Module 6

Solution Manual for Introduction to Psychology 10th

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Perception
Perception of Faces
Introduction Perception of Images

A. Thresholds G. Research Focus: Unconscious

Becoming Aware of a Stimulus Perceptions
Becoming Aware of a Difference in Stimulus Can Perception Occur without Conscious
Awareness?
B. Sensation versus Perception
Basic Differences Concept Review
Changing Sensations into Perceptions
H. Strange Perceptions
C. Perceptual Organization Illusions
Top-Down versus Bottom-Up Processing Learning from Illusions
Organizational Rules ESP: Extrasensory Perception
Strange Perception Problems
D. Perceptual Constancy
Size, Shape, Brightness, and Color I. Application: Creating Perceptions
Constancy Creating Virtual Reality
Creating First Impressions
E. Depth Perception
Binocular (Two Eyes) Depth Cues Critical Thinking
Monocular (One Eye) Depth Cues
Summary Test
F. Cultural Diversity: Influence on
Perceptions Links to Learning
What Do Cultural Influences Do?
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MODULE ENHANCERS
A. Thresholds
Active Learning Exercise 6.1 Weber’s Law in Five Minutes

Discussion: What is an absolute threshold? Compare and contrast it with the difference
threshold.

Study Questions: Given what you know about Weber’s Law, if you were working in a store on
commission and a customer came in and said she wanted to buy two items, one small and
inexpensive and the other large and expensive, in what order should you show the items to
maximize your sale? Do you think $350 is a reasonable price to pay for an ordinary AM/FM
radio? If not, why is it likely that you have paid that much if you own a car? And why didn’t you
even notice that you had done this?

Critical Thinking Question: How does Weber’s Law apply to how old you perceive someone to
be?

B. Sensation versus Perception

Active Learning Exercise: 6.2 Sensation or Perception

Discussion: Ask who has seen an ultrasound image of a fetus in the womb. What did it look like?
How do doctors learn to make perceptions of this image?

Study Question: What would your life be like if your brain could receive sensations but could not
assemble them into perceptions?

Critical Thinking Question: What would your life be like if your brain could receive sensations but
could not assemble them into perceptions?

C. Perceptual Organization
Discussion: Discuss how IMAX theatres work visually.

Study Question: Why can you still read the message on a faded and torn billboard sign?

D. Perceptual Constancy
Discussion: Look across the room and with one eye and one finger, cover another person. How
can you do this? Why doesn’t that person look very small?

Study Question: The moon illusion is a natural illusion based on size constancy. The moon looks
smaller up high in the sky than it does near the horizon. Logic and a photograph will show that it
doesn’t really change size. Why do we see the moon illusion?

E. Depth Perception
Active Learning Exercise: 6.3 Binocular Vision
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6.4 Drawing Monocular Cues

Discussion: How do 3D movies work, and what would you see if you took off those glasses?

Study Question: Would a one-eyed pitcher have any particular problems playing baseball?

Inquiries for Student Learning: What are some of the most common monocular depth cues
found in movies that fool us into believing what we see is real?

Inquiries for Student Learning: What are some of the limitations in behavior that a person who
can only see out of one eye might experience?

F. Cultural Diversity: Influence on Perceptions

Discussion: Discuss an incident where two people perceived what happened very differently.

Critical Thinking Question: When foreigners visit the United States, what do you think they
perceive differently?

G. Research Focus: Unconscious Perceptions

Discussion: Ask what students have heard about subliminal perception or tried motivational
tapes.

Study Question: Could advertisers make an honest claim for subliminal tapes?

H. Strange Perceptions
Active Learning Exercise: 6.5 Testing for ESP
6.6 ESP Trick

Discussion: Psychologists love to study illusions. They are certainly fun, but often we get the
impression that they tell us we can’t trust our eyes. Of course, that is not true. Illusions are very
unusual events in the real world. So why do psychologists study them?

Discussion: Ask who has had an ESP experience. Could it be explained another way?

Study Question: What has to happen to our perceptual processes before we see an illusion?

Study Question: How could you test your friend’s claim of having had a psychic experience?

I. Application: Creating Perceptions

Active Learning Exercise: 6.7 Movement Detectors
Discussion: Ask who has played a virtual reality game or gone on a virtual reality ride.
Study Question: What do illusions add to our perceptions of the world?

