DOCSLIB.ORG

Express Evaluate Exhibit Engage

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Express Evaluate Exhibit Engage Middle School Module engage express evaluate exhibit ThisTable is of Senseless Contents This is Senseless Table of Contents ABOUT THIS MODULE 3 ACADEMIC VOCABULARY 4 REQUIRED MATERIALS 6 EVENT PLANNER 11 MONDAY: SENSES IN THE WORKS 12 TUESDAY: SENSORYMANIA 30 WEDNESDAY: I’VE GOT A FEELING 47 THURSDAY: EXTRAORDINAIRY SENSES 63 FRIDAY: COMMUNITY SHARING EVENT 72 engage express exhibit evaluate2 2 of 40 This is Senseless About This Module This module focuses on the human senses, both traditional and some that are lesser known. Throughout the week, topics will focus on how Objective the senses work in the body and how they can be adapted to our appliances. How do the senses detect energy? How can we make our senses stronger? What if our senses became interconnected so we could smell sounds or taste colors? Driving Questions What kind of sixth sense would you like to develop? Is there a technology that acts in place of eyes/mouth to prepare the sense? Products of the SENSOR’d Appliance Design Week Community SENSOR’d Appliance Expo Sharing Event Our bodies are equipped to sense all kinds of energy–we can feel electric shocks in our fingertips, hear how much energy a sound wave possesses, and even smell energy in the form of food. But how might we perceive energy differently if we had no senses, a sixth sense, or Introduction recombined the senses we already have? This week we’ll work in teams to explore this year’s theme of “Energy of the Future” and create ideas for new inventions that use our senses in ways we’ve never used them before. Could you imagine a guitar that plays music that smells, or a video game you can feel? The possibilities are endless! engage express exhibit evaluate3 3 of 40 This is Senseless Academic Vocabulary Word Definition Auditory the sense of hearing Balance the even distribution of weight that keeps an object upright Brain stem the central trunk of the brain Center of Gravity the average location of the weight of an object the part of the brain at the back of the skull that coordinates and Cerebellum regulate muscular activity the principal and most anterior part of the brain, located in the front Cerebrum area of the skull and consisting of two hemispheres, left and right. Cornea the transparent layer forming the front of the eye The strength required for physical or mental activity. Or, the power Energy generated by physical or chemical sources that provides enough light or heat to make machines work Equilibrioception the sense of balance Fovea a small depression in the retina of the eye where visual acuity is highest section of the brain lying immediately behind the forehead, responsible Frontal lobe for decision making and voluntary movement a flat, colored, ring-shaped membrane behind the cornea of the eye, Iris with an adjustable circular opening (pupil) in the center a transparent, biconvex structure in the eye that, along with the cornea, Lens helps to refract light to be focused on the retina the network of nerve cells and fibers that transmits nerve impulses Nervous system between parts of the body Nociception the ability to feel pain Occipital lobe section in the back of the brain responsible for vision engage express exhibit evaluate4 4 of 40 This is Senseless Olfactory sense of smell Oral relating to the mouth section of the brain at the top of the head, responsible for taste and Parietal lobe touch Propioception the sense of body positioning and the strength of movement Pupil the opening of the iris a layer at the back of the eyeball containing cells that are sensitive to Retina light and that trigger nerve impulses Sensor a device that detects or measures a physical property and records it part of the nervous system responsible for Sensory system processing sensory information vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be Sound heard when they reach a person's or animal's ear. the quality of being made up of exactly similar parts facing each other Symmetry or around an axis Tactile perceptible by touch section of the brain lying beneath the temples, responsible for Temporal lobe recognizing sound Thermoception the sense by which an organism perceives temperatures Vision being able to see Visual relating to seeing or sight engage express exhibit evaluate5 5 of 40 This is Senseless Required Materials Note: Facilitator Resource materials and handouts are included at the end of the day