Station # 1

 

                             1.      Arrange the samples in order from blue to red.  Write the arrangement down in your notebook using the numbers given.

                             2.      What sensory capability are you using to figure out this order?  (To clarify: in determining which note an opera singer is singing you are using your ear’s ability to detect pitch or frequency.  “Hearing” is not a sufficient answer.)

                             3.      How many different shades do you think you can differentiate between red and blue?  (Unfold the bottom of this piece of paper to get the approximate answer.)

                             4.      Name a condition that some people suffer from that reduces this capability.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The human eye can distinguish approximately 3 million shades of color in total.  This means that  between red and blue, on average, we can distinguish among 1 million shades.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Station # 2

 

                             1.      Have each of your partners plug their nose and close their eyes.  Dab a sample of each of the foods provided on their tongue using the straws provided.

                             2.      Can they distinguish between the two samples?

                             3.      What does this tell you about the sense of taste and smell relate to each other?

Station # 3

 

                             1.      Pluck the first three (fat) strings of the guitar.  Call the fattest string 1, the next string 2 and the last string 3.  Write the arrangement of these strings from highest to lowest sound.

                             2.      What sensory capability are you using to do this?  (To clarify: in sensing whether or not it is safe to jump into a hot tub you are using the body’s touch capability related to the detection of heat.  “Touch” would not be a sufficient answer.)

                             3.      How many different tones do you think you can differentiate between the fat strings and, say, the thinnest of the six guitar strings?  (Unfold the bottom of this piece of paper to get the approximate answer.)

                             4.      What evolutionary purpose do you think this ability has?

 

 

 

 

The human ear can distinguish approximately 500 tones in the range of a guitar.

 

 

 

 

Station # 4

 

                             1.      Look at the pictures on page 266 of Steven Pinker’s book How the Mind Works.   Make sure to keep the book in its regular up and down orientation while you look at it.  Describe the three shapes you see.  (Do not uncover the text until you are asked to later in this station.)

                             2.      Now turn your head sideways to the left and repeat the exercise.

                             3.      Now turn the book sideways (clockwise) by a quarter turn and repeat the exercise. 

                             4.      Discuss how your interpretation of the first image changed, if it did.

                             5.      Discuss how you labelled the second two images.

                             6.      Read the text on the page.  Please cover it when you are done.

 

Station # 5

 

                             1.      Consider the drawing below.  Describe what the drawing represents.

                             2.      Discuss this diagram in terms of “persistence of convention.” 

                             3.      Draw another example of something that displays “persistence of convention.” 

 

Station # 6

 

                             1.      Stand comfortably with your eyes open and your arms stretched to your sides.  Swing your arms at the shoulder and try to touch the tips of your index fingers together.  Can every member of your group do this?

                             2.      What sense(s) are you taking advantage of in step 1?

                             3.      Now stand on one leg with your eyes closed and try it again.  Can everyone in your group succeed every time now?  How does this differ from step 1?

                             4.      What sense(s) are you taking advantage of in step 3?

                             5.      How does standing on one leg affect your ability to touch your fingers together?

 

 

Station # 7

 

                             1.      Read the excerpt from the PBS companion site below and try the experiment described there.  Do you notice the expected effect?

                             2.      Can you explain it?  What does this have to do with phantom limb syndrome?

 

To experience the first illusion, you'll need two helpers. (I will call them Julie and Mina.) Sit in a chair, blindfolded, and ask Julie to sit on another chair in front of you, facing the same direction as you are. Have Mina stand on your right side and give her the following instructions: "Take my right hand and guide my index finger to Julie's nose. Move my hand in a rhythmic manner so that my index finger repeatedly strokes and taps her nose in a random sequence like a Morse code. At the same time, use your left hand to stroke my nose with the same rhythm and timing. The stroking and tapping of my nose and Julie's nose should be in perfect synchrony.

After 30 or 40 seconds, if you're lucky, you will develop the uncanny illusion that you are touching your nose out there or that your nose has been dislocated and stretched out about three feet in front of your face. The more random and unpredictable the stroking sequence, the more striking the illusion will be.

 

 

 

Station # 8

 

                             1.      Look at the blind spot demo from the PBS companion site below and try the experiment described there.  Describe the effect you ‘see.’

                             2.      From your understanding of the blind spot is this what you would expect?  If not, how is it different?

                             3.      How does this show the difference between what our eye ‘sees’ and what our brain ‘perceives?’

 

 

Instructions: Close your right eye and train your left eye on the white dot.  Move your head until you are about 20 to 30 cm from the image.  Amazingly, when the blind spot is aimed at the center of a "bicycle wheel," no gap is seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Station # 9

 

                             1.      Have one of your partners stand with their eyes closed.  Clap your hands at different locations around their heads.  (Try different distances as well as directions.  Also, try up over their heads as well as to the front back and sides.)   Have them point in the direction of the clap and tell if it is near or far.

                             2.      How accurate are their descriptions?

                             3.      How do you think they accomplish this task?

                             4.      Are there any particular places they have trouble with?