ALE: ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISES

Name Type #

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Weber’s Law in Five Minutes Demonstration 6.1
Sensation or Perception Debate 6.2
Binocular Vision Demonstration 6.3
Drawing Monocular Cues Demonstration 6.4
Testing for ESP Experiment 6.5
ESP Trick Demonstration 6.6
Movement Detectors Demonstration 6.7

STUDENT PROJECT IDEAS

 Visit the websites of the James Randi Educational Foundation http://www.randi.org, the
Skeptic Society (http://www.skeptic.com), or the CSI (http://www.csicop.org) and write
a report on the use of the scientific method to study psychic phenomena.
 Write a research paper on cultural differences in perception.
 Do a presentation on the history of subliminal perception (from the 1950s to present).
 Do a presentation on the research methods of psychophysics.
 An artistic student could do a class presentation on how he/she creates the illusion of
depth on a flat surface.
 Write a research paper on how the illusion of depth & motion is created in art and
computer graphics.
 Visit and report on an experience with virtual reality.
 Review a journal article on a topic included in this module.

MOVIE ASSIGNMENTS
The Sixth Sense
A child psychologist tries to help a patient who sees dead people.
1. What type of ESP abilities did this little boy have in the movie?
2. What was the significance of the dropping of the ring?
3. What was the purpose of the little boy’s ESP?

What Lies Beneath

This movie is a thriller about the wife of a university research scientist who believes her house is
haunted. Her husband urges her to see a therapist, and the therapist suggests she try to make
contact with ghost she believes is haunting the house.
1. What was the perception of Michelle Pfieffer’s character’s accident before the awareness of
her husband’s infidelity?
2. What strong sensations of the spirit of the dead girl were in the house? Name three.
3. Do you believe that spirits with unfinished business communicate with those who are alive?
Why or why not?

ONLINE ASSIGNMENTS
This topic simply begs for the Internet. There are so many websites where students can see and
interact with various illusions that it would be a shame not to give them an opportunity to do so.
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The websites listed here can be considered a starting place. Each of them also has links to other
sites. The sites listed above can be used in class if you have Internet access or assigned as
homework.

1. This is also a good place for some of the skeptic material and demonstrations that are
described in the Module 1 material if you did not do them then. Both the Skeptic Society and
the CSICOP (Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) websites are constantly being updated with the
latest issues. Books, magazines and DVDs are also for sale at this site.
Go to http://www.csicop.org.

2. The site of the Skeptic Society can be found at http://www.skeptic.com. This site is also the
source of an enormous collection of podcasts from all the most famous skeptics from Michael
Shermer to Richard Dawkins.

3. There is also the website of the James Randi Educational Foundation; it includes a very high-
quality discussion board with many college students talking about these issues. Find this site at
http://www.randi.org. This is the organization that has the million-dollar challenge, where
anyone who claims to have any paranormal ability is able to demonstrate this ability for a
million-dollar prize under controlled scientific conditions. Needless to say, the money has never
been won. Under the leadership of famous magician, the Amazing Randi, this is the organization
that has the biggest annual conference of skeptics in the country. The full presentations from
these annual conferences are available on DVD from the site.

4. Build your students’ critical thinking skills with the Is It Real? series from the National
Geographic Channel. These programs are extremely well done and ask students to use their
thinking abilities to consider the evidence for and against common beliefs from Big Foot to UFOs
to vampires to ghosts to holistic medicine. This is a good place for class presentations done by
small groups on selected topics or for term paper reports after viewing one or more videos.
There is enough material in this series to actually make an entire course on critical thinking
skills. There is information and online video available at http://natgeotv.com/uk/is-it-
real/about, which has short clips from the programs that are suitable to show in class if you
have the facilities to do this.

WEB CONNECTIONS
http://www.grand-illusions.com
This interesting site contains a variety of optical illusions, scientific toys, and visual effects. It
also provides explanations of the illusions. If you wish to buy some of the toys, they are for sale
and would make great class demonstrations.

http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/sen_tut.html
This site contains several online tutorials on sensation and perception, including receptive fields,
perceptual constancy, and visual information in art.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/f_exhibits.html
This site highlights digital exhibits that involve auditory and visual perception, and the illusions
of our sensory perceptions.

