By Casey H.

The purpose of this experiment is to determine whether outside
distraction, differences in age, and hand domination affect the learning
process. To perform this experiment, a box was built, containing several
openings, a drawing of a maze and a large mirror. Test subjects were
instructed to trace the maze while looking in the mirror, at a reversed
image. Test subjects were divided into groups of 6 based on their age and on
which hand they use to write. Other subjects were tested while there was
music playing in the background, distracting them. The time each subject took to complete the maze was clocked on a stop watch. The test was repeated three times for each subject and the trial times were recorded. The average of each group of people (such as left handed or right handed people) was found, and compared to other group averages.

In all test groups, learning times improved with each successive trial.
When comparing left and right handed people or subjects tested with and
without distraction, small differences in learning curves were observed. But
age had the largest impact on test results. Older people (about 40-50) took
the longest of any group to learn how to do the maze. Their times averaged
out to be the most, in comparison with other group trials. It was concluded
from this information, that older people learn far slower than younger
people, and that left handed people had a slight disadvantage to right handed people. The data also shows that distraction also slightly affects test
results. However, age has the greatest effect on leaning curves, according to
my data.