FINAL BLOG ENTRY
The most interesting information that I found in class is that everything is based on how our brains perceive the stimulus. I realized it the most when we learned about sight and color perception. It is how our brains are perceiving the wavelengths of light that are emitted (among other processes) from the stimuli, which gives us the colors that we see. In an article on the Science Daily website, that stated that human perception comes from the brain. Before the class I thought that it was just that it was our senses that were responsible for how we perceived the world and that everyone saw, tasted, smelled, felt, and heard the same thing. But in fact we can perceive things a little differently. And the color violet that I am seeing might be the color purple that someone else is seeing. I wondered how this process worked and learned a lot from the article: first being that the cortical inhibitory cells suppress communication and are insensitive to inputs from the thalamus and that they get more stimulation from the thalamus. Findings from a Brown study found that the inhibitory cells get input faster than excitatory cells. The study may be able “to help explain how the cortex handles information at the very earliest stages of processing…” which is “critical to understanding not only perception, but memory, language, and cognition.” They did the experiments by using electrodes on mice, but I wonder if it will be the same with humans?
Another article found here: http://sulcus.berkeley.edu/FLM/MS/Physio.Percept.html . This article talks about the physiological processes of perception. The scientist focused mostly on olfactory neurons and the sense of smell to work towards the goal of going deeper into the brain to learn about perception. The team hypothesized that the “brain seeks information, mainly by directing the individual to look, listen, and sniff. They also stated that “consciousness may well be the subjective experience of this recursive process of motor command, reafference and perception. If so, it enables the brain to plan and prepare for each subsequent action on the basis of past action, sensory input and perceptual synthesis. In short, an act of perception is not the copying of an incoming stimulus. It is a step in a trajectory by which brains grow, reorganize themselves and reach into their environment to change it to their own advantage.” So maybe it is not just the brain receiving and then processing information, but it is seeking information through our senses and analyzing what it receives.
Assignment #9
After learning about Akinetopsia, I tried to imagine what life would be like without being able to perceive motion. While watching the movie in class about how the woman was not able to tell whether her glass was full with water, etc. The last assignment I talked about how your senses could make up for it. I wonder if when she is hearing sounds she can detect if something is close or far. I wonder if it strengthens your other senses. I would imagine that it wouldn’t. I did a little more research and this is what I found to answer some questions that I might have: http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/114/2/811. It states that it is due to cortical lesions outside of the striate cortex. This is another paper on akinetopsia:http://nawrot.psych.ndsu.nodak.edu/Publications/Nawrot.pdf/RizzoNawrotZihl.1995.pdf. These experimenters found that there was that motion direction discrimination in the subject (L.M.) was very sensitive to noise (21). It is a little tough to know more about the subject since there was only one good study on a human, the rest that I have found are done on macaques and other primates. I find the disorder so interesting, I wish that there was more information on it other than a video on youtube.com:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B47Js1MtT4w. From the video I have learned that you couldn’t see people moving, she couldn’t follow dialogs because she couldn’t sense the facial movements. it is just so weird that motion is the product of our brain and it is not necessarily what is around us. Our brain processes the information that lets us know that something is moving or stationary, I know realize that as I see the letters moving across my screen.
Assigment #8
Color uses in our world is so interesting. I was wondering about a world that is only in black or white. We learned that color helps for survival, whether making unique, showing if foods are edible/ripe, individualism, as well as camouflaging. My thought that wouldn’t our other senses help out with edible and ripe. We could smell and touch the fruit to tell the ripeness? In black and white one could still see the shape of something? Please don’t get this rant wrong. I feel that color is very important. I just find it interesting that it has so many uses that we never think about.
This is a link to a website in which the photographer determines the artistic qualities in using black or white photos and different types of color filters: http://www.zonezero.com/editorial/septiembre02/september.html#
I agree with what was said in class that the color photo is more appealing (to me), but I feel that black and white photos can evoke more artistic feelings more so that a pretty black and white photo (for intstance pictures from third world countries are usually in black and white).
Assignment #7
While studying for the test I read that it is how light interacts with objects appropriately, the enables us to see color. It fascinates me though when we can’t tell colors apart. Is it because the light is not hitting the object appropriately or is it because our eyes aren’t registering it appropriately. Why was it that some people saw the color blue while others saw the color purple, with the circle of color from past lecture. I got to thinking how retailers use the fact that it is about the light to their advantage. Have you ever noticed that in some fitting rooms the lights are really bright? This could make the colors pop more and stand out more (possibly seem brighter). In the fashion show that I did, we put on different colors of make up and different blushes and foundations because we needed to take in account what lighting can do. So what looked weird baskstage looked amazing on the runway. If you look at grocery stores, they are always brightly and well lit so that you can be able to see the vibrant colors of the produce. Hence while looking at art there are bright lights at the galas. I find it interesting that retail and museums take advantage of the simple fact that everything looks better with brighter lights.