and should be printed in advance. Handout: Diagram of the Lobes of the Brain Handout: Nervous System ID Cards Handout: Eye Anatomy card Lost girl 5x10 - Bo laser scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZC5hqL8I7w 2012 Ford Focus self-parking tech demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-rxJkVzUxI Whiteboard and a marker Scissors Cereal bowl [ceramic] Plastic Wrap Five-foot long pieces of string Rubber bands Facilitator 2 Salt packets Whistle Bag of popped Popcorn M&M’s Computer connected to the Internet and speakers Projector Radio (optional) 24 Paper cups An age-appropriate book 6 Scented oils 5 socks Things to fill the sock with: Lego piece, marbles, play dough, rice, engage express exhibit evaluate6 6 of 40 This is Senseless paper, a broken crayon, sand, gravel/small rocks, dirt, cereal Bag potato chips Bag of grapes Bar unsweetened chocolate Bottle of lemon juice Plastic gloves Yarn or crepe paper Masking Tape Box of Push pins – 100 Handout: Finding Focus Taste buds on the Tongue, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuP-Kj7MHes What is sensor technology?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v25PCV_IJCw How does a color sensor work?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReHGkxWDkFQSay Completed Engineering Design handouts from the previous lesson What is remote sensing?, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBI3MIbzIBA Sensor Diagrams and Prototypes In progress Masking or scotch tape 1 per Team Magnifying glass Box of colored pencils Measuring tape Small red ball Cereal bowl [ceramic] Plastic Wrap Five-foot long pieces of string Rubber bands 2 Salt packets 2 sheets of Graph paper engage express exhibit evaluate7 7 of 40 This is Senseless Box of colored pencils Ruler Heat pack Cold pack Graph paper Colored pencils Poster Board Prototype materials: wires, disposable thermometers, Bubble wrap, plain cotton T-shirts, pipe cleaners, foil, Tape, scrap material, packing peanuts, cotton balls, plastic wrap, popsicle sticks, etc. Colored pencils Poster Board 2 Handouts: Engineering Design Process Handout: Is Theroception a true sense? Handout: Five Senses Futuristic Humanoid Portraits template Handout: Eye Observation Glue Colored paper Markers 2 Magazines [1 technical;1general] 4 different colored permanent markers [black, blue, green, purple] 1 per Member Lined paper Index card 2 Pennies Cardstock Colored pencils Tape Symmetrical shape stencils Scissors Pencil Small paper clip engage express exhibit evaluate8 8 of 40 This is Senseless Blindfold Large Swim caps Whistle engage express exhibit evaluate9 9 of 40 This is Senseless Event Planner Note: Complete the following table early during the week to prepare for the Community Sharing event. Share the answers with the CPO for approval. Type of Event on Friday Event Name Who’s Invited Fliers Website Publicity to Use (Circle all that apply, use blank Invitations spaces for additional items) Ads Event Location Display Area for Projects Chairs Scissors Supplies Needed Tables Markers (Circle all that apply, use blank Signs CD Player spaces for additional items) Tape Video Equipment Cups Napkins Refreshments (Try to select items that tie into the theme) Assigned to: Task Due Date: Assigned to: Task Due Date: Assigned to: Task Due Date: Assigned to: Task Due Date: Assigned to: Task Due Date: engage express exhibit evaluate10 10 of 40 This is Senseless Monday: Senses in the Works Monday Warm-up Sensing Energy Location: Learning Center (or other space with tables and art supplies) Estimated Time: 15min What You Need Whiteboard and a marker (per facilitator) Review Steps to Follow for this activity in advance. Set up the work area and pull out all materials. How to Prepare 1 Welcome members. 2 Ask the group to sit together in one large circle. Say Each week you will participate in Creativity Catalyst, working in 3 teams to come up with original, world-changing ideas. Explain to members that there are six weeks in the program. Each week has something to do with the theme “Energy of the Future”. This week’s theme, This is Senseless, is about the senses. Steps to Follow 4 Throughout the week, members will explore the role of senses in their lives, and how the world might be different if their senses were used in different ways. 5 To start off, ask What does the word ‘energy’ mean to you? Within the Creativity Catalyst program, we define energy in two ways: (1) The strength required for physical or mental activity. (2) 6 Or, the power generated by physical or chemical sources that provides enough light or heat to make machines work. engage express exhibit evaluate11 11 of 40 This is Senseless Share the definition of energy with the group on a whiteboard or 7 chart paper. Say Name examples of energy that you can see, feel, hear, smell, or taste. (lightning/the sun), feel (static/hot water), hear (sound of a 8 generator/rumbling stomach), smell (burnt rubber/burning wood), taste (any food is energy/water). 