What do scientists do?
Scientists:
– Observe
Brains, Eyes, Ears, Skull
– Make predictions
– Measure
how fast, how large
What does the brain do?
Different parts of the brain do different things
– See
– Pay attention and think
– Remember
– Move
– Hear, taste, balance
A. Seeing - The eye
• Materials
–
–
–
–
The Big Model of the Eye
Cow Eye to dissect
Flashlight
Slides
• Activities
–
–
–
–
Eye see u slide -> Flashlight on pupil; explain function
Inside eye slide -> show retina in model & in cow eye
Near sighted & cataract -> show lens in model & in cow eye
Color vision
Eye see you
Pupil:
Iris: This is the
colored part of
your eye
This is the hole in
your eye that lets
light in.
It gets bigger in
the dark and
smaller with
bright light
Looking inside the eye
In photos, the flash
lights up the back of the
eye which is red.
Doctors use a flashlight
with a magnifying glass
to see the back of your
eye
This is what they see.
The red lines are
arteries that carry blood
and oxygen that your
eye needs
Seeing without eye-glasses
Near sighted
•
•
•
Normal
For some people things near their eyes look clear, but things far away look blurry. These
people are near-sighted and wear glasses or contact lenses that help them see better.
All babies are near sighted until they are 6 month olds.
So if you want a baby to see you clearly, make sure to get close to her (but ask mom first!)
Seeing blurry
Normal
Inside the eye, there is a lens (a magnifying glass). As we grow
older, the lens sometimes gets ‘dirty’. This disease is called
‘cataracts’. Doctors can do surgery to replace the lens with a
new one.
Seeing in Color
only 2 detectors
all 3 detectors
Most people have three different types of color detectors in their eyes.
Some boys have two types of detectors instead of three. To these boys, colors
look slightly different than to the rest of us.
If you have a hard time seeing the number 5 in the figure above you might be
in that group. If so, your mom’s dad may also have a hard time seeing them. This is
because this difference runs in families, and it is passed through the genes.
B. Visual illusions & experiences
• Materials
–
–
–
–
A brain model
Slides
Markers
Paper
• Activities
– aftereffect -> Flashlight on pupil; explain function
– Illusion < --- > let kids figure out that they should measure with a ruler, if they
don’t do so, gently hint it to them
– Circle illusion: idem
– Lincoln face: show area in the brain model; also point to visual areas
• Extra: For kids who finish early
– , use markers to experience aftereffect
– Use scissors to create circle illusion
Stare at the mouth for 30 seconds. Next, quickly turn your eyes
towards some white spot (for example, a piece of paper).
What do you see?
What is going on? Your eyes get ‘tired’, that is, the neurons start sending a
weaker signal to the brain. When you stop looking at it, the signal is so weak
that it is even lower than when seeing nothing. So you end up ‘seeing’ the
opposite: the white parts look dark.
Stare at the dot in the center of the USA flag for 30 seconds. Next,
quickly turn your eyes towards the + on the left. What do you see?
+
Which line looks longer? Which line is longer?
How can you find out which line is truly the longest one?
Important lesson: Sometimes our intuition is wrong. Good scientists
always measure as a way to test their hypothesis.
Which of the two center circles looks larger? Which one is larger?
How can you find out which center circle is truly the largest one?
Important lesson: Sometimes our intuition is wrong. Good scientists
always measure as a way to test their hypothesis.
Do you notice anything weird about Lincoln’s face? Turn it around to find out
What is going on? Humans are really good at
recognizing faces. We can notice very slight
changes in people’s faces. Also, we see the whole
face at once. That is, you don’t need to first look
at the nose, then the eyes and the mouth before
you recognize your mom, right? But when the face
is upside down, it is just like any other object, we
see it in parts instead of as a whole. So it becomes
less obvious that it is wrong.
Did you know? There is a part of the brain
that specializes in recognizing faces.
Faces, Faces Everywhere!
Faces are so important to us, and
our brain is so good at noticing
them, that we see faces even in
clouds and pancakes!
Vision and Art
If you get your eyes out of
focus (or you take off
your eyeglasses), you
may see somebody’s
face. Who is he?
If you still cannot see it, get
far away from the page,
can you see it now?
This is a picture by Dali, a
famous Spanish painter
Vision and Art
Look at the grapes,
the leafs, the fruits
and vegetables. Do
you see something
else?
This painting was
made by Giuseppe
Arcimboldo more than
400 years ago!
Vision and Art
This painting was
made by Rene
Magritte
Vision and Art
This painting was
made by Andy Warhol
Although the colors
are very different, it is
easy to see that is
always the same
person
Vision and Art
This painting was
made by Rene
Magritte
C. Attention
Activities: In all, it is important to pay attention
–
–
–
–
Dalmatian dog: role of expectations
Old/young lady: ambiguity
Spot the difference
Beans
– Stroop task (‘red’ in blue)
Try to find the dog. It is hard the first time, but easy after you found it once.
What is going on? Once your brain knows what to look for, it can make
‘guesses’ and find it. It can pay attention to the important spots.
Do you see a young girl or an old lady? Both are there, which one do you see?
What is going on? Sometimes, things can have two meanings. By
paying attention to one or the other, we see different things
Try to find the difference between these two pictures
What is going on? We only see things if we pay attention to them.
One of these beans is not a bean, it’s a face! Can you find it?
What is going on? Just like in ‘Where is Waldo?’, we only see things if
we pay attention to them.
Stroop task
• Materials:
– stopwatch,
– pencil (to graph)
– Kids work in pairs: One reads, the other times
• Instructions:
– Name the color of the ink, do NOT read the word
• Results: Graph results (see sample)
– Include y-axis (how many seconds), x-axis (condition)
• Discussion:
– Which was slowest? Why?
