Is Dani a mutant?
We read in the textbook reading that sensory interaction is supposed to improve your sensitivity to what you are eating, because you can smell it. When you take away that sense of smell, it is supposed to inhibit your sense of taste a little as well. This makes sense to me, since smell, texture, and taste all influence what we taste overall.
Our findings during the taste station were a little contradictory to this teaching, though. When Dani was using both her sense of taste and her sense of smell to determine which flavor of jelly bean she was eating, she only got four out of the ten trials correct. When she had her nose plugged, she could identify seven out of the ten.
Perhaps she guessed more accurately without sensory interaction because she was able to focus more intently on the one sense that she was able to use, kind of like how blind people sometimes have an acute sense of hearing.
Or maybe Dani is too cool for sensory interaction?
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I'm not s mutant, I promise! I think your second theory is correct. The one that says, I was able to determine the flavor of the jelly bean more accratley because I was blocking one of my senses , so I was able to focus more on my sense of taste.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I absolutely LOVE your PSA. By far my favorite. Ashwaubenon is the place for me and you!
Besides the idea that Dani is possibly a mutant, the likely answer, I find it really intersting that you got these kinds of results. I don't think anybody in our class was able to guess more correctly with their nose pulgged rather than with most senses. I definately think that it's possible with her nose plugged her sense of taste was heightened. Or possibly Dreier's room was smelly and that smell interrupted her attempt to guess the jelly bean. However, it seems that Dani was the only one disturbed by this so it's not that plausible. She's probably just a mutant. =]
ReplyDeleteI think I would go with the mutant thing. Really, the sense of smell and sense of taste are so closely related that it wouldn't really make sense for the absence of one to heighten the sensitivity of another. On the basis of the whole 'blind person being able to hear better' thing, hearing and sight are in two totally different lobes. Because of this, there is the possibility of the sight taking over some of the brain space normally associated with hearing and vice versa. Because taste and smell are so closely related, there are no other brain regions for these senses to use in the absence of the other. I would definitely go with Dani is a mutant, though lucky guesses is more plausible.
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