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http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/
This is a very good site for a huge collection of popular illusions, which are also explained in
some detail. Many are animated. There are illusions of all types including reversible figures.

http://dragon.uml.edu/psych/illusion.html
This site has some of the standards but also a collection of animated illusions based on Gestalt
principles of grouping. There is a detailed explanation of how to make the Statue of Liberty
disappear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE
Welcome to one of the best YouTube videos for your class! This is an excellent one to show to
the entire class from beginning to end, but I like to stop it at the half-way point to ask them
what they have seen before I play the rest of the tape. Richard Wiseman is a British psychologist
who created this outstanding video that literally shows that we don’t always see what is right
before our eyes. This video can be used with this unit, or you might want to save it for when you
study attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZo
Here is an example of an artistic demonstration that will impress everyone. There is only a
musical accompaniment to this Ukrainian woman who uses nothing but sand to tell a whole
story. The video is actually rather long–over 8 minutes—but it is quite a demonstration of how
our minds create meaning.

SUGGESTED VIDEOS AND FILMS

The Brain Teaching Modules. 2nd Edition. (1998). Annenberg/CPB. VT: Multimedia Collection.
URL: http://www.learner.org
Module 9-Visual Information Processing: Perception (8:45 minutes)
The main point of this video is that visual perception is the end result of a complex set of
component brain processes mediated by different regions of the brain.
Module 10-Perception: Inverted Vision (5:04 minutes)
This video explains how the visual mechanism inverts images on the retina and then
interpretsthem right side up in the visual cortex.

Brain Story- New Frontiers in Brain Research (2000). Films for the Humanities & Sciences. URL:
http://www.films.com
This best-seller is from the BBC and has six-50 minutes segments that go beyond the biological
to explore how our brain perceives the world and how that might be why we rule it. The series
even delves into the issue of what consciousness really means.

Secrets of the Psychics with James Randi. (1993). Nova. URL: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/
60 minutes.

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In this video, the Amazing Randi spends time debunking a number of parapsychological
phenomena and demonstrating the P. T. Barnum effect. There is also discussion about why
humans want to believe in the supernatural. A thorough and fun presentation.

Sensation and Perception. (2001). Annenberg/CPB Collection. URL: http://www.learner.org

30 minutes.
From Zimbardo’s “Discovering Psychology” series, this video is an excellent adjunct to Module 6
(and Module 5) because many of the sensory and perceptual phenomena are demonstrated.
This video coordinates Modules 5 and 6 together.

Synesthesia: When the Senses Overlap. (2004). Insight Media. URL: http://www.insight-
media.com 50 minutes.
This video describes synesthesia, traces its appearance throughout medical history, and reviews
current explanations for this interesting phenomenon.

Understanding the Secrets of Human Perception. (2011). Insight Media. URL:

http://www.insight-media.com 30 minutes in each lecture in the series.
In this series of lectures, Peter Vishton of the College of William and Mary examines each of the
senses, how they work together, and reveals how the brain processes sensory information. He
discusses the anatomy and physiology of the sensory systems; considers how the brain
perceives motion, distance, depth, color, and light; and describes the development of sensory
and perceptual abilities.

CRITICAL THINKING STUDY QUESTIONS AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS

Study Question: How does Weber’s Law apply to how old you perceive someone to
be?
1. Need to Know: What specific information do I need to answer this question?
I need to know what Weber’s Law states and what a “just noticeable difference” is.
2. Defining Terms: Do I need to use my own words to define or review any terms?
I need to define just noticeable difference and Weber’s Law. Just noticeable difference (JND):
the smallest increase or decrease in the intensity of a stimulus that a person can manage to
detect. Weber’s Law: the amount of increase in a stimulus needed to provide a just noticeable
difference grows with the intensity of the stimulus.
3. Identify Key Words: Which words in the question hold the key to the best answer?
The key words are “how old you perceive someone to be.” When people are babies, just a few
months make a huge difference in how old we perceive them to be. As humans age, the increase
in time before someone looks older becomes longer; it may even be many years. For example, it
might take five or more years before someone of 60 looks older to us, while if we saw a child at
three it might take only six months before the child looks different. This follows directly from
Weber’s Law. If the person’s age is the stimulus, Weber’s Law says that the change in the
person’s age that we are able to notice increases with increase in intensity of the stimulus—that
is, as the person gets older.

Study Question: What would your life be like if your brain could receive sensations but

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could not assemble them into perceptions?
Possible Answer: Sensations are just the bits of information that we first become aware of from
an outside stimulus. The receptors have transformed the stimulus into a neural impulse that the
brain can understand. However, without perception, those neural impulses have no meaning.
For example, if you had no ability to form visual perceptions, you would be aware that
something was out there in the environment, but you would not be able to know or to tell
anyone what it was. If you lost all your perceptual abilities, you would be extremely
disadvantaged; in fact, the world would cease to have meaning. You would be unable to form a
relationship with the world.

