FINAL BLOG ENTRY

There is nothin in the world greater than information and understanding. I have learned a lot over the semester and gained and whole new understanding and perspective on how I perceive and interact in the world.

One of my first blog entries was on the sensation of “a tickle.” I know that I am still ticklish at 22 and many outgrow the ticklish sensation by their twenties. I learned that it was not uncommon, and it was merely a reaction of my body to the unexpected touch of another. Darwin was also curious about being tickled, so i dont feel so bad about wanting to know more about it.

Diplopia, another great definition to know. As a college student I see a bunch of kids partying and drunk, saying the “room is spinning” i see double. Its really dipolpia, by definition and somewhat scary to think about. To know that your eyes are being temporarily misaligned is not cool. I am glad I do not drink to the point that I experience diplopia, it cannot be healthy.

I also understand more about why thing are what they are. Its all about past experiences and the brains trained and natural abilities to interpret. There are a lot of animals that can do impressive things by nature, and now I have a greater understanding why. Like owls which have a higher rod to cone ration allowing then to see in the dark better.
Glad I took this course and can go into the world with knowledge that will allow me to understand this world better.

Rudyard Kipling Jr.

This semester I learned a ton.
Not just  knowledge about the senses that was used for the exams, but knowledge that I could use in regular life. I was watching a movie over the weekend, for no particular reason. It was on a random channel and featured Rudyard Kipling and his son.

Rudyard Kipling wrote the Jungle Book and various editions of the original. The book is a definite classic, and though Junior Kipling could have pursued a similar path he chose to join the services.
This was around the time that Germany was invading England, and the army and navies were recruiting heavily in England. Junior was not permitted to join the Navy, but with some persuasion from his father was allowed possibly sign up for the army. At the physical I heard the doctor say that Jr. had Myopia, it made sense because he had to stand really close to the letters to read them on the eye exam.

He wore glasses, and from class I knew that he wore concave lenses. If he was alive in the present times he may have been able to take corrective surgery in order to correct his vision.

Smile

There was a great quote used in class this week. You are never fully dressed without a smile. I realized soon after how much your facial expressions are your only way to non verbally communicate with the world. Well, not the only way, I guess body language including posture and if words are used the tone of voice could also be a determining factor, but since the last few weeks have been all about vision ill keep my focus on visual perception. When I see someone I do not look at their smiles first, I personally believe in looking in the eyes when I see someone.  A smile can hide a lot, but the eyes seem to tell the truth, always. I wonder why.

Could it be because we spend so much neural energy on perception, that we have none left to protect our inner thoughts and feelings. I compare it to a poker face of sorts, those professional card players practice and work to observe and gauge looks of their opponents. I feel that this is a learned ability. Comparable to a training view like we talked about in class. The training view is applicable because the card players must interpret looks and body movements because they rarely use smiles or frowns for that matter. In addition, most players wear glasses so my theory about using the eyes to gauge a persons feelings would not apply.

In preparation for the exam  I am looking out at the world in a whole new light. I think about how and why my eyes get bigger when light diminishes. Or for example, explicit example when the light went out in my bedroom the room was essentially dark. When I turned on the television, I was not able to see crystal clear. I could not read for example, but I could maneuver and walk around the room with ease. Especially with the dim lighting of the television. I compare it to the minimal lighting threshold that is necessary to see anything. Once I topped the minimal, each increase in lighting was effectively magnified in my opinion, but I have not read enough to know if my speculation is accurate.

Vision, Again… Monocular

This week was all about vision, again.

I had fun with the whole pirate look while I wore my patch and experienced monocular vision. I did  three experiments, including one that I was not really supposed to do. I tried to type, read and somewhat drive in the beginning of last week.

When i was attempting to read, i found there to be no difference. I guess having two eyes  makes very little difference when attempting to read. I measured my ability to read based on accuracy and speed. I lost neither with the patch. I also attempted to type while I had the patch on and got to experience monocular typing. It was cool.

I did learn that there was a huge difference when typing with only one eye. It was super hard and I found myself typing the wrong words a lot and with that I typed really typed quite slow. I am used to typing at about 50 plus words a minute, but with only one eye i suffered. I only typed about thirty words a minute, and it was really tedious!

Now when it came to driving, i did not actually drive. I got in the car and tried to see how well I could drive based on how well i could see the road through my mirrors, and various maneuvers. It was awful! At times the whole covered side of the road (eye covered side) was blind to the road, and it was around that time i realized why we were instructed to drive without the patch.

I learned a lot in class this  week, but as the old addage says, one learns more by doing and that experimen with the patch was surely proof! I realized why people are permitted to drive with one eye, its possible, but not recommended!

