drivers who had consumed alcohol were more likely to judge a gap as to be wide enough when it was not, than those who had not consumed alcohol and whose spatial awareness remained intact (Rang, Dale Ritter 1999a). Recommended stopping distances at 30 miles per hour are 23 metres / 75 feet, of which 9 metres / 30 feet are the ‘thinking distance’.   This is based on an average reaction time of 0.7 seconds when the car is travelling at 44 feet / second.   Therefore if reaction times increase, stopping distances will do so also, with serious implications in an accident. It has been indicated by some research that low levels of alcohol consumption have very little effect on reaction time if attention could be focussed on a single objective (Jaaskelainen et al. 1996).   Where attention needs to be divided between task objectives, even low blood alcohol levels were found to impair performance.   This suggests that alcohol is not going to greatly impair reaction time during simple tasks, but complex tasks which require several aspects to the performance would be much more likely to be impaired.   This was further supported by the research of Bartholow et al which found that response times per se were relatively unaffected by the presence of alcohol but the ability to respond appropriately to tasks that required complex attention were (Bartholow et al. 2003).   Indeed the authors implicate alcohol in impairments of cognitive processing, rather than the motor responses that result from these processes.   They cite data from studies that have sho wn that alcohol acts to reduce the ability to respond to stimuli as well as interpret and process the correct relevance of these stimuli.   This inability to respond fully to cues from the environment is described as the attention-allocation model, as the brain is selective in which cues are actually attended to and processing within the brain.   Further research has indicated that alcohol can sometimes actually improve the ability of subjects to resist distraction from a task (Erblich, Earleywine 1995) but this is not in keeping with the majority of research. Given the existing data this experiment was designed to assess the ability of female subjects to respond to a change in a single form of stimulus.   There was no distraction, nor a divided attention focus required, in an effort to ensure that the effects of alcohol on reaction time, if any, were more obvious. Flicker fusion threshold The human eye is capable of distinguishing between intermittent stimuli such as flickering light, up to a threshold, which is usually around 16 Hertz.   The frequency at which the human eye is no longer able to distinguish individual stimuli is defined as the critical flicker fusion threshold.   It is at this frequency that the individual stimuli have fused to form a single continuous stimulus.   The flicker fusion threshold will vary between individuals depending on their eyesight, hence the use of a number os study participants.   It will also vary between an individual’s readings depending on their reaction time at each stage – ie the time at which they actually consciously register that the hitherto flickering stimulus has now become constant and are able to respond to this knowledge.   The purpose of this experiment was to use the measurement of critical flicker fusion threshold as a correlate to reaction time.   For this experiment the experimental hypothesis was that alcohol acts to increase the reaction time of female subjects. The null hypothesis was that alcohol has no effect on the reaction time of female subjects.   Thus it would be expected that an individual with a slower reaction time would give results indicating a higher critical flicker fusion threshold, measured in hertz.   In other words it would be expected that the frequency at which subjects indicated that the flickering light (for full details of methodology please see below) had fused into a single light would be higher under alcohol conditions than control.   This would not be due to an enhanced ability to differentiate between flickering and constant light, rather a delay in the ability for this change to register and be processed by the brain, and the subject to press the button. Method Ten female subjects aged from 18-35 years, with a body mass index of 19-28 were selected as part of an open experiment into the effect of alcohol on reaction time.   All subjects were informed of the purpose of the experiment prior to taking part and were required to complete medical questionnaires to exclude medication that might affect the results of the experiment.  Ã‚   Known negative effects of alcohol consumption were also excluded and subjects all had a history of regular alcohol consumption of at least 2 units, once per week. Subjects were required to refrain from eating or drinking for the 2 hours prior to each test, which took place on consecutive days, with the control (no alcohol) test taking place prior to the alcohol test.   The 2 hour nil by mouth regulation was put in place in an effort to standardise the absorption of the alcohol by reducing stomach contents to a more uniform amount, thus providing a similar surface area available for alcohol absorption in each study participant. On arriving at the test room subjects were required to complete a health and safety questionnaire and were again reminded of the aims and purposes of the experiment.   Subjects were free to leave at any time, and signed consent forms to allow their results to be used.   