Study Question: When foreigners visit the United States, what do you think they
perceive differently?
Possible Answer: It is very difficult to answer this question because the way we perceive our
own world is invisible to us. However what is normal in one culture may be abnormal in another.
For example, it may seem weird to us that women in India cover their heads. But, to Indians, it is
the custom. So to answer this question, we have to step outside ourselves and our culture. The
new visitor might notice that American teenagers are more heavily monitored by their parents
than teenagers are in Europe. It is normal in many European countries for adolescents of 16 to
smoke, drink, and dance the night away (with no curfew) at the local discos.

INQ: INQUIRIES FOR STUDENT LEARNING

Question: What are some of the common monocular depth cues found in movies that
fool us into believing that what we see is real?
Possible Answer: One of the most common techniques is the use of models. Whenever you see
a building being blown up or a space ship, chances are you are looking at a model that is much
smaller than the actual object would be. However, movie technicians must ensure that their
models do not violate the principles of relative size, light and shadow, texture gradient, and
atmospheric perspective. Even small violations can remove the audience from the fantasy that
the movie technician is trying to create. Movies such as Titanic and Independence Day made
extensive use of models. If you can’t tell what is a model and what isn’t, the movie technicians
did their homework on monocular depth cues.

Question: What are some of the limitations in behavior that a person who could only
see out of one eye might experience?
Possible Answer: People who can see out of only one eye cannot use binocular depth cues to
perceive depth. They would not be able to watch a 3D movie and perceive depth, or look
through a stereograph and perceive depth. However, they would be able to use all monocular
depth cues since we need only one eye to perceive these. In typical everyday situations,
monocular depth cues are enough to accurately perceive depth. There are some situations that
binocular depth cues may be relied upon more than monocular depth cues, thus, creating
limitations for these individuals. One particular difficulty is driving at night.
Unfortunately, we cannot rely heavily on monocular depth cues at night, such as the relative
size of trees and other cars. Driving can also be a problem on bright, sunny days, but in that
case, a good pair of sunglasses is indispensable.

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SUGGESTED ANSWERS TO CRITICAL THINKING IN THE
TEXTBOOK: TASTE SHAPES? HEAR COLORS? SMELL SOUNDS?
1. The two types of brain scans that measure the activity of neurons during sensory experiences
are the fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) and PET (positron emission
tomography).
2. No. An illusion is a perceptual experience in which you perceive an image as being so strangely
distorted that, in reality, it cannot and does not exist. Synesthesia involves not only having visual
sensations but also experiencing two different sensations triggered by the stimulation of one
sense.
3. The more associations we make with information we are trying to store in our memory, the
more likely we are to remember it well. People with synesthesia activate multiple areas of
their brain when experiencing sensory information. This leads to making more associations
with these experiences and likely improves ability to recall information later.
4. The dendrites receive the electrical signals from the sensory organ and later send the
information through the axons to reach the specific area of the brain that experiences a
particular sensation. In cases of synesthesia, the axons likely take signals to two areas of the
brain: one where it is supposed to go and another where it shouldn’t be sending information.
This process may explain why these people experience multiple simultaneous sensations after
only one sense is stimulated.
5. The temporal lobe is involved with hearing, and the occipital lobe is involved with vision.
More specifically, the auditory association area in the temporal lobe transforms basic sensory
information, such as sounds, into recognizable auditory information, such as words. Also, the
primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe receives electrical signals and transforms these
signals into colors.
6. The biological approach examines how our genes interact with our environment to influence
many abilities, including the processing of sensory information.

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ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE 6.1
Weber’s Law in Five Minutes
Purpose: Understanding
Format: Demonstration
Equipment: Two identical envelopes; a few coins
Time: Five minutes
Instructions: Find a student who is wearing substantial shoes and is willing to take them off.

Place the shoes on a table. Place one coin in one envelope and two in the other. Ask the student
to hold out his/her two hands with both palms up. Place an envelope on each hand, being sure
that the student does not know which one has one coin and which has two. Ask if he/she can
tell which one is heavier. If he/she can’t, add another coin to the envelope with two coins. Keep
adding coins until the student volunteer can easily identify the heavier envelope. Explain that
you are finding this person’s JND (just noticeable difference) for weight of coins.

