Reflex Lab

Analysis

In this lab, we went over some of the body's natural reflexes to environmental stimuli. The first lab reflex we went over was the photopupillary reflex. We had one partner close their eyes for about a minute, then when they open their eyes, the other person quickly shines a flashlight in their eye. What happens is that pupil contracts to decrease the amount of light getting into the eye.

The second lab is the knee jerk reflex or the Patellar Reflex. One student sat with one leg dangling, and the other student hits the leg just below the knee with a reflex hammer. The leg that was hit with the hammer immediately kicks up. This reflex could have been developed after more medicine and doctor exams were taking place in human society for an easy way for doctors to check if environmental stimuli and reflexes were properly working.

In the Blink reflex, one student held up a see-through plastic wrap in front of their face while the other student threw a cotton ball at the person. The person would blink anytime the brain sees something is coming toward the face in fear that something would hit the eye or get into the eye and damaging it since it's very fragile.

In the Plantar Reflex, one student drags the cap of a pen firmly on their foot from the heel to the base of the big toe. The student who receives the dragging should clench and flex their toes, moving them closer together.

Our last lab is the Reaction Time Reflex. One student puts his hand at the bottom of the ruler and the other student that's holding the ruler up will randomly drop the ruler. The person that's not holding the ruler tries to catch the ruler as quickly as possible. Wherever they catch it, convert the inches or centimeters to time. Afterward, we repeat the same experiment, but now, the person catching the ruler is also texting. This was to simulate texting and driving and how texting slows our reflexes and reactions of important actions. The times were again recorded for the second part of the lab.
When I participated in the second part of the lab, my reaction time actually got faster by an average of 0.02 seconds when I was texting. This unusual occurrence likely could've happened, because the I wasn't very distracted by texting and I got better at catching the ruler as I got more and more practice.