Powerlab

Part B

Powerlab practicals worksheet

1. In the ‘Introduction to Powerlab’ practical, you used a finger pulse transducer to collect some physiological data and make some recordings. In your own words, being as specific as you can, describe what is actually being recorded by the PowerLab and displayed in LabTutor.

PowerLab recorded pulse rate which it received as an analog signal from the transducer attached to the finger and then converted it into a digital signal which it displayed in LabTutor. LabTutor allowed us to highlight the sampled data within a certain time interval to calculate my average heart rate

2. Name two physiological variables, other than finger pulse, that you could measure with PowerLab and LabTutor.

Forced generated by the hand and also Electrical activity of the Brain

3. Were all of your measurements with the finger pulse identical for every member of your group? Would you expect them to be identical? Explain your answer.

As expected our heart rates was different for every member due to factors such as age and fitness levels.

4. In the EEG practical, name 3 sources of artifacts in EEG recordings, and in which waveform these artifacts are most prevalent (2 marks).

Electro oculargraphic signals from eye movement, Electromyographic activity of facial muscles or the scalp and mechanical movements of electrodes

5. Under what conditions did you see alpha waves more clearly?

These were seen more clearly when the test victim relaxed and closed their eyes

6. What are alpha waves thought to indicate?

Alpha waves are thought to indicate the extent of cortical stimulation hence the more alpha waves there are the less cortical stimulation is being carried out

7. What effects did the mental arithmetic have on the alpha wave activity?

It significantly lowered the alpha wave activity

8. How do you account for your findings?

From this experiment, LabTutor showed data which supported the fact that...