Running Head: THE MAZE RUNNER

The Maze Runner

Gabrielle Gomez
Center for Advanced Research and Technology

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Methods
Participants
The participants included a random sample of one male, five female students, and one
male teacher (N=7) from the AM Psychology and Human Behavior Lab at the Center for
Advanced Research and Technology (CART). The teacher was 42 years of age.
Materials
An iPhone 6 timer was used. A maze constructed of blue tape was placed on the floor
(see Appendix A) and a Walgreens sleep mask was used as a blindfold.
Procedure
The participant was blindfolded and placed at the start of the maze. The timer was
started when the participant entered the maze, while being given verbal direction as for when to
turn left or right. After the first trial, the participant was redirected to the start of the maze. This
time, the participant received verbal and physical direction by a non-blindfolded individual. For
the last trial, the participant repeated the first trial.
Results
The participants time decreased after receiving physical guidance (see Figure 1).

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3
Discussion

It was predicted that, if a blindfolded participant is guided physically and verbally

through a maze, then they will complete the maze with a faster time after the treatment, when
only given verbal cues. The findings indicate that the participant was able to create a perceptual
map based off the consistent repetition of left and rights and physical guidance offered during
treatment. This is supported by the decrease in time that occurred after treatment. Certain
variables have brought the reliability of the study into question. To increase the reliability,
certain measures should have been taken such as making sure the participant stayed blindfolded
between and measuring the dimensions of the each of the mazes segments for recreating
purposes.
Taking off the blindfold between trials allows for the participant to get a visual and
mental map of the maze. This does not show neuroplasticity since the eyes cannot take proper
measure to adjust. This allowed the participant to create a visual map that also led them through
the maze. Removing the blindfold does not give the eyes proper time to adjust to the darkness to
show that they created a map based off memory.
The dimensions of the maze are important for anyone who wants to recreate this
experiment. The length shows the complexity of what the participants had to remember. Also, it
gives a better grasp of the participants time. The width is valuable so that the next person does
not make the width too small. With the width being too small it is easy for the participant to step
out of the lines.
Although, the maze does measure neuroplasticity, adding a new step can increase the
validity of the experiment. It is hypothesized that if the experiment used obstacles in the maze

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that the participant would soon adapt an understanding of the placement and begin taking
precaution to avoid them ahead of time due to the brains new understanding of the maze.

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Figure 1: This data represents the time difference before and after receiving treatment. The
treatment being the physical and verbal guidance through the maze while blindfolded.

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Appendix A
The maze was designed according to the illustration below