9 Give members time between each sense to offer their answers. After all the senses are discussed, say, this week we are going to explore the limits of our senses, using our imaginations to come up 10 with ideas for new technology that mimics their combined functions.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • On Physical Heat Regulation and the Sense of Temperature In
    ON PHYSICAL HEAT REGULATION AND THE SENSE OF TEMPERA TURE IN MAN BY T. H. BENZINGER NAVAL MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, BETHESDA, MARYLAND Communicated by Sterling Hendricks, February 26, 1959 Human physiology has given much of its attention to those systems which control in a multicellular organism the essential internal conditions: to respiration as it provides optimal concentrations of carbon dioxide, hydrogen ions and oxygen, to circulation as it maintains adequate blood flowrates and pressures, and to produc- tion and loss of energy as they are balanced through a regulatory mechanism for the maintenance of optimal body temperature. For the purpose of analysis, three main components may be distinguished with any regulatory system in physiology: 1. Specific sensory-receptor organs register the physical or chemical quantity that is to be regulated. They produce nerve impulses commensurate with the magnitude of this stimulus. 2. One or more effector organs act in response to the stimulus. This results in a return of the physical or chemical quantity registered toward the optimal level whereby the stimulus is reduced or abolished at the site of registration and else- where. 3. A coordinating center in the central nervous system receives the afferent nerve impulses. It produces efferent impulses which initiate or maintain the regulatory action of the effector organs. A physiological control mechanism cannot be considered clarified until its effector organs, center of coordination, and receptor sensory structures have been identified, and until the quantitative relations between causes and effects, that is, between physical or chemical stimuli and physiological responses, have been demonstrated. In this paper an attempt is described to clarify experimentally one of these mecha- nisms: the so-called "physical heat regulation"* of man.
    [Show full text]
  • Thermoception
    THE FOURTH VIRTUAL DIMENSION Stimulating the Human Senses to Create Virtual Atmospheric Qualities LIAM JORDAN SHEEHAN1, ANDRE BROWN2, MARC AUREL SCHNABEL3 and TANE MOLETA4 1,2,3,4Victoria University of Wellington [email protected] 2,3,4{Andre.Brown|MarcAurel.Schnabel| Tane.Moleta}@vuw.ac.nz Abstract. In a move away from the ubiquitous ocular-centric Virtual Environment, our paper introduces a novel approach to creating other atmospheric qualities within VR scenarios that can address the known shortcoming of the feeling of disembodiment. In particular, we focus on stimulating the human body’s sensory ability to detect temperature changes: thermoception. Currently, users’ perceptions of a 3D virtual environment are often limited by the general focus, in VR development for design, on the two senses of vision and spatialised audio. The processes that we have undertaken include developing individual sensory engagement techniques, refinement of sensory stimuli and the generation of virtual atmospheric qualities. We respond to Pallasmaa’s theoretical stance on the evolution of the human senses, and the western bias of vision in virtual engine development. Consequently, the paper investigates the role our senses, outside of the core ’five senses’, have in creating a ’fourth virtual dimension’. The thermoception dimension is explored in our research. A user can begin to understand and engage with space and the directionality within a virtual scenario, as a bodily response to the stimulation of the body’s thermoception sense. Keywords. Virtual Reality; thermoception; sensory experience; immersion; atmosphere. 1. Introduction Experience, more precisely Human Experience, is set against the backdrop of the perception of space.
