Running head: THE CONCEPT OF ADAPTATION 1

Sensory Adaptation Experiment

Aspects of Psychology
American InterContinental University
November 20, 2013

THE CONCEPT OF ADAPTATION 2
Process and Results of Each Experiment Experiment 1 with Sandpaper- After rubbing my index finger on the very coarse sandpaper a few times, I would rate the coarseness on a scale of 7 (very coarse). This experiment gave me a tingling feeling in my finger. After a minute or so from resting my index finger, I ran the same index finger on the sandpaper and found that it wasn’t as coarse as the first time. I would rate its coarseness at a 3 which led my finger to not react to the paper as much as the first time. So I feel that my senses adapted to the coarseness of the sandpaper. Experiment 2 with Sugar Water and Fresh Water- I took one cup and put two teaspoons of sugar in with fresh water and stirred it. In the second cup I only put fresh water in it. I then took the cup with sugar water in it and took a sip and swished it around in my mouth. I noticed that I could feel my taste buds were stimulating but after a few seconds they became less stimulated. When I had tasted the fresh water and swished it around, I noticed that I tasted a hint of salt. It surprised me because I wasn’t expecting to taste salt beings that I didn’t add any to the water. So I believe that the fresh water had more of an affect over the sugar water. Experiment 3 with Cold, Hot and Lukewarm Water- I placed three bowls on the table. In the right bowl I added cold water. In the right bowl I had added very hot water and in the middle bowl I added lukewarm water. I placed my right hand in the bowl on the right and