Lab Activity - Testing Your Senses

Introduction:

In this lab report, the main objective is to examine the functional anatomy and physiology of each of the special
sense organs individually and how they overlap and work together. The special senses are the senses that have
specialized organs devoted to them. Some of the special senses include vision (the eye), hearing and balance (the
ear), smell (the nose) and taste (the tongue). With this experiment, I expect to see a direct correlation between
each of the special senses. What if there were physical limitations, would we still see the desired outcomes? What
if there was no correlation between our smell and how we taste things, or between our eyes and balance? This
experiment tested the special senses which include vision, hearing, equilibrium, taste and smell and how they
respond to stimuli.

a. Write a concluding statement that you would add to the very end of your introduction to “sum” it
up.

Vision Tests

Check your vision:

a) Go to the following website and do the near vision, astigmatism and light tests,
https://www.essilor.com/en/vision-tests/test-your-vision/
b) What were your results for each test?
Near Vision Test 1: I was able to read all of the text from 40cm away, indicating that I have good
near vision.
Near Vision Test 2: I am not yet presbyopic and I have the right correction for near vision.
Astigmatism: This test revealed that I don’t seem to have astigmatism.
Light Test: My sensitivity to contrasts in both eyes is good.

c) What is an astigmatism? Why does this change in the lens alter our perception of what we see?
Astigmatism is caused by an irregular curvature of the cornea or lens in the eye, the cornea is
shaped more like a football than a soccer ball and primarily causes blurred vision. This change in
the lens alters our perception of what we see because of this curvature because the eye is unable
to focus light rays to a single point which results vision becoming out of focus at any distance.

After images –
a) What is an after image?
An after image is an image that continues to appear in the eyes after a period of exposure to the
original image.

b) You will be viewing the following diagram when you click the link to the website below.

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 c) Make a prediction as to what you will see as an after image:
After viewing the image, I predict that I will see a black circle.

d) Click on the following link and follow the directions: http://www.unmuseum.org/exafter.htm

e) What color after image did you see? Please explain the reason behind this; in doing this, you
should explain what is happening with the receptors and not just that they are tired.

After staring at the image for 40 seconds and not blinking (a lot harder than I really seems) I saw
a white/blue circle in the left hand side this is significantly different from my prediction. This
happens because in the retina, the three color receptors that are the most sensitive to red, blue
and green. When we stare at a color for too long, the after image is a result of all of our
photoreceptors not being in balance. As they become less tired, the balance is recovered and the
after image disappears.

2. Blind spots –
a) Where is the blind spot in our eye?
In the retina where the optic nerve connects

b) Why can’t we see anything here?

We can’t see anything here because in this area there are no light-sensitive cells, hence the blind
spot.

c) Using the following website, do some activities to find your blind spot
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chvision.html
d) Which activity worked best for you? How did you know that your blind spot was in your field of
view?
The last activity with the animated red dot really worked the best for me. I knew that my blind
spot was in my field of view because as I kept my right eye closed and moved my head away, the
field and blind spot was filled in with color and textures from my surroundings.

Flavor discriminations: You will need to have some samples that you can use for a taste test. Some students
like to use granny smith and red delicious apples or even skittles or starburst candies. It can also be useful to
have a friend or family member volunteer to be used as a test subject. Use the following procedure and fill in
the table below as you do so.
1. With nose pinched shut, see if you can taste one of your test items you chose just by placing it on your
tongue.
With my nose pinched shut, I could not taste the orange starburst.
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 2. Now, try chewing the food with your nose still plugged. Can you taste the item with just chewing and
no breathing? I could not taste it with just chewing.

3. If you unplug your nose, can you distinguish the flavor?

Yes

4. Repeat with the other item.

Sample identity When were you able to correctly identify this

food item? (no chewing/breathing, chewing/no
breathing, chewing and breathing)
No
Sour Patch
No
Starburts

5. What does this tell us about how the sense of taste and the sense of smell work together? Please explain
their connection in detail.

Sense of taste and sense of smell go hand in hand. The senses of smell and taste are directly related because
they both use the same type of receptors. The senses of smell and taste combine at the back of the throat. When
you taste something before you smell it, the smell lingers internally up to the nose causing you to smell it. If an
individual’s sense of smell is not functional, then the sense of taste will also not function because of the
relationship of receptors. People tend to distinguish taste as one sense and smell as another, however, after
reading the text from this week, we learned that they work together to create the perception of flavor. A person’s
perception of flavor is greatly reduced if they have congested nasal passages.

Equilibrium Test: Our balance depends on multiple receptors. We use the complex structures of the inner ear
as a major receptor. In addition, our vision contributes to our ability to maintain our balance as well as the input
we receive from our sensory receptors in our feet. These sensations are integrated in our cerebellum and our
cerebral cortex.

a. Stand with your eyes open and then bend one leg. How long were you able to stand this way? 36.4
seconds

b. Do it again but this time...close your eyes. How long were you able to stand? 10.2 seconds

c. Now stand with both feet very close together, wait one minute then close you eyes. How long this
time? 1 minute 26 seconds

d. During which test did you feel more balanced? I felt more balanced in the last test.

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 e. What did you observe about the integration of the senses (vision and equilibrium)? Our sensory
receptors play a significant role when it comes to vision and equilibrium. We learned that
maintaining balance depends on information that is received by the brain from three peripheral
sources, our eyes, muscles and joints. Our eyes play a critical role in balance because we see light
the rods and cones send impulse to our brain that provides visual cues how a person is oriented to
relative objects. This makes sense that I was only able to stand on one foot for such a short time.

Hearing Test:

a. Go to the following website (http://www.hear-it.org/Online-Hearing-Test) and take the hearing

test. You will need to have headphones for the best results, but they aren’t required.

b. What were your results?

I got a 47% on my hearing test, indicating that I would benefit from wearing a hearing device.

c. What did you find the most challenging?

What I found to be the most challenging was distinguishing the numbers when the white noise
was added and the variations in frequency.

d. How are we able to distinguish between sounds of varying frequencies?

It was very difficult for me to distinguish between the sounds of varying frequencies. I had to
increase the volume on my headphones in order to hear the numbers.

e. Why do we tend to lose the ability to hear high frequency sounds before low ones and what
habits tend to make this more likely?

Our ear is able to process high frequency sounds through the tiny hair cells in the lower part of
the cochlea. As sound travels the tiny hairs absorb and translate the noise into electrical impulses
that are sent to the brain and interpreted as sound, clearly there is a large disconnect between my
ear and the brain. The ear is able to process high frequency sounds through tiny hair cells in the
lower part of the cochlea. These hairs absorb and translate noises into electrical impulses which
are sent to your brain, which then interprets the impulses as sound. If the sensory cells in your
cochlea are damaged, you lose the ability to hear and ultimately process these sounds. We can
conclude from the reading that because the hair cells that perceive low frequency sounds are
located near the top of the cochlea, hearing loss typically occurs at higher frequencies first.

Habits that tend to make this more likely are listening to loud music, not using hearing protecting
while exposed to loud noises and age.

Conclusion: You should write a concluding paragraph or two and add this below.

In this section, you should start to make some connections about how the lab activities helped you learn about
the special senses. For instance:
 What did these experiments illustrate about our special senses?
 How are they integrated together for the best awareness of our surroundings? Give some
examples from the lab activities.
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 Were there any potential errors in this lab?