This laboratory procedure highlights neurophysiology exercises in synaptic transmission at neuromuscular junctions in relation to a practical problem. The exercise is left open-ended in several ways so instructors and students can modify it to tackle new questions. This is an ideal exercise as a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) to address authentic research questions.  The research hypothesis states that muscle injury would result in a pathological increase in K+ concentration within muscle tissue, which would affect surrounding healthy cells.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental condition that presents with a tendency to experience sensory overload as well as deficits in social cognition and communication which may be associated with differences in facial processing strategies. Previous studies have shown that, when viewing a facial image, participants with ASD spend less time on the eyes and lips—which contain more emotional and social information than other areas of the face. This study investigates whether individuals with an autism-related phenotype avoid the eyes of facial images in order to reduce their risk of experiencing sensory overload.