Individual work log

Date: March 29, 2017

Goal: Search the way to prove how rats interact with the different types of food
Reflect: According from the research, they placed different rewards at the exit. Reward could be
anything. The rat is allowed to explore the whole maze and then they record the time that rat spend
in each food. We could conclude at the end that whether a rat prefers familiar-smelling bedding to
fresh, unsoiled bedding. We could use this information to develop our own maze experiment. Today
we already starts discussing about our own experimental design. We plan to come up with our own
experimental design.
Sources: http://www.ratbehavior.org/RatsAndMazes.htm

Date: April 21,2017

Goal: Discuss with the other members within the group and start writing proposal
Reflect: I did the research of one of the rat maze experiment about multiple T- maze. It is more
complicated that only a T maze. I found out that rat needs more than just a food to stimulates them.
They probably spend more time in the multiple T-maze that just a T-maze. I found out that a rat that
consumes Caffeine spend less time than the rat that eats normal foods. We start to come up with
the idea to design the maze. Next class, we plan to do more research of other experimenters.
Sources: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php? script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-879X2002001000013

Date:
Goal: Do the research about the effect one glucose
Reflect: Brain function such as thinking, memory, learning are closely related to glucose levels. If
we didnt consume enough amount of glucose, neurotransmitters will not be produced and then it
will cause the neurones to breaks down. Your brain will not function well if theres low level of
glucose in blood. As brain help animals in circulation of the blood. Today, we did research on the
relation between the glucose and brain function. Next class, we will try to do research more and try
to design the experiment that could fill other knowledge gaps.
Sources: http://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/harvard-mahoney-neuroscience-institute/ brain-
newsletter/and-brain-series/sugar-and-brain

Date
Goal: Study on other rat experiment that relates to our experimental design
Reflect: We come up with our own experimental design which us to find whether the glucose has
an effect on the learning capacity of the female hamsters. We have the inspiration from one of the
researches. Their purpose is to find whether the glucose and caffeine has the ability to improve the
brain functions. We discuss within the group and think that this experiment would lead to unreliable
result as there are too many factors that we could not identify whether the effects come from
glucose or caffeine. We decide to use only one factor which is glucose. Next class, we decided to
start writing our own proposal.

Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805706/
Date:
Goal: Did the research about the maze design and how to construct the 2 mazes with the same
complexity
Reflect: I found out that maze is a complicated pathway that consists of many dead-ends,
intersections, gates, and hallways. In order to create the 2 mazes with same difficulty, we decide to
construct them with the exact same number of dead-ends, intersections, gates, and also hallways.
It is the most reliable method to indicate and make sure that these two mazes complication are in
the same range. Today we have an over idea to design our maze pathway, next class we will try to
draft the maze design.
Sources: http://archive.bridgesmathart.org/2001/bridges2001-213.pdf

Date: 3 May 2017

Goal: Worked on the proposal and create the timeline of the experiment
Reflect: We discuss the overall concept of our experiment procedure within the group and try to
come up with the date that would be appropriate for the provided time. We decide to finish the
proposal before next week. We also discuss that we should let the hamsters go in the maze 4
times a week instead of 5 times a week as we have no time. Today, we start writing the proposal.
Next class, we will discuss more about thing we want to find out. We did a bit research about other
studies. It is about the effect of the energy drink on the ability to complete the maze of the
hamsters. It motivates us in designing our own incredible experimental design a lot.
Sources: http://cssf.usc.edu/History/2008/Projects/28505.pdf