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Introduction:
What topic will we do? Food and its effects on learning ability
Purpose: To justify whether broccoli will affect learning ability or not so that the result of the
How? Two male hamsters will be used within this project. One will get normal food which is
sunflower seeds and grains (control group). While another will also have the same food with
broccoli would be added into its diet (experimental group). Both of the hamsters would go
through the same classic maze and would have their ability to learn determined.
Brain foods or foods that allegedly improves the ability to function of the brain are
becoming more and more popular alongside the health-conscious trend. Many companies are
incorporating extractions from those allegedly brain food into their products, especially
supplements. Broccoli is one of the brain food that, reportedly, will enhance brain power and
improve cognitive function due to the presence of vitamin K . Despite the popularity of brain
foods, there is no strong evidence that the alleged foods have any effects on brain functioning.
Hence, this experiment would be done in order to justify whetfher the hype about brain food is
true or not.
Nutrients found in broccoli and its possible effects on learning and memory
Hypothesis: If the hamster had been fed with broccoli, then it would make less mistakes, use
less time to learn how to run the maze correctly, and would use less time to reach the finishing
Variables:
Controlled variable:
Literature Review :
1) Significant nutrients on brain function omega-3 fatty acids and folic acid
Experiment = a drink rich of omega-3 fatty acid and other nutrients given to Australian
students
Result all students given a drink get high score in measuring verbal intelligence and
Experiment = 954 participants, who have age averaged is 81, from the Memory and
Aging project reported their daily food and beverage intake by answering a detailed 144-item
questionnaire at the beginning of the study. Then, total daily nutrient is calculated. They
tests and adjusted for age, sex, education, smoking, genetic risk for Alzheimers disease and
participation in physical activities when estimating the effects of diet on cognitive decline
Result = eating green leafy vegetables and other food rich in vitamin K, lutein and beta-
1. Cite = focus on brain food --- What effect can each nutrients give?
2. Compare = they both did an experiment with human --- human and rodents are almost
the same in genetics plus a lot of the structure and connectivity that exists in human
3. Contrast = one proves for omega-3 fatty acid, another proves for vitamin K
4. Critique = the experiment with vitamin K is more persuasive because the experiment
was done by comparing people who consume vitamin K from food not directly which
is different from the experiment with omega-3 using a drink with pure omega-3 and not
directly get from food. In reality, people will consume nutrients from food not from
purifying it so the experiment with vitamin K shows a real result of normal lifestyle.
5. Connect = This experiment will prove whether vegetable which is full of vitamin K
will be effective to brain or not by using specific kind of vegetable which is broccoli.
Comparing to the previous experiment that gained result without having a specific kind
of food to prove.
Knowledge Gap:
What kind of vegetable is both rich in vitamin K and omega-3 fatty acid?
Our experiment will answer these questions by using broccoli as an independent variable
because it is rich in vitamin K. However, it also has some omega-3 fatty acids. It would be
tested by using hamsters as subjects and observe whether consumption of the brain food
Consuming good food will affect your brain in a good way due to the good bacteria in
the food, which will make up the intestinal microbiome. The intestinal microbiome protects
the lining of the intestines and provides a barrier against bad bacteria. This will help to improve
ability of nutrient absorption and activate neural pathways that travel directly between the gut
and the brain. In other word, it affects your mood and energy level.
List of Materials:
4. Hamster food
5. Cardboard
6. Timer
7. Glue (could be either liquid latex, elmers glue, or other non-toxic glue)
8. Cage
11. Water
12. Ruler
13. Cutter
14. Pencil
Methodology:
1. Prepare the cage by putting the bedding onto the ground of the cage, set up the food
2. Obtain the hamster. Let the hamster adapt to its new environment for 1-3 days
3. For the experimental hamster, slowly incorporate broccoli into its diet
a. As time passes, adjust the proportion of the diet by adding more broccoli and
lessen the normal food; add 1g of broccoli each 2 days until broccoli compose
15. Change the food and water of the hamster daily, so that the hamster would have a fresh
16. If the bedding is soiled, replace the bedding with the new one
17. Train the hamster so it would not be afraid or alarmed by the presence of human by
a. Kneel down, let the hamster be at your eye level and put your hands into the
cage
b. At first, the hamster probably will show signs of fear due to the unfamiliar
presence of human
(playing dead)
c. Within 3 seconds of having presence of human around hamster, give the treat
human is present
3. Let a big piece of cardboard be the floor of the maze. Cut rectangles of cardboard to be
4. Build the maze following the design provided in Methodology: Maze Design and
Justification. Make the maze at least 16cm tall so that the hamster cannot jump out from
the maze.
5. Leave the completed maze for 2 days to dry. The smell of glue would be gone after it
2. Let the hamsters explore the maze for the first time, timing the amount of time that the
hamster used to reach the finish position and count the amount of mistakes that the
3. Wait for about 30 minute before starting another trial in order to let the hamster rest
4. Repeat the process again. Record the information and record the amount of trials needed
5. Use the information obtained to plot a number of mistakes versus time graph of each
of the hamsters. Compare the graph, time that each of the subjects used to run the maze
and the time that subjects used to learn how to run the maze.
