Methods
Study participants will be requested to volunteer. After agreeing to participate, subjects will be screened to ensure they meet the criteria to participate. To be eligible for for the study, subjects must (1) not be a Biology major or (2) not have taken Anatomy & Physiology I or II in any form in the past or currently. These exclusion criteria were chosen because the lectures that will be presented will be educating volunteers on a body system. Students who have previously taken Anatomy & Physiology may already know about the lecture topic and may be less inclined to be attentive and may skew data. A subject will be preferred to meet both criteria (1) and (2), but could still be considered if they meet only criterion (2). Subjects are to be sourced from Clarkson University and only those who are students at the time of the study will be considered. For the lecture viewing, participants will be divided into groups of 8-9 individuals.
To test effectiveness of lecture formats two lecture styles will be compared, using student attentiveness as the basis for effectiveness of the lecture. A traditional lecture format (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czh0kllNa5k) will be compared to a more modern, entertaining lecture format (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPix_X-9t7E). Both videos will contain the same content and will last 6.5 minutes. All participants will watch a control video to begin, to create a baseline for their attentiveness. Then the participants will be divided into two groups, the first group will watch the traditional video first then the entertaining video, the second group will reverse the order of videos. Both videos focus on educating viewers about the nervous system. Since the videos are the same content, changing the order will account for the repetition of the videos. Psychophysiological measures will be taken during the videos to subjectively determine the subjects’ attentiveness. Measures will be taken 1 minute into the video, halfway through the video, and 30 seconds prior to the conclusion of the video. To account for stimuli caused by brief artifacts in the video rather than changes in attentiveness, the measurements will be taken over a one-minute period. At the conclusion of each video, the participants will be given a short survey to determine the level of attentiveness they perceived they had and how much they learned from the video. Data from the psychophysiological measures and survey will be used to determine which method of lecture is more effective at keeping a subject’s attention.
EOG
An electro-oculogram, or EOG, is way to record eye movement through the use of electrodes placed on the skin near the eyes. This recording can be done because of a voltage difference between the front, the cornea, and the back, the retina, of the eye. EOG is affected by eye movement and light intensity. Therefore, in our experiment, if light intensity is held constant, and with the assumption that attentiveness is associated with the subject looking at the computer screen, we can determine how often someone is distracted during a lecture. Performing an EOG requires LabChart software, PowerLab data aquisition unit, an EOG Pod, shielded lead wire, disposable electrodes, abrasive gel, alcohol wipes, cotton balls, a tape measure, and a computer for projecting lectures.
Skin Conductance
Skin conductance levels are a popular means of detecting sympathetic nervous system activity. The sympathetic nervous system, when activated, increases sweat production which increases skin conductance. It is theorized that arousal, which is a strong predictor of attention, increases skin conductance \cite{Picard_2015}. In this study, skin conductance readings will be taken at three intervals to measure arousal and attentive levels during each style of lecture. To perform this test, LabChart software, a PowerLab, a BioAmplifier, a GSR Amplifier, GSR electrodes, a thermister pod, a skin temperature probe. a BioAmplifier patient cable, lead wires, disposable electrodes, abrasive gel, and medical tape will be required.
ECG
Throughout the cardiac cycle, there is sequential contraction of the atria and ventricles and each type of myocardial cells, combined, produce electrical currents that spread through the body fluids. The use of the ECG can detect these currents and each component of the ECG can correlate to the electrical activities of the atrial and ventricle muscles. In this experiment, the use of the ECG will be used to see if any irregularities or increase in heart rate is detected, compared to a baseline ECG, during the different types of lectures. Conducting an ECG requires LabChart software, PowerLab, lead shilded cables, disposable electrodes, abrasive gel, alochol swabs, cotton balls, a finger pulse transducer, and a computer for playing lectures. (ADinstruments (2014). ECG & Heart Sounds [PDF file]. Colorado Springs:ADinstruments. Retrieved from
https://moodle.clarkson.edu/pluginfile.php/731687/mod_resource/content/1/S19_EOG_Protocol.pdf )
After taking part in the experiment, participants will be given a survey. The survey contains five questions and seeks to understand the participants perceptions of the lectures. The survey asks "Which lecture did you like the most?" and "Which lecture did you find the most educational?" Further, for each video, the participant is asked whether or not they felt they learned something. Participants had the option to reply with "strongly agree," "agree," "neutral," "disagree," or "strongly disagree."