Senses+project

Copyright 2009 by David Kreiner. All rights reserved. You may reproduce multiple copies of this material for your own personal use, including use in your classes and/or sharing with individual colleagues as long as the author’s name and institution and the Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology heading or other identifying information appear on the copied document.


 * Auditory Perception Writing Project**


 * Problem:** It is important for drivers (and pedestrians) to be able to hear emergency vehicles and to identify their locations. Think about situations where you could not see an emergency vehicle but you heard a siren, and you had to figure out where it was coming from so that you would know what to do (e.g., pull over to the side of the road). Your task is to develop recommendations for sirens on emergency vehicles.

1. Review the material from the textbook about pitch perception. How is the pitch of the siren important in helping people detect and identify it? 2. Consider what you have learned about sound localization. How can this be applied to locating the source of a siren? 3. Also consider the material on auditory scene analysis. How could people perceptually group sound information coming from the same vehicle?


 * Report:** Prepare a brief recommendation that could be submitted to a city council, ambulance district, or other agency. Your recommendation should include the following:

1. Your recommendations for the sirens in terms of frequency, intensity, timbre, timing, and any other factors that you think are relevant. 2. A justification for each aspect of your recommendations. The justification should refer to specific material about pitch perception, sound localization, and scene analysis.


 * Motion Perception Writing Project**


 * Problem:** You are an engineering team, trying to design a device that can be used by individuals with motion agnosia to help them navigate their environments. (Developing this device could also help improve the navigation abilities of robots.) You are hired as a consultant to provide advice on the types of information that this motion detector device will need to be able to process.

1. Consider the ways in which we rely on motion perception in our daily lives. 2. Consider the types of information that are needed in order to perceive motion correctly.


 * Report:** Prepare a one-page list of the types of information that the motion detector device will need to be able to detect and analyze. For each type of information, indicate why this information is needed to help a person in daily life.

Color Writing Project

Alan Alda has a contest going, it is for scientists (how that is defined I could not tell you) but their contest this year is for scientists to explain what color is. You have one page, you are writing for an audience of 11yr olds. See details here: link