Once you know this, place the same envelopes each in one of the two shoes, without letting the
volunteer see which one went into which shoe. Explain that you are adding the weight of the
shoes to the weight of the coins. Now place the shoes on the student’s hands. Ask if he/she can
tell which one is heavier. Remember that he/she shouldn’t know which one went in which shoe.

Once you add the weight of the (presumably identical) shoes to the weight of the envelopes,
he/she won’t be able to do it. You can then elicit from the class the actual meaning of Weber’s
Law.

It is useful to follow this demonstration with a class discussion that basically shows why this is
worth knowing. One way is to find students who have sales jobs where they work on
commission. Suggest that they want to sell two items to one customer, an expensive one and a
cheap one: Which should they try to sell first in order to increase the chance that the customer
will buy both items? I also ask whether they believe that $350 is a reasonable price to pay for a
regular AM/FM radio. They typically think this is a high price and most would be unwilling to pay
that amount. Then ask them if they own car with a radio. If so, they have already spent that kind
of money on a radio. Why? Because of Weber’s Law; they didn’t even notice the price of the
radio when buying the expensive car.

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ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE 6.2
Sensation or Perception
Purpose: Critical Thinking
Format: Small Groups
Equipment: Handout
Class time: 25 minutes
This activity is an exercise in evaluating and applying new information. It consists of 19 figures
that students are asked to evaluate using the content of Modules 5 and 6. Some are more
indicative of sensation (direct input), while others (illusions) are more indicative of perceptual
processing (seeing more than is present).

1. This exercise is a good introduction to perception after Module 5 (Sensation) has been
completed.
2. The exercise can be used in small groups (2-4) or done individually.
3. Give each group a copy of Handout 6.2.
4. Instruct them to decide which is more likely an example of sensation (ask them to write
an S over it) and which are more perception (ask them to write a P over those). When
they decide perception, ask them to explain what the illusion is, and what is producing
it.
5. Once completed, ask the entire class what was their reasoning behind their decisions.
The answers may vary, but the thinking process is what is most important here.

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HANDOUT 6.2

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ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE 6.3
Binocular Vision
Purpose: Concepts
Format: Groups
Equipment: Two exact acetates of the Demonstration 6.1 sheet;
copies of Demo 6.3 and Response 6.3 Sheets
Class time: 15 minutes

Purpose: This activity will help students understand the relationship between structures of the
eye and their functions. Students are often curious about single-image random dot stereograms
(SIRDS). This activity gives them an opportunity to look at a SIRDS and postulate about why they
work.

This activity is also a good “ice breaker” for the class, since some students will perceive depth
from the SIRDS very quickly, while others will struggle.

Instructions: Ask students to stare at their own Demonstration 6.3 sheet to try to solicit a three-
dimensional image of a knot. Here are some helpful tips:
 Focus slightly off center.
 Try to cross your eyes then uncross them slowly.
 Place a shiny piece of material, such as acetate, over the image and focus on your
reflection on the acetate.
 Focus the left eye on the left margin and the right eye on the right margin of the page.

Students can also visit http://www.vern.com/uk_sirds.html to view Peter Chang and Gareth
Richards’ collection of SIRDS, which are sometimes more readily viewed from a computer screen
that automatically produces glare.

Place both acetates on an overhead projector directly on top of one another and correctly
aligned. Shift one horizontally. This should produce a swirling in the middle of the SIRDS,
convincing students who cannot see the image that at least something exists within the pattern
of seemingly random dots.

Have students work individually or in groups to answer the questions on Handout 6.3.

Answers to Response Sheet:

1. Depth is perceived in SIRDS because of retinal disparity (two slightly different images are
actually presented). Crossing the eyes can make the disparity in the two pictures more
noticeable.
2. Both sides of the brain are needed to perceive depth in a SIRDS. One image is brought to the
brain by one eye and the other image by the other eye. The two images are integrated by both
hemispheres of the brain, creating the perception of depth.

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3. Some people have a hard time getting each eye to process different pictures. People who can
see out of only one eye, or people who have undergone a “split-brain” procedure, would not be
able to perceive depth from a SIRDS.

DEMONSTRATION 6.3 BINOCULAR ILLUSION

This Escher Knot was created by Peter Chang and Gareth Richards. This image and more of their
SIRDS can be viewed at http://www.vern.com/uk_sirds.html.