I have no preference about which eye i like, or prefer, but learning how the eye works and how how we need both and use both to process light and images and edges, etc. I really appreciate my binocular vision, now even more.

All about vision

This week was all about vision. I really enjoyed the mock band illusion and was glad to finally learn why we “see what we see.” I found out that the color bands are a solid color, but appear to be gradient. The ones that are on the center are in the dark region, the suboptimal stimulus. It inhibits the response, and thus a lower response is perceives as a darker stimulus.

I found it to be somewhat complicated, until I realized that I was more than likely sitting too  far away from the screen. When I got home and fooled around on the internet I goggled “mach bands,” and found a few interesting samples that allowed me to put things into perspective.

I am a sportsman, and love to golf. I compare the “mach bands” to a golf green. It will look flat and smooth depending on where you stand. The landscape is not changing nor is the light affecting perception, we are just getting a low response because of a few things. For one the stimulus  is constant under lighting conditions becaue it only takes a minimal amount of light to initiate a response, so the sunlight versus the class room lights would not make a difference, but the various shades of green, just like the various shades of grey and white would certainly change how the putting green is perceived.

Another interesting point from class was the lateral inhibition rule or law. It stated that if you are looking at something on center, and the surrounding area is visible, you will concentrate and focus on the surrounding area, and negatively focus (if that makes sense) on the surrounding. Its like your brain goes into auto-pilot, and focuses so hard, that everything else is just around, or there.

It makes sense though. When I am driving, I rarely move my head, unless I get over into another lane. Why? Because, I am focused on the road in front of me and the rest of my surroundings are being perceived by my brains “auto-pilot.” As humans we are rhythmic and can see in the light and dark, but I believe that my ability to see in “auto-pilot” is definitely better in the day. It may have to do with a point I raised earlier about the minimal threshold for light to be perceived.

In any case, I saw quite a few classmates at the step-show and want to say congrats. You all did very well! The stage was a bit dark, so I had to use more rods to ensure accurate perception, as nocturnal vision requires more cones.

Tastes

I remember hearing in class that the tongue had a bilnd spot. I found this to be interesting and worthy of more in-depth research.

I found out that the tongue has thousands of taste receptors. They are found on the tongue and the roof of the mouth and the cheeks. In the middle of the tongue, there is what some refer to as the blind spot. It is a spot where there is the lowest concentration of taste buds sensitive to the main, or commonly accepted tastes.

The tastes are bitter, spicy, sweet and sour. Located on all sides and surfaces of the tongue from the front to back and both sides, but not in the middle.  I found this information with a simple google.com search of “tongue blind spot.” It was with a more in depth search that I found…

That the tongue alone has more than 10,000 taste buds. That’s way more than the original search, and no matter which one is correct, I believe that the mouth serves well to allow us a chance to taste the world. Its one thing to see an image, hear a song, or touch a structure, but a taste is very unique.

We learned in class that many substances are toxic in nature, and thus not to be tasted. In many cases they will omit a bitter taste. This is a natural indicator that the substance is toxic and not to be consumed.

With that in mind, I feel privileged to taste everything I taste, just as I am privileged to see various sights and wonders of the world. I now understand and appreciate fine and expansive cuisine. To bring unique and imported flavors to America is huge, and worth the cost. One is allowing a domestic consumer to expand their palate and consume an exclusive taste such as lobster or caviar. Instead of leaving these foods and tastes to the palates of their domestic consumers, they ship them abroad, and for the right price you can taste the foods of local Alaskans’ or Caribbean’s.

With that, I also understand and appreciate the high cost associated with fine wines and champagnes. Its like one is paying for the experience more than the actual beverage. You get the opportunity to taste beverages from another decade, for a price. It only makes  sense that the price of this experience is high. The quality of the liquid is premium and to taste beverages from years past, is a luxury well worth the cost. At least in my opinion.

New Theory

I have learned a lot about how human beings interpret the world this semester, and applied the knowledge to situations and friends past.

Since middle school my friend and I got progressively closer. After graduation he unfortunately lost his sight. It hurt to see him after his loss. Once the medication wore off I noticed his sense of touch improved. He was able to distinguish between like objects and truly impressed me.

As we went on in class I learned of Helen Keller and her ability to smell. I remember hearing that she could determine your occupation based on scent and this made me start thinking. I wondered if the blind improved their senses naturally or with practice?

I know they say “practice makes perfect,” but in class I was under the impression that at times the improvement was made on the neurological level and not based on the individuals actions. My first hand experience allowed me a interesting perspective and way to compare and reach the following conclusion. I believe it is only with persistence and practice that one improves their senses after a loss. I understand the underlying principles behind the theory that says that with one less sense, the brain would presumably strengthen the remaining.  If the person decides not to practice their ability to smell of feel objects around them, the effect will be the lack of improvement.

