1. Psychophysics is just plain boring. Why is it so prominent in psychology?

When you put on some fragrance before a date, how much do you put on for the desired effect? How much sugar is too much for your coffee? Why do you sometimes hear the phone ringing in the shower but it is never really ringing when you get out to answer? These are all practical problems in living that relate to the human body’s ability to process incoming stimuli, the basis of psychophysics. From basic processing through the world of illusion, psychophysics tells us a lot about how the brain helps us adjust and thrive in the world.

Penn and Teller and even David Copperfield certainly think so! Illusions help explain the power of “top down” processing--how our expectations shape our experiences. Just remember, the lady never really gets sawed in half!

Pain is an intricate sensation. It appears to be magnified by our attention and minimized through distraction. If you were busily engaged in something else at the time of the injury, then the pain signals were effectively blocked. But the sight of blood makes you focus on (and maybe exaggerate) the pain signals you begin to process fully. These principles are the basis of childbirth education and explain how women can learn to tolerate and manage powerful pain impulses.

We process depth cues from a number of sources. The discrepancy that two eyes viewing the world is one strong source of depth perception, but it isn’t the only one. Your Dad probably relied quite a bit on his two-eyed view of the world when he initially learned to drive, but he could use other cues, such as relative size, interposition, motion cues, and others to help him avoid accidents. Think of depth perception as something we accomplish through multiple systems. The loss of one system doesn’t condemn our ability to function.

All those good tastes you experience at an excellent meal have more to do with the air in your nose than the buds on your tongue. When air passage is blocked from a good cold, you are forced to rely only on the sensory input from your tongue. Life would be pretty muted without this ability. Unfortunately, there are people with anosmia who go through life with a very diminished sense of taste just as though they have a permanent cold.

Great question! We don’t know the answer to this one yet. But it appears that tickling is an exquisite example of how complex sensation and perception is, even sensations and perceptions of what can make you laugh.

Even without extensive training in art appreciation, you can develop a better understanding for what artists attempt to do just by applying the principles. How does the artist accomplish depth? How do the colors compliment or contrast with one another? How realistic is the perspective? How does the artist rely on producing a “whole” from the various pieces of the work?