Distance perception (side-effect of drug)

The diagram can be used to explain the importance of centre and spread.

After demonstrating with the sliders using application-specific terms, click the Generic wording checkbox then explain that the concepts correspond to the centre and spread of the distribution.

The context is a pharmaceutical company that is in the final stages of testing a new drug that is effective at reducing high blood pressure. Some patients have however reported side effects — in particular some felt that their perception of distance had been affected.

An experiment was conducted to measure whether the ability to assess distance was worse for patients receiving the drug. A 'control' group of 20 male patients were not given any drug and another group of 20 was given the new drug. Each subject was asked to position himself 3 metres from a wall and the actual distance was recorded.