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Our data for this lab was a little different than we thought it would be. Although the times did increase when we had to think about the different shades of the boxes, and when we had to read the instructions, for one of us the times were lower when we had to to do the trial with negation. We were definitely not expecting that to happen, and we're unsure as to why doing the opposite seemed to come easier to one of us than following instructions.

For our second set of trials, we chose to add a distraction to the experiment. Instead of doing these silently, we thought the results would change if the other person talked to the one doing the experiment. This didn't present very much of a difference, but when we decided to fully engage in a conversation, the difference was much more apparent. We chose a conversation as opposed to listening to music, because we figured that the subject would eventually become accustomed to the music, but would always need to react in order to continue the conversation.

In order to make sure that our results in the second set of trials were not just a fluke or a result of us growing more comfortable with the experiment, we did another set of trials that were exactly like the first. Although these times were a little different than the ones with which we started, they were still completely different than when we were being distracted by the conversation.

In the end our results were what we expected. The conversation made it more difficult to react accurately to what was going on. It was more difficult to press the button, and pay attention to the directions if we were also trying to concentrate on other things. It was already difficult enough to pay attention to the directions on their own, but when we were talking we would sometimes look away from the computer screen or completely forget that we were supposed to be waiting for instructions and we'd either click at the wrong time or just click way too late.

mfmiranda, jpierre