Shock and Awe: Surprising Revelations on Cognition

Title

Shock and Awe: Surprising Revelations on Cognition

Author

Jacob Martin

Faculty Sponsor

Debi Brannan

Gavin Keulks

Date

6/30/2019

Abstract

Surprise is a fundamental, yet by definition unpredictable element of life. In the current experiment, the aim is to explore if surprise will have some form of statistically significant effect on cognitive performance. Participants consisted of io students from a northwestern university, the average age of participants was 19.3 (S = .io56). Materials include a Hexbug Fire Ant remote controlled robot, two tests of cognitive ability, a demographics form, a debriefing form, and an informed consent form. Participants first read and signed the informed consent. The robot was kept out of sight of participants. Subjects completed two tests with the pen on the desk. In the experimental group, the robot would suddenly be wheeled out from its hidden location before taking the test. After, subjects completed the demographics form and were debriefed. Participants were scored on the number of questions answered correctly. Participants who did receive a surprise had a slightly higher score (M = 1io.25, SD = .5) than individuals who did not (M = 15.33, SD = 2.52). The mean difference was not significant, t(5) = .186, p > .05, d = 0.511. The results do not support the hypothesis. This suggests that the treatment had no effect on participants. However, this study had multiple limitations.

Type

Text

Honors Thesis

Department

Honors Program

Language

eng

Rights

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Identifier

honors_theses/193