An experimental psychologist is interested in whether the color of an animal's surroundings affects learning rate. He tests 16 rats in a box with colorful wallpaper. The average rat (of this strain) can learn to run this type of maze in a box without any special coloring in an average of 25 trials, with a variance of 64, and a normal distribution. The mean number of trials to learn the maze, for the rats tested with the colorful wallpaper, is 11.
-If the mean score of the sample is more extreme than the cutoff score on the comparison distribution,the psychologist will conclude that
A)the null hypothesis that the rats in the sample will learn more is supported.
B)the wallpaper did not have a significant effect on the rate of learning.
C)the color of the chamber had a significant effect on the rate of learning.
D)the results are inconclusive since the null hypothesis cannot be rejected.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The significant difference between the mean number of trials to learn the maze in the colorful wallpaper condition (11 trials) and the average for rats in a non-colored environment (25 trials) suggests that the color of the surroundings had a significant effect on learning rate, leading to the rejection of the null hypothesis.

An Experimental Psychologist Is Interested in Whether the Color of an Animal's