Fun interactive (psychology) science fair project?

February 3, 2020 5:33 PM

TIA...Can anyone identify a relatively quick, interactive psychology based science fair project (6th gradish) that people who visit my kid's spot could do?

Well received projects are ones for this sort of thing are one's you could do quick and learn something about yourself. Tons are out there on the internet -- the Stroop effect or the Bouba-Kiki effect for instance. But, was hoping some in the community might know a specific hit project of this type. Didn't see a similar question from the past -- some were asked but there were more chemistry or such based. Let's not forget the social sciences! Appreciate the help.

posted by skepticallypleased to Education (9 answers total)

I wonder if a categorization task could work? There is really interesting research on how people learn to categorize and how this differs across cultures. I’m not sure that there’s any background reading pitched at middle schoolers, but the concepts are certainly graspable. For instance, the Yucatec Maya use material categories (metal, cardboard) and the Kpelle use functional categories (knife+orange), while English speakers pay attention to shape (cylinder, box) and taxonomic categories (fruit, tools). Could you have objects for people to sort and then after they do a first pass, ask them to re-sort and then consider why they made the choices they did in the different rounds? I’ve done this with a metal Mentos tin, a cardboard cigar box, a cardboard cylindrical oatmeal container, a coffee can, a paper straw, a metal straw, etc.
posted by kittydelsol at 6:13 PM on February 3, 2020

Human memory is a goldmine of really consistent effects like various forms of interference. Experiments showing lists of words one at a time are pretty simple to program on a tablet in, e.g., PowerPoint.

A really simple quick experiment is the Sternberg task. There are tons of variants.
posted by supercres at 6:15 PM on February 3, 2020

I think the McCollough effect is really startling and weird:

The McCollough effect is a phenomenon of human visual perception in which colorless gratings appear colored contingent on the orientation of the gratings. It is an aftereffect requiring a period of induction to produce it. For example, if someone alternately looks at a red horizontal grating and a green vertical grating for a few minutes, a black-and-white horizontal grating will then look greenish and a black-and-white vertical grating will then look pinkish. The effect is remarkable because, where time-elapse testing is employed, it has been reported to last up to 2.8 months.

None of the proposed mechanisms in the linked article make sense to me, either.

And according to the article, if you induce it using only one eye, only that eye will experience it.
posted by jamjam at 6:52 PM on February 3, 2020

Finding your own visual blind spot?
posted by St. Peepsburg at 6:55 PM on February 3, 2020

The best psych science thing I have participated in as an audience member is this one: fake hand or body transfer
posted by freethefeet at 12:53 AM on February 4, 2020

How about optical illusions like color constancy? Another one with some science.
posted by 445supermag at 7:07 AM on February 4, 2020

Explore your blind spot (Tom Stafford) via Mind Hacks
posted by katra at 8:55 PM on February 4, 2020

The invisible gorilla is great and highly relevant right now with the prevalence of distracted driving and walking. It would require a screen that people could watch the video on.
posted by profanon at 12:45 PM on February 10, 2020

Response by poster: Yikes sorry for late gratitude good leads here appreciate it!
posted by skepticallypleased at 3:48 PM on February 14, 2020