Biological Influences

Unit 2 IP – Biological Influences

Task 1: Record of my reactions

In the first experiment the perception of coarseness did not change after rubbing the finger after two minutes as the coarseness remained the same in the second experiments, the sugary taste became diluted as swishing continued and as fresh water was taken, it surprised me triggering me to spit it. While in the fourth experiment, upon immersing my hand in the lukewarm bowls, temperatures began to change after a while as the hands had adapted to the earlier water temperatures.

Task 2: Adaptation and experiences it in the three experiments.

Sensory adaptation refers to a condition where receptors in the various senses are familiar with the stimulus. For example, when a person enters in a room and hears the hums of a refrigerator sound. The sounds will fade away in the background within short time and the person will no longer consciously hear those sounds. This implies that the sense of hearing has already adapted to the sounds (Peggy, Stocker, & Eero, 2009, p.3774).

In experiment 1, after rubbing the finger on the very coarse sandpaper for sometimes I perceived the roughness. At first instant, the coarseness was very soft approximately 2 but as I persisted in rubbing the course sand paper, the level or the perception increased to 5 and eventually to 7 at the time I stopped rubbing. When I changed the finger after two minutes, the perception did not change at the first instance as I still felt the coarseness that I had earlier perceived in the first rubbing. This is attributed to the familiarity and with the kind of the paper I rubbed and therefore the second rubbing could not be different from the first because the finger had already adapted the texture of the paper.

In experiment two, after swishing sugar water in the mouth it tasted less sweet and upon tasting the fresh water; the new taste surprised me, as it was different from the first experience. It surprised me because, the mouth has already adapted to the sugary taste and the introduction of fresh water tasted differently hence leading to the surprise. I experienced a negative perception upon taking the fresh water making me feel like spitting the water.

In experiment four, after submersing my right hands in the cold water and my left hand in cold water after three minutes and transferring both to the lukewarm bowls or water, I sensed very different temperatures. I experienced a drastic change in my hands temperature. My left hand, which was in the hot water remained hot for a while regardless of it being submersed in lukewarm, but the temperatures began to drop after few minutes. Likewise, my right hand earlier submerged in cold water recorded a change in temperatures after awhile.

In experiment one, adaptation is evident because after touching and feeling the coarseness of the paper and touching it after the first time, the finger still felt the coarseness but it had already got used to the surface and the paper. My feeling did not experience any surprise. This can be attributed to the fact that the finger had already adapted to the coarseness and the receptors identified with the surface on touch.

In the experiment two, the receptors in the mouths had been already oriented them or familiarized with the sugary taste and that is why upon taking fresh water, the taste changed and I felt like spiting the water. While in the fourth experiment, both hands had already familiarized with the hot and cold water. They had already adapted to those temperatures and that is why upon changing them to lukewarm bowl caused some uncomfortable or change in temperature after a while.

In all the experiments, sensory systems were involved. In the fourth experiment, the sensory systems reliable for touch were involved. Upon submersing hand in water, the nerve endings in the bottom layer of skin called dermis, send message to the spinal cord, which transmitted the information to the brain triggering the perception of those different temperatures hence recognizing feelings. The receptors responsible for sense of hot and cold were stimulated and send the information to spinal code and further to the brain. Likewise, in the first experiment, the receptors in the index finger send the message to the spinal cord, which further relayed the information to the brain. Therefore, when finger was rubbed to the coarse surface the second time, the brain had already received the signal and therefore the finger had already adapted to the surface. In the experiment two, the taste senses present in mouth were responsible for the reactions that were experienced after swishing sugary water and fresh water. The receptor cells in taste buds, which in turn are found in papillae present in the mouth, send messages to the brain through the sensory nerves allowing the brain to detach the flavors or tastes (Najmaei, Kermani, & Mohammed, 2011, p. 1230). The reduction in sugary taste after swishing for a while demonstrates sensory adaptation.

From an evolutionary perspective, adaptation is important because it helps animals and living creatures to be resilience to varying kinds of environments (Johnson, & Lam, 2010, p.880). It contributes in enhancing the level of fitness and survival of animals under different environment hence acts like a biological insurance. Without the possibility of adaptation, many animals and creatures would not be able to live and overcome harsh climatic and environment effects that come in their way in the course of their living.

References

Peggy, S., Stocker, A., & Eero, S. (2009). Is the Homunculus “Aware” of Sensory Adaptation? Neural Computation, 21(12): 3271-3304.

Johnson, B., & Lam, K. (2010). Self-organization, Natural Selection, and Evolution: Cellular Hardware and Genetic Software.. BioScience, 60(11): 879-885.

Najmaei, N., Kermani, M., & Mohammed A. (2011). A New Sensory System for Modeling and Tracking Humans Within Industrial Work Cells. IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation & Measurement, 60(4): 1227-1236.