Following the initial briefing subjects were given a training briefing on the specialised equipment and allowed to take a small number of practise tests to familiarise themselves with the equipment requirements.   Following this training period a five-minute break was allowed. For the test itself each subject was required to drink 250ml of pure orange juice, with a five-minute timespan being allowed for the drink to be consumed.   Forty minutes after the drink had been consumed subjects critical flicker fusion threshold was tested using the Model 12021 Flicker Fusion System (Lafayette Instruments). This time scale was used as the 2 units of alcohol would have reached a peak blood alcohol concentration of approximately 80 mg/100 ml 45 minutes following ingestion (Wilson, Benjamin Sreenivasan 2003).   Assuming absorption and metabolism at the accepted 4 mmol/l per hour (Rang, Dale Ritter 1999b), the alcohol would be expected to have been removed completely from the body within 6 hours (Wilson, Benjamin Sreenivasan 2003). Subjects were requested to look in to the binocular eye piece at two white simultaneous lights.   The use of a separate light for each eye was used to prevent differences in eye focussing from causing conflicting critical flicker fusion thresholds. The initial flash frequency of 4 hertz was set to ascending at a rate of 4 hertz / second.   The subject was provided with a push button connected to a 1 metre cable and was required to push the button when the flickering ceased and the lights became fused to a single light emission.   The point at which the button was pressed was taken as the critical flicker fusion threshold.  Ã‚   Each subject was required to undertake ten reaction time recordings. The experimental procedures on day 2 were identical to day 1, except that 2 units of alcohol (vodka), approximately 80mg of pure alcohol, had been added to the 250ml of pure orange juice that the subjects were required to drink.   A further ten reaction time recordings were made using the flicker fusion system. Results Each subject was able to provide 10 reaction time recordings, which ranged from a minimum of 11.5 Hertz (subject 9, recording 6, no alcohol) to a maximum of 19.4 Hertz (subject 3, recording 8, with alcohol).   The mean for the control / no alcohol test was 14.6 + 3.6 Hertz.   The mean for the alcohol test was 15.4 + 4.0 Hertz. Tables 1 and 2 below show the individual reaction times of each subject participant on the two tests. Table 1. Reaction times of 5 female subjects with and without alcohol, as measured by critical flicker fusion threshold Subject 1 Subject 2 Subject 3 Subject 4 Subject 5 Reaction test number None Alcohol None Alcohol None Alcohol None Alcohol None Alcohol 1 15.0 17.2 14.3 16.9 18.2 18.1 13.4 17.5 12.5 13.1 2 14.1 13.6 15.5 17.2 17.9 19.3 14.4 14.9 12.9 12.5 3 16.2 16.2 15.8 16.7 16.5 18.5 14.8 14.5 12.3 12.8 4 13.6 16.1 16.3 17.9 17.7 17.9 14.3 14.8 12.8 12.6 5 12.5 14.3 14.9 15.5 16.9 18.9 14.9 13.5 12.4 12.4 6 13.8 15.5 15.7 16.1 17.4 18.3 14.1 14.6 12.6 12.9 7 12.0 14.8 15.4 18.5 16.0 17.6 15.1 14.9 13.1 13.5 8 11.8 12.9 14.8 17.1 17.3 19.4 15.3 15.1 13.9 13.2 9 12.9 12.7 15.7 16.7 18.0 17.9 13.3 13.5 12.8 12.6 10 13.0 15.8 15.0 17.8 16.7 18.9 16.7 14.7 14.1 11.9 Mean 13.5 14.9 15.3 17.0 17.3 18.5 14.6 14.8 12.9 12.8 Median 13.3 15.2 15.5 17.0 17.4 18.4 14.6 14.8 12.8 12.7 Table 2. Reaction times of 5 female subjects with and without alcohol, as measured by critical flicker fusion threshold Subject 6 Subject 7 Subject 8 Subject 9 Subject 10 Reaction test number None Alcohol None Alcohol None Alcohol None Alcohol None Alcohol 1 13.9 15.1 16.5 15.6 12.8 14.5 13.6 15.5 16.5 15.4 2 16.5 15.9 14.3 15.1 12.6 13.5 14.9 14.2 15.9 18.1 3 14.2 14.6 12.9 14.0 12.4 12.4 15.0 14.8 15.7 14.6 4 14.9 15.5 13.9 16.8 12.0 12.6 15.8 14.8 15.2 16.8 5 14.1 15.6 13.5 16.7 13.1 13.8 14.7 13.9 16.4 16.5 6 16.5 15.8 13.4 18.1 13.5 14.2 11.5 16.7 16.2 16.4 7 13.2 13.3 13.9 15.1 12.3 14.2 15.4 14.6 16.8 15.8 8 14.5 15.6 14.2 15.8 12.9 14.6 15.3 16.1 17.1 16.2 9

Kent state Nutrition programme

Honors equivalents shall satisfy the Kent Core. None of the courses on the Kent Core list may be taken with a pass/fail grade. Visit www. Kent. Deed/catalog/Kent-core for course list. Diversity Course Requirement Students must complete a two-course diversity requirement, consisting of one with a domestic (U. S. ) focus and one with a global focus. One course must come from the Kent Core.The second course may be taken as a second Kent Core, within a major or minor, or as a general elective; or, with dean's approval, by completing one semester of study in another country. Visit www. Kent. Deed/catalog/diversity for course list. Writing-Intensive Course Requirement Students must complete a one-course writing-intensive requirement in their major and earn minimum C (2. 00) grade. Visit www. Kent. Deed/catalog/wick for course list.Experiential Learning Requirement To provide students with direct engagement in learning experiences that promote academic relevance, meaning and an understandin g of real-world issues, students must complete this requirement at Kent State, either as a for-credit course or as a non-credit, non-course experience approved by the appropriate faculty member. Visit www. Kent. Deed/catalog/leer for course list. Upper-Division Requirement Students must complete a minimum 39 upper-division (numbered 30000 to 49999) credit hours of coursework. Programs in the College of Arts and Sciences require a minimum of 42 hours of upper-division coursework.

