Brannon Lab Number Game Study

In the Number Game study in the Brannon Lab, I completed several tasks involving numbers, arithmetic, and deciding which group of abstract quantities had more or less. In the first task, I had to decide if the three numbers presented on the screen were in increasing order or not. This task was at first very simple, but the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) varied between 1, 3 and 5 seconds and not surprisingly with a short time between stimuli, the task increased in difficulty. I then had to do the same task except this time, instead of numbers, I was deciding between abstract quantities represented by a splatter of dots. At this point in the study, I was thinking to myself that the experimenter was testing perceptual priming, or where my exposure to a repeated stimulus would influence my subsequent response to the next stimulus. 

A sample arithmetic problem

I then completed an arithmetic task, which involved adding or subtracting as many sets of numbers I could in the given time frame. After I completed this task, I realized the importance of only testing right-handed individuals, as the number pad on the keyboard is constructed for use with the right hand. A left-handed individual’s final score could be a bit skewed due to his lack of ability with the right hand.

Although I still think priming could have had an effect on my responses, the purpose of the study was actually to see if there would be a positive correlation between an individual’s arithmetic ability and an underlying ability to quickly distinguish between abstract amounts.

Group Experience

I am very glad that my two partners were Sonia and Allie. They both made a significant contribution to my group experience. I didn’t know them very well at the start of the year and through the project and class, we became friends and I’m glad that we now hang out both inside and outside the classroom.

Reflecting on the actual project, I think I must say that although the movies we chose were not the most entertaining, my group members and I tried to make the most of it anyway. We laughed and joked about the movies and one time even made popcorn from raw corn kernels to eat while we watched. The three movies my group and I chose (pictured below) were Bicentennial Man, E.T., and Frankenstein.

 

There were times while working on the project, where I didn’t feel like I was on the same page as my partners. Fortunately though, they took the time to explain their thoughts/ideas to me and gave consideration to my input as well. This project taught me that creativity, cooperation and sharing of ideas are important for success in a group environment. It was good preparation for similar group assignments I may find myself assigned to in the real world.

Dog Social Cognition

Posing for the camera

For as long as I can remember, I've had a keen interest in and have been fascinated by my dog’s social cognition. When I was 10, my family got our first dog, an eight-week-old Golden Retriever. She is the cutest dog in the world and I named her Caramel after her golden brown coat.  She has been my best friend ever since and even inspired me to want to become a veterinarian. 

Growing up with her, I have always been intrigued by her ability to communicate. She lets me know her intentions and she understands much of my commands, gestures, and body language. I taught her many new behaviors, starting with the usual commands like "sit," "stay," "come," and "shake" and then games like fetch and even hide ‘n’ seek. Teaching her to play hide ‘n’ seek, I went and hid, with a treat in hand, and then called for her to come look (or sniff) for me. After a short time, she figured out that after she waited, I would call for her, letting her know that it was time for her to search.

I also performed many cooperative communicative experiments with her. She performs excellently on the pointing task, which involves me hiding food in one of two places and indicating to her (by pointing where it is hidden), where I hid the food. As I soon figured out, she represents her species well in that she only understands pointing with my hand. If I indicate where the food is with a novel cue, such as pointing with my foot for example - not something she typically sees - she has a difficult time understanding my gesture. 

Please see the video below for "What do dogs understand?" - A short segment on Dr. Brian Hare of Duke's Canine Cognition Center.

 

What is it like to be a Bat?

Nagel in the classrom

Thomas Nagel made several intriguing and thought-provoking arguments in his essay “What is it like to be a Bat?” In this essay, Nagel attacked physicalism, or the theory that all facts are physical facts, where facts are defined as propositions or states of affairs. For example, the proposition that "I am in pain" is about the state of affairs of my being in pain. If physicalism is true, then all facts about the mind, such as my state of being in pain, are made true by physical states of affairs. However, Nagel argues that some facts, for instance, what it’s like to be an organism (in this case, a bat) are characterized by the subjective nature of the experience - not their objective nature.

Funny cartoon - Nagel's argument in a nutsehll

I liked that he chose bats as his primary example because bats use of echolocation as a means to orient themselves in their environment, navigate, find food... etc. is rather unfamiliar to us. As humans, Nagel argues that we can’t conceptualize what it's like to be a bat because the subjective character of experience (ie. sensing the world through echolocation) is only accessible by a single point of view (ie. the bat). As humans attempt to characterize the experience scientifically, or in objective terms that are accessible from many points of view, we move way from the subjective character of the experience. In other words, he argues that the subjective nature of what it is like to be a bat cannot be explained by science or in a way that humans can understand. Nagel thus concludes that physicalism, or everything that exists is no more than its physical properties, is false.