My friend preferred to walk without the traditional walking cane and had a great ability to navigate the house and surrounding neighborhood. It was not because he gained some navigational ability, he practiced and studied the home and neighborhood. It took effort and he benefitted from his knowledge.

I compare this to the boy that learned to click his way around instead of using a waling cane. He practiced and thus I conclude that the brain may focus more on the remaining senses, but clearly with hard work one can do amazing feats after a loss.  

Songs and Such

This week our assignment was to use ear plugs and note the difference in our perception of our environment.  I was not able to fully convey my experience in the length allotted for our assignment, and wanted to explain some extra differences  I noted while plugged.

Firsts of all I had a cold, and that made the effect of ear plugs more exaggerated. I hated to drink liquids as I could here the beverage moving around and sliding down my throat. Really disturbing.

I talked about swallowing, but not explicitly relating to beverages. When I was trying to taste the liquid, and not just swallow it, I held it in my mouth longer, this I noticed the internal noises more.

While we were in class we learned about individuals who exhibit mondogreen traits. By definition from naciente.com, I learned that it was a common trait involving the misinterpretation of words, usually song lyrics. 

Personally, I love rap music. I feel like this may happen more with rap music that any other popular genre as the words tend to be faster with lower frequency bass lines. We learned in class that it was easier to cross and cancel out sounds which were of similar frequency, opposed to sounds that vary in frequency. We compared it to a crowd, but with rap, there is a melody which blends various sounds and creates an artificial “crowd.” Not in the traditional sense, but strictly referring to the crowding and blending of sounds into noise.

Taste

This week we learned about taste.

 

I was lucky enough to be a volunteer and learned a lot about the human taste buds and my own abilities to distinguish between flavors. In the experiment I tested my ability to distinguish between different cubes of food. One was a potato and one was an apple. The premise behind the experiment was to test our mouths’ ability to distinguish between flavors on its own. I had to close my eyes and plug my nose to ensure that no other senses allowed me to distinguish the flavors.

 

The results were amazing as I was only able to distinguish between flavors with my sense of texture. I knew that the apple was going to be less dense and somewhat softer that the raw potato. Once I released my nose plug, I learned that my intuitiveness was accurate and I was correct in my guess. I felt the difference between the potato and apple. I was unable to smell or use my nose after I unplugged it, because of a cold. This worked to my advantage and allowed me to truly test my sense of taste. I now realize how much of my brain power goes into tasting and eating. Its not just chewing and swallowing, the textures, tastes and look of a meal make a huge difference.

 

The difference can be notes with candy as well. I was able to taste the difference between two different flavors of candy, even with my ailment. The candies were the same shape and texture, but the strong tropical flavors overwhelmed me once I released my nose. Thus, the theory behind the sense of smell and taste being intertwined is truly factual.

 

I must say, I wasn’t aware of the senses connecting and decided to do some basic research to find out how they were truly connected. In short, “Like information for smell, taste information also goes to the limbic system.” According to Neuroscience for Kids this is why closing the nose limits our ability to distinguish between flavors.

Stop Tickling Me

Today is Saturday the month of January is nearing an end and I have yet to find out why people are ticklish. I have been extremely sensitive to the tickle since I can remember, and never understood why.

 

On the first day of class we saw a slide with the bullet, “why are we ticklish?” and this slide that made me want to so some research and find out some information on the matter.  I started by talking to some friends and family members about their sensitivity to touch, or the tickle. I was surprised to learn that many outgrew their sensitivity to being tickled as they matured.

 

Maturity can refer to mental maturation or physical. As I thought about class again, I realized that being ticklish must have a lot to do with how I perceive contact in certain areas. I must still remember how I reacted as a child and sub-consciously refuse to let that feeling go. It’s a thought.

 

I looked on the trusty internet for answers starting with old faithful, also know as wikipedia.com. They describe the sensation as a feeling that could fall into two categories, one that produces an itchy or irritating feeling and another that makes us excited and laugh. I found it interesting that wikipedia.com cited Darwin as a source on tickling. He stated that tickling is strongly based on “anticipation of pleasure,” noting that “surprise” tickles would more than likely be undesirable.  

  

Another source described this feeling as “joyous” and performed a compelling study. They tested lab rats and their reactions to stimuli similar to tickling in humans. The Department of Psychology, J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior at Bowling Green State University found that the rats made sounds comparable to laughter.

 

I conclude that I am ticklish because it’s natural. The rats are ticklish, Darwin’s theory on tickling hold no water in my eyes. I am extremely ticklish as I stated before, and still laugh uncontrollably whether I anticipate the touch or not.