You will need:
- Metric ruler
- Paper & pen (to record your findings)
- Volunteer
Understand the science behind reflex actions with this simple experiment.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Ask your friend to extend his forearm.
- Ask him to hold a ruler between his thumb and index finger at ‘1’. They should be holding the ruler in such a way that ‘1’ is at the bottom and ‘30’ is at the top.
- Let them get used to holding the ruler with just their index fingers and thumbs.
- Now with your hand at ‘30’, take the ruler and let your friend know that you will be dropping the ruler from a little height, and he is supposed to catch it with only his thumb and index finger as soon as he senses that it is falling.
- Hold the ruler in such a way that the bottom of the ruler is about 2 cm above your friend’s hand, and without giving him a warning drop the ruler.
- Record the number at which your friend caught the ruler.
- Repeat the experiment over and over again.
RESULT
You will notice that over time, with practice your friend’s reflexes will have improved. Our reflexes are our quickest response to stimuli. But when we repeatedly perform a certain physical skill, our nervous system creates new neural pathways, which makes the coordination between our eyes, brain and muscles more efficient, creating what is known as muscle memory.