Maze Design and Justification:
o Easy to build
Design
o Same ground levels not dangerous to ensure that hamster will not be
harmed
o 7.5 cm wide (pathways) not too tight or compress when hamsters run or turn
whether if the hamster could memorize the path or not ensure that differences
o There will be no anything else inside the maze except hamster and the food at
the finishing position avoid external stimuli that could not be controlled
because it might harm hamsters or cause the result being not accurate
o Start and finish lines are very far from each other to let hamster run around
the whole maze which will let us can observe their behavior easily
o Long enough for hamster to take time to complete the maze can record time
Materials
o Use cardboard for building the maze does not harm hamsters even they eat
it but also strong enough and not be broken when the hamster push
Introduction of experiment
o Purpose of the experiment = To solve how different stimuli affect learning ability
o Related to our experiment good stimuli will be used in our experiment in training
o How the method solves their question = Collecting the data and observe their
- Result
o How the result relates or support our experiment what type of stimuli should be
o How can we learn from this experiment = Learning from their good technique and
their errors
Timeline:
Table 1: Table showing the objectives, things to do, and the time frame
The table below shows the goal needed to be completed in order to finish the experiment
successfully and things to do in order to complete each of the objectives set with a time frame
frame
To collect footages Every members within the group help each other 29/3/17 -
documentation
period
frame
To finish the Every member help each other to think of the 21/4/17 -
outline of the topic needed to make researches about for the 30/4/17
material 15/5/17
frame
To prepare the Prepare the hamster that will be used in the 9/5/17 -
change of diet
To teach the To gradually train the hamster to run the maze 15/5/17 -
maze
To collect data To record the number of trials needed to run the 15/5/17 -
maze correctly
frame
easy to be understood
To make individual Each of the members within the group reflect on 22/5/17 -
self-directed project.
o Design the the maze so that the path within the maze would not be too narrow
accidentally consume it
o To minimize pesticide use organic veggies & use baking soda to remove
pesticides
Maze
Surroundings
o Silent environments
According to the literature review I & II that the food beverages affect to
human learning and memorizing system which has been approved that are similar to the
hamsters, due to, the Research of Learning During Stressful Times by Tracey J. Shors from
New Jersey 08854 ,USA. As researched, hamsters are considered as one of the most famous
species of rodents that were used to experiments for medication usage. Therefore, in this
experiment, it was decided that the anxiety in hamsters would be controlled , since it might
provide an invalid result from our experiment, and also as an ethical / human consideration,
information about Stress and Operant Conditioning (also known as the Learning Helplessness
states) that when the creatures are exposed with inescapable stress, it would express in
various ways; such as sleep and eating disorders, stomach ulcers, and the reduction of
immune system. [The phenomenon was promoted as creatures modeled for the depression in
humans, Seligman 1975]. Therefore, this research provides a strong answer about anxiety that
whether in rodents or human, it would result a negative impact. According to the information
above, the researchers have been contributing an experiment that focuses on both stressed
and unstressed rats and their learning. In the experiment, they used the 8-arms radial maze to
test the hungriness of the 2 different groups. The result shows that in the first day, the
stressed group did better than the unstressed group, but in the next day the unstressed group
revealed a better learning ability than the stressed group. In the other word, learning while
stressed is not efficient, therefore, controlling the surroundings and environments and
designing the maze are being concerned as much as possible in our experiment. As the
researcher chose the 8-arms radial maze that was recorded as the best maze design for testing
the rats hungriness abilities, which is similar as the classical maze design that our group have
chosen.
In order to critique, among the learning during stressful times research, there
are some developments that could be based from the research information and implied to our
experiment; there are some factors that cause an error in their experiment, whether the
quantities of trials that used to test was insufficient to give out reliable result and the
conditions of the rats, for instance, the days that the rats stay at those place because their
emotional statement plays a crucial role of how they going to stimuli back to the stimulators ,
etc.
Data Collections and Limitations:
o When the number of mistakes is low or is zero and after several trials more is
Figure 1: Sample of the #of mistakes versus time graph that would be used in order to obtain
the learning curve of each of the subjects and analyze the information obtained from the
experiment
Record the time used to run the maze and find the best time (least time used) and worst
Hamster that does not eat broccoli Hamster that eats broccoli
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial3
Trial 4
Limitations
Since two different hamsters were used, there is a factor that couldnt be controlled
o To solve this problem, the same rodent should be used in further studies
Since the diet of the hamster couldnt be changed into 100% broccoli due to the
possible lack of nutrients the hamster could get, the result might vary
o To solve this problem, the diet of the rodent that would be the experimental
group might be planned by using other methods that would ensure sufficient
Since this experiment was planned as a short term experiment, the long term result
cannot be tested
o If the brain food doesnt have a short term result, or the time is not sufficient
enough for the brain food (broccoli) to effect anything, it might result in no
o To solve this problem, the same experiment could be carried out in a long-
term period
Conclusion:
In order to justify the effects of broccoli, which is one of the brain foods, on learning,
experiment by using hamsters as subjects would be conducted. By using the control hamster,
which is the hamster that would have a normal diet, and the experimental hamster, which is the
hamster that would have broccoli incorporated into its diet, the difference in ability to learn
would be determined by using the amount of mistakes done, time used to learn how to run the
maze, and time used to complete the maze. The maze that would be used in the experiment
would be the same, classical modeled maze made with cardboard and other hamster-safe
materials in order to ensure the safety of the subjects and to ensure that there would be no
difference in the maze that would alter the result of the experiment.
References
Chiba, A. (2015, April 02). Why we use rodents to research the brain. Retrieved April 29, 2017,
from http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/science/sdut-brain-logic-behind-using-
rodents-2015apr02-htmlstory.html
Dehart, R., Gibson, A., & Miller, L. (2014, May 7). Amazing Mice. Retrieved April 23, 2017, from
http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/nsfall01/FinalArticles/AmazingMice.html
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. (2017, April 25). Vitamin K keeps
keeps-brains-sharp
http://www.hammysworld.com/index.php?p=stress
MD, E. S. (2015, November 17). Nutritional psychiatry: Your brain on food. Retrieved April 28,
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Wolpert, S. (2008, July 09). Scientists learn how what you eat affects your brain - and those of your
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