    [Show full text]
  • “Lacking Warmth” Alexithymia Trait Is Related to Warm-Specific Thermal Somatosensory Processing
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UCL Discovery Biological Psychology 128 (2017) 132–140 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biopsycho “Lacking warmth”: Alexithymia trait is related to warm-specific thermal MARK somatosensory processing ⁎ Khatereh Borhania,b,c,d, Elisabetta Làdavasb,c, Aikaterini Fotopouloue, Patrick Haggarda, a Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK b Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy c CSRNC, Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Viale Europa 980, 47521 Cesena, Italy d Institute of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran e Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, UK ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: Alexithymia is a personality trait involving deficits in emotional processing. The personality construct has been Alexithymia extensively validated, but the underlying neural and physiological systems remain controversial. One theory Somatosensory processig suggests that low-level somatosensory mechanisms act as somatic markers of emotion, underpinning cognitive Emotion processing and affective impairments in alexithymia. In two separate samples (total N = 100), we used an established Quantitative sensory testing (QST) Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) battery to probe multiple neurophysiological submodalities of somato- Thermal perception sensation, and investigated their associations with the widely-used Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Experiment one found reduced sensitivity to warmth in people with higher alexithymia scores, compared to individuals with lower scores, without deficits in other somatosensory submodalities. Experiment two replicated this result in a new group of participants using a full-sample correlation between threshold for warm detection and TAS-20 scores.
    [Show full text]
  • Sensitisation of Nociceptors – What Are Ion Channels Doing?
    82 The Open Pain Journal, 2010, 3, 82-96 Open Access Sensitisation of Nociceptors – What are Ion Channels Doing? Michael J.M. Fischer*, Stephanie W.Y. Mak and Peter A. McNaughton Department of Pharmacology, University of Cambridge, UK Abstract: Nociceptors are peripheral sensory neurones which respond to painful (noxious) stimuli. The terminals of nociceptors, which have a high threshold to stimulation in their native state, undergo a process known as sensitisation, or lowering of threshold, following injury or inflammation. Amongst sensory receptors, sensitisation is a property unique to nociceptors. A shift in the stimulus-response function of nociceptors renders them more sensitive, resulting in both a reduction in the activation threshold, such that previously non-noxious stimuli are perceived as noxious (allodynia) and an increased response to suprathreshold stimuli (hyperalgesia). Sensitisation protects us from harm and is essential for survival, but it can be disabling in conditions of chronic inflammation. This review focuses on three stages in sensitisation: 1) Inflammatory mediators, which are released from damaged resident cells and from others that invade in response to inflammation, and include bradykinin, prostaglandins, serotonin, low pH, ATP, neurotrophins, nitric oxide and cytokines; 2) Intracellular signalling molecules which are important in transmitting the actions of inflammatory mediators and include protein kinase A and C, Src kinase, mitogen-activated protein kinases and the membrane lipid PIP2; and 3) Ion channel targets of intracellular signalling which ultimately cause sensitisation and include the temperature- sensitive transient receptor potential channels, acid-sensitive ion channels, purinoceptor-gated channels, and the voltage- sensitive sodium, potassium, calcium and HCN channels.
    [Show full text]
  • B-Afferents: a Fundamental Division of the Nervous System Mediating Hoxneostasis?
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 1990 Dichotomic classification of sensory neurons: Elegant but problematic Neuhuber, W L DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x00078882 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-154322 Journal Article Published Version Originally published at: Neuhuber, W L (1990). Dichotomic classification of sensory neurons: Elegant but problematic. Behav- ioral and Brain Sciences, 13(02):313-314. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x00078882 BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN SCIENCES (1990) 13, 289-331 Printed in the United States of America B-Afferents: A fundamental division of the nervous system mediating hoxneostasis? James C. Prechtl* Terry L* Powley Laboratory of Regulatory Psychobiology, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 Electronic mail: [email protected]@brazil.psych.edu *Reprint requests should be addressed to: James C. Prechtl, Department of Neuroscience, A-001, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093 Abstract? The peripheral nervous system (PNS) has classically been separated into a somatic division composed of both afferent and efferent pathways and an autonomic division containing only efferents. J. N. Langley, who codified this asymmetrical plan at the beginning of the twentieth century, considered different afferents, including visceral ones, as candidates for inclusion in his concept of the "autonomic nervous system" (ANS), but he finally excluded all candidates for lack of any distinguishing histological markers. Langley's classification has been enormously influential in shaping modern ideas about both the structure and the function of the PNS.