Assignment # 6
Cortical magnifications is that 80% of the cells are devoted to central 10 degrees of visual space. I does cause the blind spot that we have. But I think that it is a good thing because we can be able to focus on objects in front of us, it also allows us to take in only so much information from the visual field. It could possibly be overload to be able to see things all around us. I think that cortical magnification is the reason that we don’t see out of our periphery as well as we can see things that are right in front of us. I feel that cortical magnifications are good because it allows for visual efficiency.
Assignment #5 (Spring Break)
Cameras don’t understand the world that they see whereas the human eye has a connection that allows a person to understand what they see. Also, if we are talking about a regular camera, it is hard for them to pick up movement with clarity when taking a picture, but like the eye a digital camera can keep the action in it’s memory. After thinking about this I did some research and found an amazing abstract that breaks down the components of each so that one can decide whether or not it is a good perceptual metaphor. I have decided that after reading that even with the few dissimilarities between the two that it is. Here is the article link: http://funnotes.net/CamAsPerceptualMetaphor.php . Thank for reading and I hope everyone had a happy break!
Assignment #4 2/24
I think that we can learn very much from language aphasias in the sense that we know that speech and hearing are processed differently. When we look at the man in the video, it is interesting that we create our own reality. In his mind he feels like he is speaking normally and making sense, but to the outside world, no one understands. But he understood what people were saying to him. It is interesting how we come up with words as well. It wasn’t like he was jumbling the words within a sentence, he used words that were “random” while talking about a subject. I think that it would be very frustrating to have an aphasia and having people not understanding what you are trying to express.
Assigment #3- 2/03/07
My favorite sent would that of fresh citrus fruit. It is my favorite smell because it seems to tickled you nose and is a very strong and sweet smell. I like that the smell is a little acidic, but not too much like vinegar. I like the smell because it reminds me of freshness, naturalness, and being clean.
I think that smell is called the fallen angel of the senses because it doesn’t seem to be used as often as the other senses and is a near scent that people don’t really think about until they smell something good or bad. In fact, smell is useful for our sense of taste as well as helping us be alert of dangerous chemicals that might not be visible. Smell can be used for intangible and invisible gases which can be vary helpful. For instance, when the food on the stove starts to burn while you can in a room, you would smell it burning and then turn your attention to see the smoke.
Assignment #2- 1/27/08
I find phantom limb syndrome to be a compelling topic. It is so fascinating that the brain is usually so in touch the the limbs that when it loses one it still tries to function and gives the feeling that you still have it. It is when the brain receives messages from the nerves that originally carried impulses from the missing limb. In researching more about phantom limb online, I found an interesting article explaining that the samatosensory cortex receives the input and that psychologist Ramachandran found that stroking different parts of the face led to the perception of being touched in certain parts of the phantom limb. He used the MEG to even verify that there was this reorganization that was happening. I find it even more interesting that virtual reality is a possible form of treatment (an updated mirror/box treatment).
If I lost my sense of light touch, I think that I would be utterly confused while going about the world. How would I know how hot or cold it is? I would get hypothermia in the winter! How would I know that food is too hot to eat? Or feel the tingle of the Burt’s Bees on my lips? It would be so weird to only know that it is hot because I was sweating, but not be able to feel the sweat running down my face and be able to wipe it away from my eyes. If I cut myself how would I know that I had a wound if it wasn’t right in front of my eyes. To not be able to feel textures or soft skin or jello or your tongue is really weird to think about. Simple tasks such as walking would be hard, because our feet feel the pressure of our bodies in order to balance. On the other hand it could be nice for somethings, like not feeling mosquito bites and feeling itchy in the summers, not needing anesthetics during invasive procedures, etc (I am not saying that these examples would be worth not having light touch, but just silver lining if it was the case). It is so hard to imagine not having a sense of touch because it is so important (and I didn’t even realize) in everyday life.
Assignment # 1
1. The technique that seems the most interesting to me would be the EEG. I find the EEG interesting not only due to the basis of science, but also because it does look like it is out of a science fiction novel. Every time that I walk by the Kennedy center and see the pictures of the children with the little receptors around their heads, I always do a double take. I also find it interesting that EEGs can monitor how activity builds and spreads throughout the brain, so you can actually see the big picture and a process. Even though the EEG looks cool, I did notice in class that it has a lot of cons and might not be the best machinery to use when measuring brain activity, however it can measure activity in the cortex of non-verbal animals and humans.
2. In relation to which question would I want to apply with the Signal Detection Theory, I would have loved to use it during Panhellenic Recruitment. I was on the Council this year and counseled women who were choosing between sororities. So when potential new members are choosing between a set of two sororities they should make their observations during rounds and then be able to decide one or the other in a binary decision. Every woman’s criterion would be different when choosing between two different sororities and the noise would be rumors about different sororities and their stereotypes and labels for their women. One way that a hit or miss could be checked in if there was a survey in the beginning asking about the different rumors that the women have heard about different sororities (which could be the noise) and then ask at the end if they took it into account. Or the sorority member could rate themselves with the criterion and compare what the observer saw the the sorority’s results. I think I might be a little confused, but I want to think of a way that hits and misses could be measured. Maybe the hit would be if the girl found that the sorority met her criterion and when she became a new member she still felt that the sorority had the criterion then it would be a hit? What does everyone think? Is this to specific for a binary question?