What Experts Are Saying About Holocaust Essay Topics and What It Means For You

What Experts Are Saying About Holocaust Essay Topics and What It Means For You It's this outrage we want to stay alive in our day-to-day life and apply it to all scenarios, whether they involve Jews or non-Jews. The folks of Israel massacred again. Studying the Holocaust is among the most crucial issues that's included into the educational programs not just in the United Stated but also in different countries of the planet. It was just a dim symptom of what the future held for European Jews. Fatalities occurred only as soon as the brain stem and the rear of the head were also chilled. All the indicators of this disease give an explanation of insane killings. The report on the outcomes of our research must be turned into there, to assure that they be utilized in time for those troops. Be careful of oversimplifications. This will guarantee you start out on the perfect path in your research. Debt bondage is another sort of slavery that's still practiced around the world. S uch events are of a high magnitude because they have a long-lasting impact worldwide and have the capability to change the world forever. These are events of such magnitude they have a durable effect on the world and have the ability to change the worlds for ever. Holocaust Essay Topics - the Conspiracy Actually, since the war progressed, the amount of prisoners increased. Concentration camps in Germany served several purposes. Auschwitz was a huge camp and well-known for its brutality. It included camp sites a few miles away from the main complex. Holocaust Essay Topics for Dummies As you prepare to compose an essay on the Holocaust, there are a few things that you must keep in mind. Anti-Semitism is directly joined to the holocaust and that up to this day the Jews are fearful of a repeat of the exact same to the extent that they've put in place measures to safeguard themselves in the event of any eventuality. As stated originally, there's a huge amount of information th at can be found on the Holocaust. Within this paragraph, I'll explain unique causes of the Holocaust. This tragedy shouldn't be forgotten. As responsible and mindful human beings there are methods to stop horrible events like the holocaust or any genocide to occur. It was a horrific event in our history and it is one that will never be forgotten, especially given the fact that the impact of the event can still be felt worldwide. Slavery and the holocaust each had a most important purpose, although they might have been different. The Fundamentals of Holocaust Essay Topics Revealed To start with, it's very essential to locate the reliable recourses, where the info is accurate and truthful. Train yourself to get the greatest outcomes. A very simple search of the internet gives many documented human experiments like those on Native Americans. Utilizing the Dissecting the Prompt strategy, students may take apart and analyze the prompt, identifying the historical topics they should learn more about in the remaining part of the unit to be in a position to completely answer the questi on. Writing an essay on the Holocaust isn't an effortless endeavor. Naturally, you must begin writing. An interesting Holocaust topic is the secret to a paper which will help students become involved with learning. To get going on a Holocaust essay, students should consider some of these topic ideas. Ok, I Think I Understand Holocaust Essay Topics, Now Tell Me About Holocaust Essay Topics! A lot of historical data can be investigated so as to study the Holocaust. You will see that not only is there a great deal of information on the Holocaust but also that there are numerous approaches you may take to the subject. There are a lot of examples, thoughts and stories online that may be used for research. You may want to write on a subject that is intriguing and educational for your reader. Several of these individuals died as a consequence of incarceration and maltreatment. As a consequence, he's virtually impervious to all types of physical injury. An individual must rec kon on instances of death. Bear in mind that you're managing a weighty subject and ought to plan to devote a vast majority of your time on this paper. New Ideas Into Holocaust Essay Topics Never Before Revealed The word is still utilized in its other senses. It's one instance of bad things happening to good individuals. How miserable is the soul of an individual that hurts other folks. 1 way lay death for each of them. Top Choices of Holocaust Essay Topics Explain why propaganda proved to be a crucial portion of the Nazi state. There's a very long list of genocides committed through the ages in several elements of the planet. Try everything you can to think well on this subject and should you will need help, you're always welcome. Sadly, there's no definitive solution to that question. The Most Popular Holocaust Essay Topics That said, exploring certain facets of the Holocaust remains an important academic contribution for a lot of reasons. Dehumanization played a hug e part in the genocide also. To conclude, the holocaust is among the memorable events in the history of man and it's important to know some of its causes and the way it was carried out. The development of the Holocaust. The Meaning of Holocaust Essay Topics This is particularly true if you're in high school or college. Ask students to attempt to support their thinking with an example from the history they've studied or their very own lives. Six million of people who died were killed just because they were Jewish. This year became an extremely busy year for those students.

