Table Of Contents

1. By: Tatiana Hernandez Pd7 Table Of Contents Question Materials Research Procedure Hypothesis Results Conclusion Variables etc. Bibliography Click the box that you would like to see information from.

2. Question: • Does age affect how many times a person blinks, while listening to music? Home

3. Research: Many things can cause the rate of our blinking. If someone is staring at something, then they will tend to blink less; but if our eyes are irritated or stressed, we tend to blink more than we usually do. Eyes can become irritated from smoke and dust in the air, Infections and if we have allergies. Another major thing that affects the rate of our blinking is if we have any diseases or illnesses. Some major diseases that affect our blinking are Conjunctivitis, Tourette syndrome and Anxiety. Conjunctivitis is also known as Pink Eye; some Symptoms of Conjunctivitis are inflammation on the eyes membranes and parts of the eyelid, crusting on the eyelid or lashes, and a red color on the white parts of the eye. Tourette syndrome is repetitive involuntary movements within your body. These movements are called “Tics”. There are two types of tics vocal and motor tics. Vocal tics are made with someone’s voice; like randomly shouting out a word. Motor tics are within the body; like suddenly moving your arms. Anxiety is a mental illness. It makes you constantly aware of your surroundings because you feel fear and sometimes start to panic. With anxiety disorders, you may start to lose sleep, constantly think of traumatic events in your life, and can almost never stay still. So these are some of the things that may affect your rate of blinking. Home

4. Hypothesis: • I believe that age does affect how many times a person blinks. I think the people around age 14 will blink the least, because the younger kids will probably blink a lot to go along with the beat and they will get distracted quicker; and older people might not be “into” the music as much at the 11 to 14 age group, so I think they will also blink more. Home

5. Variables/Controls Variables: • Independent Variable: Age • Dependent Variable: How many times the person blinks Controls: • Music (song) • How long the person will listen to the song • The way the person listen’s to the song (ear buds) • Volume of music • Gender of person (female) Home

6. Materials • A timer • IPod with ear buds & the song “Both Of Us” By Taylor Swift featuring B.O.B Home

7. Procedure: • Have somebody sit and listen to “Both Of Us” for 1 minute • I time them and record how many times they blink • Do this 1 more time, making a total of 2 trials and record their average • Do this with 2 more people in their age category (making it a total of 3 people) and record the average • I will repeat this with everybody I test • There will be age categories from 7-10, 11-14, & 15-18 Home

8. Experiment Results: Continued

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10. Conclusion: • Before I did my experiment, I thought the age group 11 to 14 would blink the least amount of times in one minute while listening to music. I thought the kids that range from 7 to 10 would become distracted quickly and blink a lot more than the other age groups. So these were not the results I expected to get. As I tested the kids from ages 7 to 10, I realized their average number of blinks per minute was kind of high. But when I tested the kids from ages 11 to 14, I saw that the average decreased. Again, when I tested the people from ages 15 to 18, I noticed that the average number of blinks decreased more. This shows that the older the people were, the fewer times they blinked in one minute. I realize some things may have affected why I got the results that I got. All of the kids in the 7 to 10 age group were nervous, so that may have made them blink more than usual. Also in that same age category, the kids started becoming distracted, as I originally thought they would. The kids that range from ages 11 to 14 started off nervous but as they started to listen to the music, their nerves started to become better, and by the time I was done testing them they were not nervous at all. I noticed that the people who ranged from ages 15 to 18 were not nervous at all and they were really engaged in the song more than the other age groups; so that also could have caused that age group to get a lower number of blinks per minute. If I would do this experiment again, I would want to test more people, to see if I would still get the same outcome. Also, I would try to control the variables better. By this I mean, I would test the person in a room where it’s just me and them, so they don't become so nervous. I wouldn’t allow people to be around when I would test them, because during the experiment other people were around and that might have been what made them nervous. My original hypothesis was incorrect because the results I gathered did not match my hypothesis. I thought the age group 11 to 14 would have the least average number of blinks in one minute, but now I see that the age group 15 to 18 had the least number of blinks. So I did enjoy doing this experiment but I would like to do it again with more controls. Home

11. Bibliography: • http://www.dryeyesummit.org/articles/breaking-down-blink • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink • http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2007/05/14/how_often_and_why_do_peoples_eyes_blink/ • http://www.localhealth.com/article/eye-blinking-symptoms • http://www.localhealth.com/article/eye-blinking-symptoms/causes • http://www.cdc.gov/conjunctivitis/about/symptoms.html • http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/tourette/facts.html • http://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/basics/mental-illness/anxiety.htm • http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/guide/mental-health-anxiety-disorders Home