Concept Of Adaptation

Teaching The Concept Of Adaptation To A Psychology Class

Experiments and their results

For experiment 1, we simply took a piece of coarse sandpaper and rubbed our index finger 5 times at equal intervals of 20 seconds to measure our sense of perception using a scale rate for its coarseness on ratings 1 (very soft) to 7 (very coarse). For the first 3 times observed readings were 7,6 and 5. The last two readings were 4 and 3.

In experiment 2, we compared our sense of taste by swishing two equal amounts of water; one sweetened with 2 spoons sugar and the other plain freshwater. Without swallowing, the sweetened water was held in mouth for 60 seconds. The water was felt very sweet in the first 10 seconds, after which the sweetness sensation started to lose. After 60 seconds, freshwater was felt for the same interval and it was found it tasted a bit sweeter in the first 10 seconds, though it never had a particle of sugar. After 10 seconds, the apparent sweetness started declining, reaching to Zero at 30th second.

In experiment 3, we observed how we quickly adapt to hot and cold stimulation. For the purpose, we took 3 bowls containing equal amount of water with temperatures +60C, +25C and +5C. We Submersed our hands into the water (right into cold, left into hot) for about 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, we quickly transfer both hands to the lukewarm (middle) bowl. We first found that both extremes of bowl water felt the way they should feel, although the intensity reduced as those 3 minutes passed. Ending up both hands in lukewarm water bowl, we found that there was apparently no change in sensation, although the hands came all the way from the water bowls having extremes of ...