Assignment 3

Part A
1. Tasty Buds
I didnt discover any specific areas where different taste types
were stronger than others, although I did notice that the tastes were
stronger towards the tip of the tongue than towards the rear of the
tongue. Furthermore, I was unable to discern the taste blind-spot
discussed in the textbook, as it seemed that on all regions of the
tongue there was at least a faint taste. I estimate the number of taste
buds I have in a square centimeter to be around 200.
3. Sound Localization
The sounds were much more accurately localized at the close
distance of 5 feet as compared to the larger distance of 15 feet. Also,
the participant was much better at determining the distance and
location of the sound source when both ears were used than when one
ear was used. Furthermore, Louder sounds were localized with greater
accuracy than quitter ones on average.
5. 2-point discrimination
In my experiment, I found the fingertips to be the most sensitive
in my participant. The threshold differences mirrored The Skin Senses
data with the exception of the belly, which was noticeably above the
30 mm reported, and the forehead, which was also above the 15mm
reported. Considering that the fingertips possessed around 10 times or
more greater sensitivity than the foot, belly, arm, back, and legs, they
should be represented at a scale of around 10 times that of those
body parts mentioned. The lip, cheek and nose should be represented
at about half the size of the fingertips. This would produce an image
with a big fingers, large inflated facial features, and a small torso, arms
and legs, not unlike the one shown.
6. Dark Adaptation
Because I used quite a high powered flashlight, the light was
barely detectable initially at 16 cards, and then progressed to 18 cards
as I continued the experiment. I feel as though it took me roughly half
an hour to become fully adapted to the dark. Furthermore, I found my
visual acuity to be greater towards the periphery of my vision than in
the exact center of my vision.

Part B
Biting into a slice of lemon (instead of tasting lemon powder), I
successfully conditioned myself to salivate at the sound of a bell after
ten rounds of conditioning. The conditioned response was extinguished
successfully following the seventh 7 round in which the conditioned
stimulus was played repeatedly in the absence of the unconditioned
stimulus. In this experiment, the lemon slice is the unconditioned
stimulus, salivation that is prompted by that lemon slice is the
unconditioned response, the ringing bell is the conditioned stimulus,
and the conditioned response is the salivation that is elicited by the
ringing bell. One difficulty that occurred in conducting this small
experiment had to do with the ambiguities involved in determining
whether or not I was continuing to salivate when trying to extinguish
the conditioned response. After less than seven rounds, it became
clear that the effect was diminishing, but it was not entirely black and
white as to when I had completely stopped salivating. That said, in the
seventh round of playing the conditioned stimulus I felt as though I had
definitively stopped salivating.
In order to condition salivation to a new stimulus through a
process of higher-order conditioning, Id have to pair a new stimulus
with the ringing bell that served as the previous conditioned stimulus.
For example, because I used a sound file of a bell as opposed to ringing
a real bell, I had to click on the file to play the bell sound during each
round of conditioning. With sufficient repetition, perhaps the clicking
sound my mouse makes when opening the sound file could be paired
with the bell sound to serve as a higher-order stimulus, so that the
mere clicking of my mouse would produce the conditioned response, or
salivation.
Part C
Baseline
Target
Behaviour:
Going on
Facebook
When?
Where?
For how long?
What happened
immediately
beforehand?
What happened

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

While studying
for biology
At home
Half an hour
I began to lose
interest in the
materials I was
studying
I resumed

While studying
for biology
At home
20 minutes
I encountered a
difficult section

While studying
for biology
At home
15 minutes
I lost focus

I made dinner

I slowly began

immediately
afterwards?

studying but
regretted
wasting time

and then
continued
studying

studying again

Antecedent circumstances
One way in which the antecedent circumstances that lead to
my facebook browsing could be altered to reduce that habit
would be to alter my study habits so that I persist in studying
instead of losing momentum and focus. To not lose momentum,
I might consider a novel approach to studying such as breaking
down my study tasks into manageable portions divided up into
reasonable time slots in something like a personal planner and
sticking to a schedule that I have constructed.

Consequences
The consequences of my errant facebook browsing are usually
negative: it distracts me from the work that I need to do and
usually provides little benefit, and subsequently detracts from
the time I have for activities that I enjoy.

Alternative behaviours
The most alternate behaviour that I could substitute for
facebook browsing would be to continue with studying.

Reinforcements
Activities and personal rewards that could serve as
reinforcements to my continued studying as an alternative to
facebook browsing include activities that I enjoy; perhaps after
a period of an hour or so of studying without interruption I
could reward myself by playing with my dog or going for a bike
ride.

Punishments
As punishment for browsing facebook while studying, I might
deny myself access to my cell phone for the remainder of the
day.