Can You Feel the Beat?
by Gabi B.
2nd Place - Behavioral Science

Question: Which type of test will cause the heart rate to increase the most: A balloon popping, a pop-up video, or a loud rock song?

Research: Heart rate generally ranges from 83 to 185 beats per minute in children from ages 12 to 14. Fatigue, heat, dehydration, humidity, stress, and health status are all factors that can affect your heart rate. Supporting the balloon and video tests, the heart rate rises when a person is startled because the medulla extracts adrenalin in the sympathetic nervous system. Fear and excitement cause a 20% to 30% increase in cardiac output. You can easily find your pulse by applying slight pressure to any large artery. Resting heart rate ranges from 70 to
100 beats per minute.

Hypothesis: My hypothesis is that the pop up clip will raise the heart rate the most. It gets you to concentrate on the screen looking for the commonly known Waldo. Waldo (not actually in the picture) is a character with a red and white striped shirt, an elf-like hat, and jeans. A few seconds into the movie, a vampire pops up and starts screamIng.

Experiment:  I needed balloons, a pin, eye pads, soundproof headphones, a rock song, and a pop-up video clip In order to conduct my experiment accurately. The steps I took Included:
1. Took initial heart rate
2. Played rock song, took heart rate
3. Blind folded subject, popped balloon, took heart rate
4. Showed clip, waited for the vampire, and took heart rate
5. Multiplied 15-mlnute intervals by 4 to get BPM

Analysis: The average base heart rate was 84.5 BPM. The average heart rate for the rock song was 85.5 BPM (1.18% of change from base heart rate). The average heart rate for the balloon popping was 89.75 BPM (8.21%of change from base heart rate). The average for the pop-up clip was 95.75 BPM (13.31% of change from base heart rate). The music test was kind of weird. It pumped up some people, and calmed down others, even though it was a rock song ("What I've Done" by Lincoln Park).

Discovery: My hypothesis was correct! The movie clip raised the heart rate the most. I'm not really surprised about this. It encompassed multiple sensory relationships. This project not only answered my question, it taught me tons oft things I didn't know about the heart.