Red Bull and Reaction Times Essay

Introduction Substances that humans intake in food or drink contain various chemicals that affect the normal bodily functions of the consumer. Stimulants are drugs which when absorbed into the body raises physiological or nervous activity. The Red Bull Energy Drink is a stimulant, which contains psychoactive ingredients such as taurine, glucuronolactone and caffeine. Sportsmen and people requiring large amounts of energy or mental stimulation consume Red Bull because the beverage claims to â€Å"increase concentration and reaction speed†. Due to Red Bull’s claim, and its increasing popularity amongst teenagers in my grade, I wanted to test if the drink did actually affect the consumer psychoactively, and to how significant an extent. To test the claim, I decided to assess 20 subjects in their psychomotor performance (reaction time/concentration) both at a normal bodily function state, and then under the influence of the chemical stimulant Red Bull. Such a test would involve many variables that had to be kept constant. Hence, this test involved 20 male subjects aged 18 to 19 years of age, who were informed beforehand of the assessment procedure. These subjects were given instructions to have at least 8 hours of sleep the night before the experiment, and were told to be present for the assessment on an empty stomach. These subjects were also not allowed to consume any other food or drink substances during the window period of testing, and the entire experiment was conducted on the same day in a 3 hour window (8:30am to 11:30am). Each subject was to consume 250ml of water (experiment control) and 250 of Red Bull. Also, to allow the substances to absorb into the body of the consumer, reaction tests were conducted only 45 minutes after consumption of the substance. Such variables were important to have been kept in order to ensure that no other environmental factors or other chemicals being absorbed into the body will affect the experiment. The reaction speed assessment is conducted electronically. Each assessment consists of the subject concentrating on a yellow spot on the screen, which will turn red. Upon changing colour, the subject has to click using a provided mouse as fast as possible, and the reaction time is calculated electronically. Each assessment consists of 5 trials. A 2 sample t-test will be used to assess the if there is a significant difference between the reaction time of the subjects under the influence of water, versus under the influence of Red Bull. Research Question Is there a significant difference between the reaction speed of 18-19 year old males under the influence of water and under the influence of Red Bull Energy Drink? Hypothesis I believe that the reaction speed of the subjects under the influence of Red Bull Energy Drink is shorter than under the influence of water. Considering how consumers drink Red Bull to boost themselves when feeling lethargic, or having difficulties focusing, Red Bull must have a significant effect on the body’s psychoactivity. I also believe that an increase in the chemical stimulants (taurine, glucuronolactone and caffine) as well as high sugar levels will cause an increase in psychoactivity within the consumer’s body due to the nature of the chemical stimulants. (A sample sign-up form can be found on the following page.) Pre-Experiment Procedure: 2. Measure 250ml of water and pour it into the large cup. 3. Repeat step 2 20 times. This is to prepare the initial control for the subjects to consume. 4. Give a cup to each subject. Subjects consume the 250ml of water at about 2 minute intervals from each other. Start the stopwatch once the first subject has begun drinking. 5. Prepare a computer terminal with the reaction test given in the following link below. Instructions on how to conduct the test are provided on-site. You may need a computer lab to carry out the test. Each test involves five trials. http://www.steriley.com/speed/ 6. When 45 minutes has passed, allocate the first subject to the computer. Instruct him/her to carry out the test. Assist any volunteer who may require extra help. 7. When the subject has completed the test, collect the results into a table. Allocate the next subject to begin the test. This step should be completed in exactly 2 minutes. 8. Repeat steps 3-7 once more, but instead give each subject a can of Red Bull instead of water. Investigate How Red Bull Energy Drink Affects The Reaction Time of 18-19 Year Old Human Males. (Sign-up sheet) Details: Venue: St Josephs Institution International Date: 11 June 2011 Time: 8:30am – 11:30am (please be punctual) Instructions (read carefully before signing up): * Volunteers must be male and between the ages of 18 and 19.* * Volunteers must receive 8 hours of sleep before the experiment day. * Volunteers must not have consumed any food or drinks at least 3 hours before the experiment. * Volunteers are not to consume any food or drink during the experiment period. * Volunteers are not allowed to do any strenuous activities during the experiment period. This includes running, and other forms of exercise. Std. Dev:| 0.033| 0.019| Graph showing mean reaction times of 20 males, ages 18-19 under influence of water and of Red Bull: From the graph, we can already infer that there is quite a large difference between the reaction times of the subjects under the influence of Red Bull as compared to water. The t-test to follow will show if this difference shown on the graph is a significant difference or not. T-test: I will now use a t-test to prove whether there is a significant difference between the reaction times of an 18-19 year old male under the influence of water or Red bull. Null Hypothesis (H0): There is no significant difference between the reaction times of an 18-19 year old male under the influence of either water or Red Bull Energy Drink. Alternate Hypothesis (H1): There is a significant difference between the reaction times of an 18-19 year old male under the influence of Red Bull Energy Drink as compared to water. Working: For this experiment, the degrees of freedom is calculated to be: 20+20-2=38. The t-value as provided by the GDC is 6.2966 or 6.30 corrected to 3 significant figures. The p-value as provided by the table is 1.684 (at 40 d.f) with a confidence level of 95%. 6.30>1.684, ∠´t>p. The value of t is larger than p. The P-value as calculated by the GDC is 2.232737 x 10 -7 or 0.000000223 (3.s.f.) P