Definition and Examples of Sententiae in Rhetoric

In classical rhetoric, a  sententia  is a maxim, proverb, aphorism, or popular quotation: a brief expression of conventional wisdom. Plural: sententiae. A  sententia, said the Dutch  Renaissance humanist  Erasmus, is an adage  that bears particularly on â€Å"instruction in living (Adagia, 1536). See Examples and Observations below. Also see: 2,000 Pure Fools: An Anthology of AphorismsCommonplaceEnthymemeLogosWhat Is a Maxim? EtymologyFrom the Latin, feeling, judgment, opinion Examples and Observations It is best to insert sententiae discreetly, that we may be viewed as judicial advocates, not moral instructors.(Rhetorica ad Herennium, c. 90 BC)A mans as miserable as he thinks he is.(Seneca the Younger)No man is laughable who laughs at himself.(Seneca the Younger)Things forbidden have a secret charm.(Tacitus)Greater things are believed of those who are absent.(Tacitus)A bad peace is worse than war.(Tacitus)Post-Ciceronian Latin gave vigor and point to style by the frequent use of sententiae--clever, sometimes epigrammatic, apothegmatic turns of phrase: what oft was thought but ner so well expressd, as Alexander Pope was to put it. Quintilian devotes a chapter to sententiae (8.5), acknowledging that they had become a necessary part of the orators art.(George A. Kennedy, Classical Rhetoric. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. Oxford University  Press, 2001)Sententiae in the Renaissance- A sententia, which had overtones of its classical Latin sense of judgement, was a pithy and memorable phra se: a recitall of some grave matter which both beautified and graced a style. Several writers were clear that testimony could take the form of a Notable sentence or was a sententia of a witness. Richard Sherry, in his Treatise of Schemes and Tropes (1550), closely associated the sententia with the argument from testimony or authority when he defined it as one of the seven kinds of figure called Indicacio, or authoritie.(R.W. Serjeantson, Testimony. Renaissance Figures of Speech, ed. by Sylvia Adamson, Gavin Alexander, and Katrin Ettenhuber. Cambridge University  Press, 2008)- Scholasticism developed around the medieval tendency to treat ancient sources--both the Bible and certain texts of classical antiquity--as authoritative. So strong was this tendency that individual sentences from a respected source, even when taken out of context, could be employed to secure a point in debate. These isolated statements from ancient sources were called sententiae. Some authors collected large numbers of sententiae into anthologies for educational and disputational purposes. Disputes centered on debatable points suggested by one or more sententiae, these debatable notions being called quaestiones. Education by debating general topics drawn from authoritative statements reveals one way in which rhetorical and dialectical practices made their way into the Middle Ages. . . .Writers now known as the Italian Humanists were responsible for a resurgence of interest in the languages and texts of classical antiquity during the Renaissance period, an orientation referred to as classicism. . . .[T]he Humanists sought to place the text in its historical context, in order to establish the correct value of words and phrases. . . . As noted [above], the scholastic practice of splintering classical sources into individual statements or sententiae led to the loss of original meaning and even of authorial identity. Charles Nauert writes, from Petrarch onward, humanists insisted on reading each opinion in its context, abandoning the anthologies . . . and subsequent interpretations and going back to the full original text in search of the authors real meaning.(James A. Herrick, The History and Theory of Rhetoric, 3rd ed. Pearson, 2005) Pronunciation: sen-TEN-she-ah