– what would happen if the kid doesn’t know how to read yet? Would he be
faster? Slower? It depends? Why?
– What would happen if you put 'funny’ words, like ‘poop’, and ‘fart’. Why
•
BLACK
ORANGE
RED
BLUE
GREEN
YELLOW
BLUE
BROWN
BLACK
GRAY
ORANGE
GREEN
YELLOW
BLUE
BLUE
BLACK
GRAY
PINK
ORANGE
BROWN
YELLOW
BROWN
GRAY
BLACK
PINK
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
XXXXX
RED
BLUE
GREEN
BLUE
BLACK
YELLOW
GREEN
ORANGE
GREEN
RED
PINK
BLACK
BROWN
YELLOW
GRAY
BLUE
RED
GREEN
PINK
BROWN
ORANGE
BLACK
BLUE
GREEN
RED
How many seconds?
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
90
20.4
red
27.4
xxx
What type of list?
red
red
D. Memory
• Materials
– A real penny
– A brain model
• Activities
– Penny
– False memory: show the hippocampus (remember) and the frontal
lobe
Only one of these images of a penny is correct. Which one is it?
Answer:
Most people have a hard time making this choice. You need to be able to recognize a penny
when you see one. But you don't need to remember many details to tell it apart from a dime
or quarter. This sort of test suggests that you're likely to remember only enough about an
object to let you recognize it in everyday life. A is the correct image. Now you know!
This activity is from the website of the ‘Museum of science, art, and human perception’ in
San Francisco. For more activities, go to http://www.exploratorium.edu/mind/play.html
False Memory
Instructions:
–
–
–
–
–
–
I’m going to read a list of words. Try to remember them.
After I read them, you will count to 30.
When you are done counting, I will read some old words and some new words
Raise your hand when you hear an old word.
Ready to try?
Let’s start with a practice trial.
Practice:
List 1: Dog, shoe, mom
Count to 30
List 2: Dog, hippopotamus, mom
Good. Ready to start for real?
List 1: read, pages, letters, school, study, reading, stories, sheets, cover, pen, pencil, magazine,
paper, words
List 2: ocean, pencil, apple, house, shoe, book, flag, rock, train, hill, music, water, glass, school
Predicted Results:
- few hands up for ‘ocean’ (correct rejection)
- Lots hands for ‘Pencil, ‘school’ (hits)
- Lots hands up for "book“: FALSE MEMORY
False memory: results
How many kids?
5
4
4
3
3
2
1
1
0
old
new
What type of word?
new_related to
old
False Memory
Another example (if you need to kill time)
List 1: sheets, pillow, mattress, blanket, comfortable, room, dream, lay, chair, rest, tired, night,
dark, time
List 2: door, tree, eye, song, pillow, juice, orange, radio, rain, car, sleep, cat, dream, eat
Did they say that "sleep" was on list 1? Only pillow and dream were on list 1.
E. Move
• Activities
– Catch a ruler (& dollar bill)
– Trace a maze with left/right hand
Catch a dollar bill
•
Illustrate with a dollar bill trick
– It is easy to catch the dollar bill if you release,
– It is hard to catch if someone else releases it. Why?
•
Catching the bill is like the game, ‘Whisper Down the Lane’ only it all
happens inside the body.
1. The eye sees the bill drop.
2. The eye sends a message to the part of the brain that ‘sees’.
3. From there, it sends the message to the part that plans movement.
4. From there, it goes to the spinal cord.
5. The spinal cord sends a message to the hand/finger muscle.
6. The finger muscle contracts to catch the ruler.
•
Activity: see brain poster; see parts of brain in model
F. Brains & Models
• Activities
– See slides of rat brain (ppt & glass)
– See brains of different animals (doc & glass)
– See skull
–
G. Touch, Taste&Smell, Hearing, Balance
• Materials
– Brain model (show motor strip)
– Toothpicks (or anything to gentle touch skin)
– Ear
• Activities
–
–
–
–
Touch: Two point discrimination
Taste&Smell: jelly beans
Hearing: see eardrum (model & slide)
Balance:
Touch: two point discrimination
Kids work in pairs (instructor illustrates first)
• Instructions
– I will touch you with either one or two toothpicks, like this
– If you feel one, say one. If you feel two, say two.
– Keep your eyes closed
• Instructor touches tip & base of index finger: most likely kid says ‘2’
• Instructor touches same gap in the arm: most likely kid says ‘1’.
• Repeat with eyes open, so kids see that there is always two stimulus
• Interpretation
– there are more nerves in the finger than in the arm,
– There is a larger part of the brain devoted to feeling fingers than to feeling
arms (see homunculus)
Taste&Smell
• Instructions
– With eyes closed, plug your nose and pop a jelly bean in your mouth.
– Chew 5 times while holding your nose. What do you taste?
– Unplug your nose and keep chewing. What flavor do you experience?
• Interpretation
– The flavor of food depends on both taste and smell
– When you have a cold, food does not have flavor (no smell)
Balance
lllustrate the three sources of balance (vision, joints,
inner ear) by asking them to balance on a mattress
(no joints), after twirling (no inner ear), with their
eyes closed (no vision) or open (vision)
With eyes closed, they fall
Hearing
Healthy Eardrum
Ear Infection
SPARE SLIDES
Taste (no time for it)
• Taste and flavor are different. While you can
taste only 5 things – sweet, salty, sour, bitter,
fatty– you can identify thousands of flavors.
This is because your nose adds smell to taste
to create flavor. We will illustrate this by
eating some Jelly beans.
• • pink bumps