1. EXPERIMENTAL
PSYCHOLOGY
PROJECT

2. EFFECT OF EXERCISE ON COGNITION
TOPIC OF OUR EXPERIMENT

3. INTRODUCTION:
The experiment was conducted by all the three group
members from fourth semester named Pakeeza Arif, Wajeeha
Ghani and Soofia Hussain. This experiment was conducted in
Bahria University on students and in between May 12 to May 17
2014.
SUBJECT PARTICIPANTS:
There were two groups of participants in this experiment
naming experimental and control group. There were total 16
participants, 8 in each group and were both male and
females from Bahria University. They all were students of
undergraduates. The experiment was conducted for 6 days
and took as much time as participants required accordingly
for experiment (performance).

4. ABSTRACT:
This experiment was done in order to check the effect of physical
workout on mental functioning that is cognition through the
performance of participants. The participants were 16 in number
that were divided into two groups, control group that was not
indulged in exercise and an experimental group who did exercise
on trade mill and cycling for 5minutes each. The results
demonstrates that exercise enhances the performance of almost
all the students in experimental group whereas control group
performance took more time.

5. HYPOTHESIS
Workout/exercise might have an effect on
performance/Cognition.
AIM OF THE EXPERIMENT
 We wanted to check the effect of exercise on
performance/cognitive ability that whether after
exercise the participants are perform better or not.

6. Operational definitions:
It is a statement that describes how to measure a certain
variable or how to define a certain term.
Use of Operational Definition:
The operational definition is used extensively for abstract as
well as physical concepts.
Example of operational definition:
Weight:
The weight of an object as measured on a scale
Independent Variable:
A variable that is manipulated (controlled) by the researcher
and evaluated by its measurable effect on the dependent
variable or variables. Also called Experimental variable or
predictor variable.
Definitions of keywords

7. Dependent Variable:
The dependent variable is the variable that is being measured in
an experiment.
For Example:
Researchers want to know whether first-born children learn to
speak at a younger age than second-born children. In this
example, the dependent variable is the age at which the child
learns to speak.

8. Operational definition of Exercise:
5 minutes of cycling and treadmill with speed 4 .
Independent variable:
Exercise/Workout
Dependent variable:
Performance/Cognition
Design
Between Subject Design
Participants:
Control Group= 8 Participant
Experimental Group=8 participant
Total= 16 participants
Population:
University Students of any age group whether male or female.

9. Underlying theory:
The theory behind experiment is that the exercise or
workout have a profound effect on the performance
and cognition and it enhances and improves the
performance.
What we learned:
•We learned how to apply theoretical concepts
practically which helped us in better understanding of
concepts.
•We came to know how to behave in professional
environment.
•We had an insight of how to conduct an experiment on
smaller scale which will help us in conducting any future
experiment on larger scale.

10. EXPERIMENTAL GROUP AND CONTROL GROUP:
The experimental group was the group who had done
exercise and the control group consisted of the participants
who performed without exercise.
Method and procedure:
The participants of experimental group were asked to
exercise on treadmill for 5 minutes keeping the speed 4.0 and
cycling of 5 minutes after which they were given the four
activities in sequence. The first was the cross word and they
were not told that we were measuring the time in stopwatch
as it would make the participants conscious to do good and
can have demand characteristics. They were told to at least
find 20 words in the crossword and after that math problems
were given which were four questions that include missing
number simple addition subtraction problems and a word
problem.

11. After this activity a coin activity was given where they had to
arrange the 8 coins that were first in 4 head and 4 tail positions
into the alternate positions of head and tail within four turns and
that turns could be with adjacent coins only. After the instruction
was given the participant performed it and the last was puzzle
where they had to arrange the picture in original form. In all these
the time was measured and participants were being deceived
and also the real purpose was hidden from them so that to avoid
Extravenous variables. The participants were debriefed after the
experiment was done and told the time was measured and told
the real purpose of experiment.

12. Materials:
•Cycle and treadmill
•Coins
•Pen or pencil
•Eraser
•Stop watch
•Camera
• Puzzle

13. Results Of Experimental Group:
Female:03
Male:05

14. S.No Names Activity 1 Activity 2 Activity 3 Activity 4
01 A 02 :41 05:00 54 sec
(2 Trials)
2:35
02 B 01:30 05 :35 69 sec
(3 Trials)
2:47
03 C 07 :36 08 :39 64 sec
(2 Trials)
3 :11
04 D 02 :55 01:00 31 sec
(1 Trial)
1:54
05 E 03:55 04:32 01:32
(1 Trial)
03:52
06 F 05:25 04:06 67 sec
(2 trials)
04:02
07 G 03:35 03:17 15 sec
(1 Trial)
04:04
08 H 07:14 05:14 01:13
(1 Trial)
03:57

15. Results Of control Group:
Female: 04
Male:04

16. S.No Names Activity
1
Activity 2 Activity 3 Activity 4
01 I 08:16 11:15 26 sec
(1 Trial)
06:00
02 J 03:30 06:06 46 sec
(1 Trial)
02:45
03 K 02:07 04:17 37 sec
(1 Trial)
03:30
04 L 03:05 09:57 39 sec
(1 Trial)
03:00
05 M 05:36 07:19 1:17
(3 Trial)
05:10
06 N 09:45 14:36 26 sec
(1 Trial)
07:31
07 O 05:39 04:45 1 min
(2 Trail)
05:00
08 P 08:47 09:21 15 sec
(1 Trial)
08:40

17. Proof of Hypothesis:
Our hypothesis was proved.
Discussion Of Results
Experimental group:
In experimental group the participants had done exercise so on
average they took less time to complete the activities and only
two participants took more time for completion for which are
as in table; Abdul Rehman and Rehan took the maximum time.
Control group:
In control group almost all the participants took more time in
completing the activities. Only one two participants solved it
efficiently otherwise on average the performance was not as
good as in experimental group. The maximum time taken by
participants was from 8 to 14minutes.

18. Comments from ethical point:
Ethical considerations were kept in mind throughout the
experiment and thus each participant consent was taken. The
participants were informed about the experiments detail but
certain things were hidden in order to avoid the confounding
variables effects which were later told in debriefing. The
permission for experiment was taken maintaining their rights of
confidentiality. The pictures and video of experiments were
also taken with their permissions.

19. RECOMMENDATIONS:
 After the experiment was conducted we realized that ABA
design can also be used to check the hypothesis.
 The experiment should be conducted when the subject is in
a relax position and not in a hurry so performance will be
better.
 There should be more number of participants in the
experiment.
 Experiment should be carried out at a particular time so that
fatigue effect can be avoided.

20. Evaluation:
Strength:
 There were no carryover effects because of
between subject design.
 The time consumed was less.
 The experiment conducted was easy and can
be replicated to check the validity of results.
 The experiment was not costly.
 High external validity

21. Weakness:
 Environmental Factors:
Due to time restrictions, we tested one group in the morning
and one in the afternoon. Many studies show that most
people are at their mental peak in the morning, so this will
certainly have created an environmental bias
 Individual Variability:
The other problem is that it is impossible to maintain
homogeneity across the groups; this method uses individuals,
with all of their subtle differences, and this can skew data
the other problem is that it is impossible to maintain
homogeneity across the groups; this method uses individuals,
with all of their subtle differences.

22.  Difference in IQ levels of participants:
Some people may be very intelligent but are nervous
when completing tests and also the difference in IQ
affects the performance of participants which might
result in lower scores. These individual differences can
create a lot of background noise, reducing the effects
of the statistics and obscuring genuine patterns and
trends.