Colour and Distraction – My first research experience

While I was at school, the Wellcome Trust funded the Authentic Biology Project, a programme supporting A-Level Biology students (16-18 year old) to complete their own experimental research project with the support of their teachers and life sciences researchers from a local university.

My research project investigated the comparative visual distraction of different colours using the rod and frame test. My participants were presented with a rod (a white line on the screen) with a set rotation from vertical. In most trials, a coloured frame (a square with an edge length longer than the rod) was also shown on screen, and rotated at a predetermined angle. The participants used the keyboard to rotate the rod to what they believed to be vertical, before moving on. Each participant followed the same predefined sequence of offsets and frame colours.

I presented and received feedback in a seminar at the University of Southampton before presenting a poster at the Authentic Biology Project Symposium (2016) at the Wellcome trust in London. I also submitted this work as part of my Extended Project Qualification (Level 3 National Qualification).

This was my first experience of performing my own original scientific research, I loved the journey of exploration and discovery and got hooked on research.