BIOL101 Individual Assignments 2Current Latest 2015 October

Individual
Assignment 2 Instructions
Attention
deficit disorder (ADD) is a syndrome in which a person has difficulty focusing
sustained attention on a task for a significant amount of time. In some cases
this is accompanied by hyperactivity as well. It is currently being diagnosed
at an all-time high. Between 1989 and 1996, youth visits for ADD increased 90%,
from 1.9% of total physician visits to 3.6%.

Now,
a psychiatrist named Dr. Edward Hallowell is making a new distinction. He has
described a similar set of characteristics in a large number of patients that
he terms Attention Deficit Trait (ADT). It looks a lot like ADD in its day-to-day
manifestation, but unlike ADD, ADT symptoms lessen when the sufferer goes on
vacation or into a decreased sensory input setting for an extended time period
(on the order of days or weeks). In such a long-term placid situation, the ADD
sufferer’s problems continue unabated.

Imagine
that you have the general set of symptoms described above. But which of the two
syndromes are causing your symptoms: the disorder (ADD) or the trait (ADT)? Approach
your problem using scientific methodology—developing a question, a hypothesis,
an experiment, and a control for the experiment.

The
initial question and the experiment that will be performed on you are provided.Your
job is to state the hypothesis and to design the most important and most basic
control for this experiment.

Your
Question:What’s my problem? Is it
ADD or ADT?

1.
Your Hypothesis:State your hypothesis based directly on the above
question.

Your
Experiment:Keeping your same diet,
sleep habits, and basic activity level, you will be sent on a two-week vacation
to the Bahama Islands. You will be given only a beach to walk on and your
favorite friend to talk to, following which you will be asked to read and
memorize 10 sequential definitions from a standard dictionary in 30 minutes.

2.
Your Controlfor this Experiment: You get a numerical result for the
number of definitions you memorized. What does that number mean? Nothing—unless
you have a control for your experiment. What is the most obvious control for
this experiment?

Major
Hint:The study guide for Quiz 1indicates where this topic is covered in
your text. The two figures in that section give you valuable examples.
Remember, the initial question and experiment are provided here. Be
careful to provide what the assignment is asking for.

Your
assignment:

1)
Write out a testable hypothesis
in a brief sentence. Derive it from the question askedabove.(Be certain that
the experiment addresses it!)
2)
In a second sentence, describe
a basic, critical control situation (additional experiment?) that will give
validity to the experiment described above.
Number
your sentences with“1” and “2” and do not use paragraph form. The sentencesmustnotbe
submitted as an attached document, but entered into the text box provided.

Submit
this assignment by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Monday of Module/Week 2.