    [Show full text]
  • A Sensor Array Using Multi-Functional Field-Effect Transistors with Ultrahigh Sensitivity and Precision for Bio-Monitoring
    www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN A Sensor Array Using Multi- functional Field-effect Transistors with Ultrahigh Sensitivity and Received: 06 March 2015 Accepted: 07 July 2015 Precision for Bio-monitoring Published: 30 July 2015 Do-Il Kim1, Tran Quang Trung1, Byeong-Ung Hwang1, Jin-Su Kim2, Sanghun Jeon3, Jihyun Bae4, Jong-Jin Park5 & Nae-Eung Lee1,2 Mechanically adaptive electronic skins (e-skins) emulate tactition and thermoception by cutaneous mechanoreceptors and thermoreceptors in human skin, respectively. When exposed to multiple stimuli including mechanical and thermal stimuli, discerning and quantifying precise sensing signals from sensors embedded in e-skins are critical. In addition, different detection modes for mechanical stimuli, rapidly adapting (RA) and slowly adapting (SA) mechanoreceptors in human skin are simultaneously required. Herein, we demonstrate the fabrication of a highly sensitive, pressure- responsive organic field-effect transistor (OFET) array enabling both RA- and SA- mode detection by adopting easily deformable, mechano-electrically coupled, microstructured ferroelectric gate dielectrics and an organic semiconductor channel. We also demonstrate that the OFET array can separate out thermal stimuli for thermoreception during quantification of SA-type static pressure, by decoupling the input signals of pressure and temperature. Specifically, we adopt piezoelectric- pyroelectric coupling of highly crystalline, microstructured poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) gate dielectric in OFETs with stimuli to allow monitoring of RA- and SA-mode responses to dynamic and static forcing conditions, respectively. This approach enables us to apply the sensor array to e- skins for bio-monitoring of humans and robotics. Next-generation applications of flexible electronics have been recently demonstrated such as transis- tors1–5, wearable devices6–12, skin-attachable sensors13–19, and electronic skin13–35 (e-skin).
    [Show full text]
  • Evaluating Whether Sight Is the Most Valued Sense
    Research JAMA Ophthalmology | Brief Report Evaluating Whether Sight Is the Most Valued Sense Jamie Enoch, MSc; Leanne McDonald, MSc; Lee Jones, PhD; Pete R. Jones, PhD; David P. Crabb, PhD Supplemental content IMPORTANCE Sight is often considered to be the sense most valued by the general public, but there are limited empirical data to support this. This study provides empirical evidence for frequent assertions made by practitioners, researchers, and funding agencies that sight is the most valued sense. OBJECTIVE To determine which senses are rated most valuable by the general public and quantify attitudes toward sight and hearing loss in particular. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted from March to April 2016 through a market research platform and captured a heterogeneous sample of 250 UK adults ages 22 to 80 years recruited in March 2016. The data were analyzed from October to December 2018. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Participants were first asked to rank the 5 traditional senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste) plus 3 other senses (balance, temperature, and pain) in order of most valuable (8) to least valuable (1). Next, the fear of losing sight and hearing was investigated using a time tradeoff exercise. Participants chose between 10 years without sight/hearing vs varying amounts of perfect health (from 0-10 years). RESULTS Of 250 participants, 141 (56.4%) were women and the mean (SD) age was 49.5 (14.6) years. Two hundred twenty participants (88%) ranked sight as their most valuable sense (mean [SD] rating, 7.8 [0.9]; 95% CI, 7.6-7.9).
