Problems associated with this WOK.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything will appear to man as it is, infinite.”

William Blake

Sense Perception

• Can you believe your eyes?• What does Lotto mean when he says that all things we

see, all depend on context?• How does evolution help us to make sense of these

ideas?• What are the implications?

Homework Review

Can we trust our eyes?

A rabbit or a duck?

The Father of Western PhilosophyFamous for the Philosophical Maxim

“Cogito, ergo sum” –

I think, therefore I am

Introduced the idea that we had to doubt our perceptions – now known as Cartesian doubt.

Rene Descartes, 1596-1650

1.WHY are we able to see and hear in the (limited) ranges of human sight and hearing?

2.Think of some examples of animals that may see and hear other frequencies of light or sound. HOW might their experience of the world be different?

3.What organ perceives?

4.How might this idea of the “limitations of human senses” relate to our senses of touch, taste and smell?

Discussion Questions

“To make biological survival possible, Mind at Large has to be funneled through the reducing valve of the brain and nervous system. What comes out at the other end is a measly trickle of the kind of consciousness which will help us to stay alive on the surface of this particular planet”

From the Doors of Perception 1954

Aldous Huxley

Man or woman?

You choose, Death or Vanity?

Consider….1.Explain why, in a noisy room with lots of people talking including you, you can’t

hear other people’s conversations but you are able to hear your name mentioned by an individual across the room

2.Demonstrate your blind spot to yourself. Why isn’t this apparent in normal vision. The image on your retina is upside down. How do you perceive the world the right way up?

3. Explain the following true story:Dwarf BuffaloThe Luti tribe of the Congo lived deep in the dark, dense jungle for hundreds of

years, never venturing out until some time early in the 19th century. When the first members of the tribe did come out onto the vast African plains, they reported seeing dwarf buffalo the size of pygmies. When outside anthropologists heard this, they persuaded the Luti to return to the plains to show the pygmy buffalo but the observers could only ever find regular sized buffalo.

Not so Famous for the Philosophical Maxim“Esse est percipi”

– Things only exist when perceived

100 years after Descartes took the idea that we had to doubt our perceptions to new extremes. The idealistic

perspective of “solopsism”

George Berkeley 1685-1753

Influence of Language

• Japanese had just one word, Ao, for both blue and green. Around 1000 the word “midori” appeared or greenish-blue. • 1917 the first crayons were Introduced to Japan.• In1951, teaching guidelines for first grade teachers distinguished blue from green.

Crayola-fication article.

Crayola-fication and Language

• Context is a valuable thing….

Spatial Familiarity / Grouping

More patterns…

Biological Limitations

Biological Limitations

The McGurk Effect – Is Seeing/Hearing Believing?

An example of senses conflicting.

http://youtu.be/G-lN8vWm3m0

I am sure I heard that correctly….

• Perception is influenced by our expectations.• Perception is influenced by our language.• Perception is an interpretation.• We can adjust how we perceive things.• We use context to solve ambiguity.• Biology limits our perception.

Can we trust our senses?

I am sure I saw it….

• An article discussing a study on taste in regards to wine for the most part. Points out some of the sensory limitations of the mind and the vagueness of instructions that the brain gives/receives from the senses.

• Are expectations more important than reality?• How has your previous experience clouded your perception?• Can we trust our senses?

• JOURNAL ENTRY DUE TOMORROW BASED ON NEW PARAMETERS

“Grape Expectations”