Conduct three of the following experiments and record your reactions. Be specific for each experiment.
Rub your index fingers gently over a piece of very coarse sandpaper a few times and rate its coarseness on a scale from 1 (very soft) to 7 (very coarse). After a minute or two, rub the same finger over the paper and again rate its coarseness. Did your perception of the coarseness change? How?
Distribute one cup with sugar water and one with fresh water. Take a sip of the sugar water and swish it around in your mouth for several seconds without swallowing it; gradually, it should taste less sweet. After swallowing it (or spitting it back into the cup), taste from the cup containing fresh water. Did the taste of the fresh water surprise you? How?
Take about 15 index cards and a flashlight that is opaque on all sides (so that light shines only through the front) into a very dark room. After placing all 15 cards over the beam of light, slowly remove the cards one at a time until you can barely detect the light, and then count the number of cards that remain over the light. After a few minutes, the light should begin to look brighter. When this is the case, add a card and see if you can still see the light. Repeat this process of gradually adding cards over a 15-minute period. Were you able to detect an increasingly dim light the longer you spent in the dark?
Fill 3 medium-sized bowls with (a) very hot (but not painfully so) tap water, (b) very cold tap water, and (c) a mixture of the very hot and very cold water. Arrange them, so your right hand is in front of the cold water, your left hand is in front of the hot water, and the lukewarm water is in the middle. Submerse your hands into the water (right into cold, left into hot) for about 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, quickly transfer both hands to the lukewarm (middle) bowl. What did you sense?
In all four experiments, you will experience adaptation.
Fully describe the process and results of each experiment.
What is adaptation? Explain adaptation as discussed in the text, not as a general dictionary definition.
Explain how adaptation is evident in each of your experimental results.
Comprehensively describe the sensory systems involved in these experiments, from the receptors all the way into and including the brain.
And your question is? As the procedure notes at the end, this is an experiment (actually, experiments) in adaptation. Surely you don't want us to give you the answers. Why not do the experiments yourself and record your observations? The experiments sound easy enough to me. You might find that you enjoy doing experiments.
I don't, DrBob222, if I did I would have completed them.
Anyone else care to help with this assignment. Thanks!
If you do not have anything positive to say or answers, do not reply. candy
Please tell us the results of your experiments.
What did you experience when you rubbed your finger over sandpaper? What did you experience when you tasted sugar and plain water?
If you post your findings from your experiments, we'll be glad to HELP you complete the rest of your assignment.
This is more helpful than the other comment which SUCKED!! Thanks
YOU SUCK!!!
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Wow, because each of these experiments either take two seconds to do or are just common sense. Just do the assignment like everyone else at AIU has to. I was hoping to find some help on sensory systems but what I found was a lazy student.
Comprehensively describe the sensory systems involved in these experiments, from the receptors all the way into and including the brain.
I apologize if my previous response was not helpful. Let's focus on providing information about sensory systems and adaptation instead. Here's an explanation of sensory systems and adaptation, and how they relate to the experiments you mentioned:
Sensory Systems:
Sensory systems are responsible for allowing us to perceive and interpret information from our environment. They consist of sensory organs or receptors, neural pathways, and the brain. Each sensory system is specialized to detect specific types of stimuli, such as light, sound, taste, touch, and temperature.
Adaptation:
Adaptation refers to the way our sensory systems adjust and respond to constant or repetitive stimuli over time. It involves a decrease in sensitivity or response to a specific input that persists for a prolonged period. Adaptation allows our sensory systems to prioritize detecting new or changing stimuli while filtering out irrelevant or constant information.
Now, let's analyze how adaptation is evident in each of the experiments you mentioned:
1. Coarse Sandpaper Experiment:
When you rub your finger over very coarse sandpaper, you initially rate its coarseness. However, if you repeat the rubbing and re-rate its coarseness after a minute or two, you may observe a change in perception. This change in perception is an example of sensory adaptation. Your sensory receptors for touch become less sensitive to the constant stimuli of the sandpaper, leading to a decrease in perceived coarseness.
2. Sugar Water and Fresh Water Experiment:
When you take a sip of sugar water and swish it around in your mouth, you may notice that it gradually tastes less sweet over time. This is due to adaptation in your taste buds. The sweetness receptors in your taste buds become less sensitive to the constant presence of sugar, resulting in a decreased perception of sweetness. Subsequently, when you taste fresh water, it might surprise you because it lacks the previously experienced sweetness.
3. Flashlight and Index Cards Experiment:
In the dark room, as you gradually remove the index cards from the beam of light, you may reach a point where you can barely detect the light. However, after a few minutes, the light may start to appear brighter, and you might need to add more cards to achieve the same level of dimness. This phenomenon is an example of visual adaptation. Your visual receptors, known as rods and cones, initially adapt to the darkness, but with time, they become more sensitive to the light, thereby perceiving it as brighter than before.
4. Hot and Cold Water Experiment:
When you submerge your hands into very hot and very cold water simultaneously, you may experience contrasting sensations of temperature in your hands. After three minutes, when you quickly transfer both hands to the lukewarm water, you might sense a difference in temperature. This is because your temperature receptors adapt to the extreme hot and cold stimuli and become less sensitive. Consequently, when you move your hands to the lukewarm water, the temperature may feel less extreme or surprising due to adaptation.
I hope this helps you understand how adaptation is evident in each of the experiments and how it relates to sensory systems. If you have any further questions or need more clarification, feel free to ask.