    [Show full text]
  • Sensation & Perception
    Exam 1 • Top Score: 50 • Mean: 43.4 • Median: 44.5 • Mode: 44 • SD: 5.11 Sensation & Perception • Problems: – Start time screwed up for both; got resolved within 15 minutes – Duplicate question (my fault) – Wrong answers for 3rd graph question (changed within 15 minutes, only Chapter 6 affected 5 students; their scores have been corrected) • HELP LINE: 1-800-936-6899 Psy 12000.003 • Suggestions: – No go back? 1 – Others? 2 Announcement Sensation & Perception How do we construct our representations of the external • Participants Needed world? – $10 to participate in experiment. • To represent the world, we must first detect – You (ask a friend, too) physical energy (a stimulus) from the environment and convert it into neural • Contact: Eric Wesselmann signals. This is a process called sensation. – [email protected] • Wilhelm Wundt: “Father of Experimental Psychology” – Introspectionism When we select, organize, and interpret our sensations, the process is called perception. 3 4 The Dark Restaurant The Senses “I went to this restaurant in Berlin…” • Traditional Five: – Sight – Hearing – Touch – Smell • http://www.unsicht-bar.com/unsicht-bar- – Taste berlin-v2/en/html/home_1_idea.html • Six others that humans have – Nociception (pain) – Equilbrioception (balance) – Proprioception & Kinesthesia (joint motion and acceleration) – Sense of time – Thermoception (temperature) – Magnetoception (direction) 5 6 1 Bottom-up Processing Top-Down Processing Analysis of the stimulus begins with the sense receptors Information processing guided by higher-level and works up to the level of the brain and mind. mental processes as we construct perceptions, drawing on our experience and expectations. Letter “A” is really a black blotch broken down into features THE CHT by the brain that we perceive as an “A.” 7 8 Top-Down or Bottom-Up? Making Sense of Complexity Our sensory and perceptual processes work together to help us sort out complex images.
    [Show full text]
  • Sensory Receptors - Specialized Neurons That Respond to Specific Types of Stimuli
    PSYCHOLOGY Chapter 5 SENSATION AND PERCEPTION Casey Cooper, Ph.D. SENSORY SYSTEMS Our sensory systems are responsible for providing information about our surroundings which allow us to successfully navigate and interact with our environments. If you were standing in the midst of this street scene, you would be absorbing and processing numerous pieces of sensory input. Figure 5.1 (credit: modification of work by Cory Zanker) SENSATION Sensory receptors - specialized neurons that respond to specific types of stimuli. Sensation – occurs when sensory receptors detect sensory stimuli. When sensory receptors detect a specific stimuli, they convert that energy into an action potential which is sent to the central nervous system. This is called transduction. Sensory systems: - Vision - Hearing (audition) - Balance (vestibular sense) - Smell (olfaction) - Body position (proprioception) - Taste (gustation) - Movement (kinesthesia) - Touch (somatosensation) - Pain (nociception) - Temperature (thermoception) (Credit: Jinx the monkey) SENSATION For a stimulus to cause an action potential, it first has to be strong enough to be detected. Absolute threshold – minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the time. - On a clear night, the most sensitive sensory cells in the eye can detect a candle flame 30 miles away. We are also able to receive messages presented below the threshold of conscious awareness which are known as subliminal messages. - The stimulus causes an action potential but we are not consciously aware of it. Just noticeable difference (JND) –the minimum difference in stimuli required to detect a change or a difference between stimuli. - Can change depending on the stimulus intensity.