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HANDOUT 6.3
BINOCULAR VISION
Try to answer these questions about single-image random dot stereograms (SIRDS).

1. SIRDS are created when two sets of random dots are imposed over one another. Which
binocular depth cue or cues do you think you use to perceive depth from a SIRDS? Why?

2. Which side of the brain do you think enables people to perceive depth when looking at
SIRDS?

3. What do you suppose is one reason why some people can perceive depth in SIRDS very easily
but some people find it very difficult?

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ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE 6.4
Drawing Monocular Cues
Purpose: Critical Thinking
Format: Individual
Equipment: Handout and Crayons
Class time: 15 minutes or homework
Purpose: Using this activity, students should increase their knowledge of monocular depth cues
by combining their own creativity with book information.

Instructions: Ask students to create their own drawing that illustrates at least two monocular
depth cues. Have them label each monocular depth cue that they’ve chosen to incorporate.

If a document camera is available in your classroom, you can show some of the pictures to the
class. Otherwise, some of the pictures can be copied to acetates for class viewing.

Most of your students will enjoy the opportunity to express their creativity with monocular
depth cues!

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HANDOUT 6.4
DRAWING MONOCULAR CUES
Instructions: Use the space below to draw a picture that incorporates at least two monocular
depth cues discussed in your book or lecture. Label the monocular depth cues in your drawing.

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ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE 6.5
Testing for Extrasensory Perception
Purpose: Research Methods
Format: Groups
Equipment: Zenar Cards Handouts
Class time: 30 minutes

This exercise allows students an opportunity to use some of their creativity and research skills in
assessing the existence of ESP. Students often refuse to believe any research but their own in
the case of ESP. You will enjoy the creative ways students devise to test ESP.

Instructions:
1. Assign students to groups of four to six.
2. Give each group one deck of Zenar cards (50 cards) per group of students. [To make
Zenar cards, copy the following page onto thick paper or cardstock (so that the image
does not show through) and cut.]
3. Give each person Handouts 6.5a, b, and c.
4. You can have students do this in class or outside of class, but allow class time for a
discussion of the results.

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HANDOUT 6.5a

Testing for ESP

Group Members’ Names:

In your group, find a way to run tests of telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition, using the
deck of cards you have been given. For each test, you should do two trials of 10 guesses each:
subjects should guess the type (circle, waves, square, plus sign, or star) of the cards. Record your
guesses for each trial on the chart below.

Telepathy
Trial # 1
Correct Incorrect
1
2
3
4
5
6
Card Number

7
8
9
10

Trial # 2
Correct Incorrect
1
2
3
4
5
6
Card Number

7
8
9
10

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HANDOUT 6.5b
Clairvoyance
Trial # 1
Correct Incorrect
1
2
3
4
5
6
Card Number

7
8
9
10

Trial # 2
Correct Incorrect
1
2
3
4
5
6
Card Number

7
8
9
10

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Precognition
Trial # 1
Correct Incorrect
1
2
3
4
5
6
Card Number

7
8
9
10

Trial # 2
Correct Incorrect
1
2
3
4
5
6
Card Number

7
8
9
10

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HANDOUT 6.5c
Results
Because there are five types of cards, you have one chance in five of getting a correct answer.
Out of each group of 20 guesses, you should get four correct. Thus, at the chance level, you
should get approximately 20% correct.

% correct
Telepathy
Clairvoyance
Precognition
Overall

Besides being due to ESP, your results could have been influenced by several other factors,
including subliminal cues. Describe one possible source of subliminal cues in the experiment
that you just performed.

Describe one control measure you would impose, if you were doing the experiment again, to
control for the possibility of the subliminal cues that you described above.

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ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE 6.6
ESP Trick
Purpose: Critical Thinking
Format: Demonstration
Equipment: Dictionary
Class time: 20 minutes
This is an excellent demonstration that will have your students rethinking their ability to
critically think. You must be willing to fool your students for a short period of time and also be
willing to explore your acting abilities. The demonstration leaves your students convinced that
you just used mental telepathy to obtain the word that they just randomly selected from the
dictionary. What you have done (besides using some expert acting to fake it) is use the
mathematical law below. You convince students that they need to you give a random number,
but then must reverse and subtract it to make it truly random. Then you have them go to the
page, etc., of that number as described on the next page. You are in fact directing them to one
of nine words. Then you use a few questions to narrow down the words to the one they chose.
If you play it up, you will convince maybe half the class. When you finally tell them, the lesson
on the value of skepticism and critical thinking will remain with them always.

