Four Sensory Experiments
This assignment called for me to pick three out of four sensory experiments to conduct and then record my reaction to each experiment. The three experiments I chose to conduct are number one- the sandpaper experiment, number three- the index cards and flashlight experiment and number four- the water in bowls experiment. While conducting each of these three experiments I was surprised by the results of each of them.
Experiment Number One: I rubbed my finger on the piece of coarse sandpaper and it felt very hard to my finger. After the two minute wait, I rubbed the same finger over the sand paper and found it to be softer than it felt the first time I ran my finger over it. The coarseness of the paper felt completely different the second time I ran my finger over it. I believe this is due to fact that I did rub the sandpaper with the same finger which was already desensitized by the first time I rubbed it on the sandpaper. This experiment is a sensory adaptation of touch in which our senses adjust to the level of stimulation we receive. This experiment shows that our senses can be as sensitive as they can be without being over loaded, which is why the second time my finger was rubber over the sandpaper it was less sensitive. …show more content…
Experiment Number Three: I took the fifteen index cards and my flashlight into a dark room and placed all fifteen cards over the end of the flashlight as soon as I got into the room. At first I could not see any light so I started taking index cards off the end of the flashlight one at a time. When I got down to the fourth card I could see a little spot of light through the index cards. I waited a few minutes and the light was brighter through the cards so I started adding cards back in front of the flashlight every few minutes for the next fifteen minutes.
As my eyes adapted to the darkness I could continue to see the light through the cards. When I first went into the dark room from a bright room I was barely able to detect the light through the cards. The longer I stayed in the dark the light increased which made this an experiment of my sight sense adapting in the dark room for me to see the light through more and more cards the longer I stayed in the darkness.
Experiment Number Four: I filled 3 medium sized bowls with water. In the first bowl I put in tap water as hot as I could stand to put my hand into, in the second bowl I put very cold tap water and in the third I put an equal measure of the very hot tap water and the very cold tap water. I then put my right hand into the cold water and my left hand into the hot water and kept them there for three minutes. When the three minutes were up I transferred both hands into the bowl with the equal measure of both the hot and cold water. When I transferred my hands to the bowl with the mixture of hot and cold water, it felt like the temperatures also switched hands. The right hand got hotter and the left hand got colder. This made this experiment one of the sensory adaptation in touch with temperature.
Adaptation is the reduction or disappearance of sensory responsiveness when stimulation is unchanging or repetitious.
(Wade & Tavris, 2005) These experiments have proven that sensitivity must be matched to the physical stimulation available. Where as extreme sensitivity would be undesirable, the lack of sensitivity would also be undesirable. All senses have the ability to shift their operating range, which means to change the range of physical intensity levels which generate a perceptual response. In do so this allows us to adapt to prevailing environmental conditions and remain sensitive to change. Within each sensory modality, many subtle adaptation effects can also be generated, which tell us a lot about how the system
operates.
These adaptations are useful in our everyday lives because if we didn't have them there could be devastating results. If we had no sense of touch then if we cut ourselves with a knife on accident we would not know that we were hurt and could bleed to death. Also if we had no sense of smell we could be in a room filling up with gas from a gas leak and never know it which would in turn lead to death. So our senses are very important in our everyday lives and our lives even depend on them to a certain extent. While we can live without some of the senses I believe we would not be able to live without all the senses.
References
Wade, C. & Tavris, C. (2006). Psychology (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Experiment Number One: I rubbed my finger on the piece of coarse sandpaper and it felt very hard to my finger. After the two minute wait, I rubbed the same finger over the sand paper and found it to be softer than it felt the first time I ran my finger over it. The coarseness of the paper felt completely different the second time I ran my finger over it. I believe this is due to fact that I did rub the sandpaper with the same finger which was already desensitized by the first time I rubbed it on the sandpaper. This experiment is a sensory adaptation of touch in which our senses adjust to the level of stimulation we receive. This experiment shows that our senses can be as sensitive as they can be without being over loaded, which is why the second time my finger was rubber over the sandpaper it was less sensitive. …show more content…
Experiment Number Three: I took the fifteen index cards and my flashlight into a dark room and placed all fifteen cards over the end of the flashlight as soon as I got into the room. At first I could not see any light so I started taking index cards off the end of the flashlight one at a time. When I got down to the fourth card I could see a little spot of light through the index cards. I waited a few minutes and the light was brighter through the cards so I started adding cards back in front of the flashlight every few minutes for the next fifteen minutes.
As my eyes adapted to the darkness I could continue to see the light through the cards. When I first went into the dark room from a bright room I was barely able to detect the light through the cards. The longer I stayed in the dark the light increased which made this an experiment of my sight sense adapting in the dark room for me to see the light through more and more cards the longer I stayed in the darkness.
Experiment Number Four: I filled 3 medium sized bowls with water. In the first bowl I put in tap water as hot as I could stand to put my hand into, in the second bowl I put very cold tap water and in the third I put an equal measure of the very hot tap water and the very cold tap water. I then put my right hand into the cold water and my left hand into the hot water and kept them there for three minutes. When the three minutes were up I transferred both hands into the bowl with the equal measure of both the hot and cold water. When I transferred my hands to the bowl with the mixture of hot and cold water, it felt like the temperatures also switched hands. The right hand got hotter and the left hand got colder. This made this experiment one of the sensory adaptation in touch with temperature.
Adaptation is the reduction or disappearance of sensory responsiveness when stimulation is unchanging or repetitious.
(Wade & Tavris, 2005) These experiments have proven that sensitivity must be matched to the physical stimulation available. Where as extreme sensitivity would be undesirable, the lack of sensitivity would also be undesirable. All senses have the ability to shift their operating range, which means to change the range of physical intensity levels which generate a perceptual response. In do so this allows us to adapt to prevailing environmental conditions and remain sensitive to change. Within each sensory modality, many subtle adaptation effects can also be generated, which tell us a lot about how the system
operates.
These adaptations are useful in our everyday lives because if we didn't have them there could be devastating results. If we had no sense of touch then if we cut ourselves with a knife on accident we would not know that we were hurt and could bleed to death. Also if we had no sense of smell we could be in a room filling up with gas from a gas leak and never know it which would in turn lead to death. So our senses are very important in our everyday lives and our lives even depend on them to a certain extent. While we can live without some of the senses I believe we would not be able to live without all the senses.
References
Wade, C. & Tavris, C. (2006). Psychology (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.