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond the View of Plants As Mere Machines: on Plant Sensation, Perception, and Awareness
    Beyond the View of Plants as Mere Machines: on Plant Sensation, Perception, and Awareness I‟ve always found plant behavior intriguing. Over the last six years of casual reading on it, starting with a college research report on the ill-named “Plant Neurobiology”, I learned more than I had imagined possible about the agency of plants (even after debunking misleading works such as The Secret Life of Plants). I learned that while plants do not possess a central nervous system, they nevertheless possess remarkable abilities of sensation, perception, and awareness. While these facets of life of course differ between plants and animals, plants nevertheless possess capacities for vision, olfaction, tactition, thermoception, and for detecting location, direction, and motion. Plants possess some forms of procedural memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory. They signal, communicate, and network with other organisms and species. They even wield a vascular system of awareness which some contrast to a central nervous system. All of these points serve to debunk the notion of plants as pure automata, as mere machines. But what, precisely, does that mean? Can a Plant “See”? Vision Without Eyes Plants can sense the ultraviolet spectrum, distinguish time of day based on sun, distinguish large and small light sources, distinguish parts of the light spectrum via phytochrome receptors, discern incoming light direction and duration as well as shadowing over themselves. Again, the decentralized rather than centralized nervous system: “If in the middle of the night you shine a beam of light on different parts of the plant, you discover that it‟s sufficient to illuminate any single leaf in order to regulate flowering in the entire plant.” [What a Plant Knows, p.20] Humans have rhodopsin detecting for light and shadow, and three photopsins for red, blue, and green, as well as cryptochrome for our internal clock.
    [Show full text]
  • 03 Sensibilita Somatica
    Psychophysical laws Legge di Weber: ΔS=K*S Legge di Fechner: I=K*log(S/S0) 450 Part V / Perception Sensory receptors Vision Smell Taste Touch Thermal senses Pain Hearing Balance Proprioception Figure 21–1 The major sensory modalities in humans are (touch, hearing, balance, and proprioception). The classic fve mediated by distinct classes of receptor neurons located in senses—vision, smell, taste, touch, and hearing—and the specifc sense organs. Each class of receptor cell transforms sense of balance are mediated by receptors in the eye, nose, one type of stimulus energy into electrical signals that are mouth, skin, and inner ear, respectively. The other somatosen- encoded as trains of action potentials. The principal receptor sory modalities—thermal senses, pain, and proprioception— cells include photoreceptors (vision), chemoreceptors (smell, are mediated by receptors distributed throughout the body. taste, and pain), thermal receptors, and mechanoreceptors the complex forms that are the basis of cognition. Sen- specialized receptors. The sensory information is sory pathways are also recursive. The higher centers in transmitted to the central nervous system by trains of the brain modify and structure the incoming fow of action potentials that represent particular aspects of sensory signals by feeding information back to earlier the stimulus. The question that has intrigued philoso- stages of processing; thus percepts are shaped by inter- phers and scientists alike is whether experienced sen- nal as well as environmental factors. sations accurately refect the stimuli that produce them In each sensory modality a specifc type of stim- or whether our knowledge of the world is inherently ulus energy is transformed into electrical signals by subjective and imprecise.
    [Show full text]
  • Lecture Materials
    NEUROSCIENCE 5. PERCEPTION, NON-HUMAN SENSES, PYRAMIDAL SYSTEMS 5.1. The Process of Perception Perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the sense organs. For example, vision involves light striking the retina of the eye, smell is mediated by odor molecules, and hearing involves pressure waves. Perception is not the passive receipt of these signals, but is shaped by learning, memory, expectation, and attention. Perception involves these top-down effects as well as the bottom-up process of processing sensory input. The bottom-up processing transforms low level information to higher level information (e.g., extracts shapes for object recognition). The top-down processing refers to a person's concept and expectations (knowledge), and selective mechanisms (attention) that influence perception. Perception depends on complex functions of the nervous system, but subjectively seems mostly effortless because this processing happens outside conscious awareness. Since the rise of experimental psychology in the 19th century, psychology's understanding of perception has progressed by combining a variety of techniques. Psychophysics quantitatively describes the relationships between the physical qualities of the sensory input and perception. Sensory neuroscience studies the brain mechanisms underlying perception. Perceptual systems can also be studied computationally, in terms of the information they process. Perceptual issues in philosophy include the extent to which sensory qualities such as sound, smell or color exist in objective reality rather than in the mind of the perceiver. Although the senses were traditionally viewed as passive receptors, the study of illusions and ambiguous images has demonstrated that the brain's perceptual systems actively and pre-consciously attempt to make sense of their input.
    [Show full text]