Today we finished vision with the "Stroop Effect" in Tibetan. Tibetan words for colors were written with the same or different colors of what the word says. Pairs of monks were given the cards with a small timer so they could collect some data. When we looked at the data, it was apparent that colored words written in different colors than what they say were much more difficult to name than colors in words with the congruent color.
We then hurried on to hearing. I described the basics of sound and the structure of the ear. To demonstrate how sound pressure impacts the eardrum, I stretched a rubber glove over the tube. During tea time, I went outside and picked up some sand. When the monks came back from tea, I showed them how the artificial eardrum worked by yelling at the device. The monks saw the sand jump and wondered if it was because the air from my mouth blew the sand. So I blocked the air and yelled again and the sand still jumped. The monks took turns playing the with ear drum; one monk sang a song to make the sand move.
We also experimented with sound localization the benefits of two ears. For this demonstration, I had the monks form a large circle. One monk sat in the middle of the circle with his eyes closed. I then pointed to another monk to clap his hands and the monk in the middle had to identify who clapped. We tried it a few times with two ears and then with one ear. The day was even filled with a discussion of touch including somatotopy, the homunculus, and receptor density/sensitivity. We used plastic calipers to investigate tactile two point discrimination over different parts of the body.
At the end of the day, I told the monks that we were going through a lot of material. I did not expect them to absorb everything I said, but that I hoped it would motivate them to learn more.
No comments:
Post a Comment