Chapter 5: Sensing and Perceiving
Activities
Exercises: Read & Learn
- ‘Island of the Colorblind’: Where the Jungle is Pin, the Sea is Gray and the Light is Far Too Bright: A fascinating attempt to see the world through the eyes of people who cannot perceive colour.
(http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/12/arts/sanne-de-wilde-island-of-the-colorblind/index.html) - Not to be Sniffed at: Human Sense of Smell Rivals that of Dogs, Says Study: A description of some research highlighting human’s unexpected olfactory abilities.
(https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/may/11/not-to-be-sniffed-at-human-sense-of-smell-rivals-that-of-dogs-says-study) - Scents and Sensibility: What’s it like to Live Without Smell? – podcast: A podcast exploring the senses of taste and smell (olfaction). (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/audio/2016/sep/08/scents-and-sensibility-whats-it-like-to-live-without-smell-podcast)
- Do Women Really Tolerate Pain Better Than Men? An interesting discussion of how males and females deal with pain (https://www.sciencealert.com/do-women-tolerate-pain-better-than-men)
- The Blind Spot and the Vanishing Head Illusion: This is an impressive demonstration of the vanishing head illusion (https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17511-the-blind-spot-and-the-vanishing-head-illusion/)
- Hearing Loss on the Rise in Young Adults, Expert Warns: A cautionary story about hearing loss in young people. (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/hearing-loss-on-rise-in-young-adults-1.4117268)
Exercise: Watch & Learn
3 Optical Illusions that Exploit Your Visual System: A short video looking at some fascinating visual illusions.
Video 5.1: 3 Optical Illusions that Exploit Your Visual System (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QCLm1PvVTY8) posted by BiteSizePsych.
Exercise: Watch & Learn
Video 5.2: Color vision: Theories, Afterimages and More (https://youtu.be/PtVudUxm9go) posted by the American Psychological Association.
Exercise: Watch & Learn
The Effect of Red on Consumer Behavior: A researcher describes some of his work on the impact of colour on behaviour.
Video 5.3: The Effect of Red on Consumer Behaviour (https://youtu.be/nUxDqIeiXt0), posted by Rajich Bagchi.
Exercise: Watch & Learn
Understanding Driver Distraction: A researcher introduces his work on distracted driving.
Video 5.4: Understanding Driver Distraction, (https://youtu.be/-k8p1yfg_r4), posted by David Strayer.
Exercise: Think & Do
How Old Are Your Ears? : Try this hearing test on people of different ages (be ready to reduce the volume immediately especially if YOU cannot hear the sound – it may be very unpleasant for people who can hear it!)
Video 5.5: How old are your ears? (https://youtu.be/VxcbppCX6Rk) uploaded by AsapSCIENCE.
Exercise: Watch & Answer
Video About Hearing and How it Works: Watch this video about hearing then see if you can answer some questions about it:
a) What happens when the eardrum vibrates?
b) What happens in the cochlea?
c) In terms of our ability to detect differences in pitch, which theory described in the text is presented in the video
Video 5.6: Video About Hearing and How it Works (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flIAxGsV1q0), uploaded by Med El.
Answers to questions above:
a. The vibration of the eardrum causes the bones in the middle ear (hammer, anvil and stirrup) to vibrate.
b. Mechanical vibration is transformed into electrical signals in the cochlea.
c. The video describes the place theory of hearing different pitches.
Exercises: Read, Watch and Answer
- Find your blind spot using this interactive activity:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/blindspot1.html - The “continuous concentration” activity on this site assesses how well you can concentrate:
https://www.testmybrain.org/
References
American Psychological Association. (2014, December 9). Color vision: Theories, afterimages and more [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtVudUxm9go&list=PLxf85IzktYWJH0behJ-ZQeZnsUQGzvFFf
American Psychological Association. (2014, July 23). Strayer, Dr. David. Understanding driver distraction [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=15&v=-k8p1yfg_r4
AsapSCIENCE. (2013, August 13). How old are your ears? [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxcbppCX6Rk
Bite Sized Psych. (2016, February 14). 3 optical illusions that exploit your visual systems [Video File]. Retrieved from https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QCLm1PvVTY8
CBC News. (2017). Hearing loss on the rise in young adults. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/hearing-loss-on-rise-in-young-adults-1.4117268
CNN Style. (2017). ‘Island of the Colorblind’: Where the jungle is pink, the sea is gray and the light is far too bright. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/12/arts/sanne-de-wilde-island-of-the-colorblind/index.html
Fong, K., & Nahai, N. (Hosts) & Krysiak, E. & Sandersons, M. (Producers). (2016). Scents and sensibility: What’s it like to live without smell [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/audio/2016/sep/08/scents-and-sensibility-whats-it-like-to-live-without-smell-podcast
Med-El. (2012, November 13). Video about hearing and how it works [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flIAxGsV1q0
New Scientist. (2009). Callaway, Ewen. The blind spot and the vanishing head illusion. Retrieved from https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17511-the-blind-spot-and-the-vanishing-head-illusion/
Science Alert. (2015). Do women really tolerate pain better than men? Retrieved from https://www.sciencealert.com/do-women-tolerate-pain-better-than-men
Serendip Studio. Seeing more than your eye does. Retrieved from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/blindspot1.html
Test My Brain. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.testmybrain.org/
The Guardian. (2017). Not to be sniffed at: Human sense of smell rivals that of dogs, says study. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/may/11/not-to-be-sniffed-at-human-sense-of-smell-rivals-that-of-dogs-says-study
University of Virginia. (2013, April 22). Virginia Tech: The impact of color on consumer behavior [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUxDqIeiXt0
