Discussion Questions
- There are a number of myths that exist about the sensory capabilities of infants. How would you design a study to determine what the true sensory capabilities of infants are?
- A well-documented phenomenon experienced by millennials is the phantom vibration of a cell phone when no actual text message has been received. How can we use signal detection theory to explain this?
- What physical features would an organism need in order to be really good at localizing sound in 3D space? Are there any organisms that currently excel in localizing sound? What features allow them to do this?
- What issues would exist with visual recognition of an object if a research participant had his/her corpus callosum severed? What would you need to do in order to observe these deficits?
- Many people, upon learning about inattentional blindness, try to think of ways to eliminate it, allowing themselves complete situation awareness. Why might we be far worse off if we were not subject to inattentional blindness?
- If inattentional blindness cannot be eliminated, what steps might you take to avoid its consequences?
- Can you think of situations in which inattentional blindness is highly likely to be a problem? Can you think of cases in which inattentional blindness would not have much of an impact?
Privitera, A. J. (2018). Sensation and perception. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. DOI:nobaproject.com
Simons, D. (2018). Failures of awareness: the case of inattentional blindness. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. DOI:nobaproject.com
