peppermint And Reaction time

Purpose Does eating peppermint candy affect the reaction time of teenagers? http://gemmacalvert.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/tick-tock.jpg http://www.poklat.com/the-amazing-potency-of-peppermint/

hypothesis If a teenager eats a peppermint candy, then their reaction time will improve because peppermint increases mental alertness and focus. https://soccerfitnessgols.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/soccer-goalie-1600x800.jpg?w=810 http://www.onlinemba.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/11brainvacation7.jpg

Materials 145 high school students 145 pieces of soft peppermint candy “Red Light –Green Light Reaction Time Test” (http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/redgreen.html)

Methods Each participant was directed to the “Red Light-Green Light Reaction Time Test” at http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/redgreen.html. They were instructed to follow the directions found there and to take the test twice without recording any results. This was meant as practice to ensure that all participants were familiar with the process prior to testing. They were then asked to take the test again, this time recording all their results on a piece of paper (there were 5 trials in total). Next, they were given a piece of soft peppermint candy and asked to complete the test one last while eating the candy, again recording all of their results. All results were collected and the data was compiled to compare the averages of all participants.

Experimental Set-up Control group (no peppermint) Experimental group(while eating peppermint candy) 145 high school students (age 14-18) were asked to complete the test once without peppermint and once with peppermint. They recorded the average of five trials for each.

Average Reaction Time (seconds) Results Table 1. Effects of peppermint candy on reaction time (n = 146). Treatment Average Reaction Time (seconds) None (control group) 0.3593 Peppermint 0.3429

analysis

Analysis (cont.) Control group average reaction time = 0.3593 seconds Peppermint group average reaction time = 0.3429 seconds Change in average reaction times (control – peppermint) = 0.0164 seconds

Analysis (cont. 2) % improvement in reaction time with peppermint Difference in reaction time x100 = % difference in reaction time Control group reaction time 0.0164 seconds x 100 = 4.56% improvement 0.3593 seconds

Conclusion Eating peppermint candy improves the reaction time of teenagers by 4.56% on average. Students (145) were asked to complete the “Red Light-Green Light Reaction Time Test” provided online by the University of Washington a total of 4 times. Twice for practice, and then twice as part of this experiment. The first round of testing was used as a baseline for comparison, and students were not given anything to eat during the test. During the second and final round of testing, students were asked to eat a soft peppermint candy while taking the test. The results were compiled and showed that, on average, students had a reaction time of 0.3593 seconds when not eating anything, but their reaction time sped up to 0.3429 seconds when consuming peppermint. This supports the hypothesis that peppermint improves reaction times in teenagers.

Conclusion (cont.) This information can be used in a variety of ways. For example, teachers and administrators could begin offering students peppermint during important tests to help speed up their mental processing. Similarly, students themselves could make a habit of eating peppermint during study sessions and important lessons and tests. Beyond that, offering peppermint to truck drivers and others who are asked to perform dangerous tasks, often on little sleep, could even help save lives by helping individuals stay more alert and reactive.

Conclusion (cont. 2) While these results are promising, there are many ways this experiment could be improved or expanded on. For example, it is possible that students did better on the peppermint test because it was their 4th time taking it (as opposed to only their 3rd time for the control group). It is also possible that it was the sugar in the candy rather than the peppermint that increased reaction time, or, perhaps, even just the act of eating made a difference. Future experiments should focus on eliminating these variables. One way to do that would be to have two separate groups of students, one eating the peppermint and one not. Then, all students could be given a sugar based candy so that the only difference remaining between the groups would be the peppermint itself. It would also be interesting to test different forms of peppermint, including leaves and scented wax to see if one form was more effective than the others.

REferences Science Buddies University of Washington Livestrong http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair- projects/project_ideas/HumBio_p027.shtml#background University of Washington http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/redgreen.html Livestrong http://www.livestrong.com/article/520172-does-peppermint-candy-stimulate- the-brain/

acknowledgements I would like to thank my chemistry students for participating in this study.