It is a mathematical law that if you take any three-digit number (as long as the first digit is larger
than the last) and reverse it and subtract it from itself, the remainder will always be one of the
nine numbers listed below.
099
198
297
396
495
594
693
792
891
990

845
- 548
297

271
- 172
099

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Module 6
ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE 6.6
1. The night before class, go to the nine pages in the dictionary that correspond to the nine
numbers on the previous page. Go to the left-hand column of each page and count
down the number of words that correspond to the last number of that page (e .g., count
down 6 words if the page is 396). Write down all nine words and arrange them by
number of syllables or some other grouping. Bring the list (or memorize it) and that
same dictionary to class.
2. Tell the students that they are currently testing you at your or your local university and
that you have demonstrated some limited abilities in ESP particularly mental telepathy.
You must play this seriously to be convincing. Tell them you are going to have them pick
a random word out of a dictionary and you will try to read their thoughts to receive the
word.
3. Ask for two volunteers - one to give you a random number and the other to look up the
word in the dictionary. Make sure your students realize that these students are not your
plants. Tell both students to get out a piece of paper so they can write things down for
the class to see. “I will now turn and face the board/wall so that I do not receive other
cues from any of you.”
4. Tell the first student to “pick any three-digit number as long as the first digit is larger
than the last.” (Remember the number is going to be subtracted from itself and you
don't want negative numbers) Tell the student to write the original number down and
show it to the class.
5. Now tell the student that to make this truly random and to eliminate any bias, he/she
must reverse the number and subtract it from itself. Tell him/her to write down the new
random number and show it to the class. Ask if the subtraction was correct, as half the
time students will get the wrong number, and your trick is ruined.
6. Now tell the student with the dictionary to go to the page of the random number. When
there, tell him/her to go the left-hand column of that page and look at the last digit in
the random number. Tell that person to count down that number of words from the top
of that column. “That word is the target word. Write it down and show it to the class.”
7. Now you turn around and face them. Act it up here, but narrow down the word choices
as you don’t know which of the nine words they have. Tell the students that you are
getting conflicting signals and that you need to ask some questions. The easiest way is
to ask how many syllables the word has and then guess what the first letter is. A couple
of guesses, and you will know what word they have.
8. Then really play it up. Make a few wrong attempts to make it believable. Give some
images associated with the word to surprise the students as some will be associating
similarly. Write the word slowly on the board, etc.
9. You might then go into why most psychologists are skeptical about ESP, including the
large amount of fakes in the area. Then tell them you are one of these fakes. Wanting to
believe can make you less critical of a phenomenon.

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Module 6
ACTIVE LEARNING EXERCISE 6.7
Movement Detectors
Purpose: Application
Format: Demonstration
Equipment: Spiral enlarged to 18 inches and
mounted on cardboard; Turntable
Class time: 15 min.

This is a simple and quick demonstration that helps students experience firsthand the operation
of visual movement detectors that are in the cortex not in the retina. It can also help students
understand the difference between perception and sensation in visual processing.

Instructions:
1. Make an 18-inch diameter, spiral pattern by enlarging the figure on the following page.
(Your college may already have one.) Mount it to cardboard and drill a small hole in the
center so you can mount it, like a record, on a small turntable.
2. To get the best effect, the spiral should be viewed head on, so have students move
toward the center of the room.
3. Rotate the spiral for about 60 seconds, so that the spiral appears to be receding from
them. Tell students to look straight forward and not let their eyes move.
4. After 60 seconds, tell the students to look at you. You will look as if your head is
expanding or exploding. (If you rotate the spiral in the opposite direction so that the
spiral appears to be expanding for 60 seconds, the students will see your head
shrinking.)
5. Explain to your students that when the overstimulated inward-movement detectors
stopped firing, the outward-movement detectors began firing for a few seconds,
creating the dramatic illusion that your head was expanding (or the opposite if the
motion is reversed).
6. To demonstrate that this is a cortical and not a retinal phenomenon, have students view
the spinning spiral with only one eye and then look at your head with the other. Because
the retina that saw the spiral was not the same as the one that saw your head, the
effect had to take place in the brain.
7. If you prefer to use the Internet to accomplish this demonstration, you can find a
rotating spiral at http://www.technorama.ch/en/information/miscellaneous/online-
experiments/spiral-after-image/. Pull up this site and display the rotating spiral through
the projector.

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