Author: Maddie Van Beek

I’m guessing you all know that most people are either right-handed or left-handed. The people in the world who use both hands equally are ambidextrous. This is pretty rare. If you are truly ambidextrous, you are a part of the 1 percent of the population who has equal left and right-hand dominance. The majority of the population is right-handed (about 70-90 percent). 


Have you ever heard anyone refer to being right-brained or left-brained? We have two hemispheres of our brain. As you can see in the diagram below, your right hemisphere controls your left side and your left hemisphere controls your right side.

Based on split-brain studies on people who had their hemispheres separated for epileptic treatment in the ‘60s, scientists determined that right-brained people were more creative, while left-brained people were more analytical and detail-oriented.

While you probably recognized whether you were right or left-handed at an early age, you might not know that you can also be right-footed, left-eyed, or left-eared! How do you figure out your sidedness?  


Try this!


YOU WILL NEED:

• Paper
• Writing utensil
• Paper towel tube
• Cup of water
• Ball

HERE’S WHAT TO DO! 

1. First, test your eye! Which eye do you use to wink? Which eye do you use to look through the paper towel tube? Record your results. 
2. Hold your hands out at arm-length and create a circle with your fingers. Look through the circle at a distant object. Now, close your left eye. Open it and close your right eye. Did your view ever change? If it changed when you closed your left eye, you are left-eyed; if your view changed when you closed your right eye, you are right-eyed. Record your results. 
3. Which hand do you use to write your name? Pick up a cup of water? Throw the ball? Record your results. 
4. Kick the ball. Which foot did you use? Run and take a leap. Which foot did you leap off of? Record your results. 
5. Analyze your experiences. Are you more left or right sided? Where you left sided in some situations and right sided in others? 

Now, find out whether your friends are left or right sided! Test as many people as possible to get more accurate results. A larger number of test subjects is more representative of the population you are testing. 



Let’s try some new objects to test with! 



YOU WILL NEED:

• Paper
• Writing utensil
• Paper towel tube
• A coin
• A phone

HERE’S WHAT TO DO!

1. First, create a data table to record your results. Put hand, foot, eye, and ear down the left side of your table and your participants names across the top. Your table might look something like this: 

2. Ask your participant to do the following, and record the results in your table as they complete the tasks. 


3. Tell your participant to write their name. Which hand did they use? 


4. Place a coin on the floor directly in front of your participant and ask them to step on the coin. Which foot did they use to step forward? 


5. Ask your participant to pretend to answer the phone. Which ear did they use to “listen?” 


6. Tell the participant to look through the paper towel tube at a distant object. Which eye did they use to look through the tube? 


7. If you have time, continue testing! What other objects or experiences would help you determine sidedness? 


FINALLY!


Take a look at your results! Time to get analytical. What did you find? What do those numbers mean? Is right-footedness associated with right-handedness? Were some people a mix of left side dominance and right side dominance? What might this mean? Report your results in an informational paragraph or create a visual. 




References

• http://www.apa.org/monitor/2009/01/brain.aspx
• http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-dominant-side/
• http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/dominantside.html
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brain-myths/201206/why-the-left-brain-right-brain-myth-will-probably-never-die
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/19/right-brain-left-brain-debunked_n_3762322.html
• http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/split-brain/splitbrainexp.html

Author: Maddie Van Beek

Imagine hearing your favorite song and seeing the color purple, eating a turkey sandwich and seeing yellow, or seeing red whenever you feel alarmed. As wild and unreal as this sounds, these kinds of experiences actually happen to some people! There is nothing wrong with you if you have these unique color associations--you just have synesthesia. 



What is Synesthesia? 

Synesthesia is a condition that causes you to experience some senses simultaneously. A very common form of this trait is to always see specific letters or numbers as a certain color. For example, I might always view the letter A as green, B as blue, C as turquoise, etc.



Learn more about synesthesia HERE. 



Read about Carey’s real-life experience with synesthesia. 



Here’s a video demonstration of how synesthesia works for people who “see” sound. Notice that specific colors are accentuated with certain sounds:

How do you know if YOU have synesthesia? Let’s try something out! 




YOU WILL NEED:

• Test card 1
• Test card 2  

HERE’S WHAT TO DO!

1. Take a look at Test card 1 

What did you notice after looking at the first test card? If you’re like me, you identified the red numbers immediately without having to really search for them. Your eyes are just drawn to the difference in color right away, and it didn’t take any effort to “find” the red numbers.




2. Now check out test card 2 

What was different about your experience with test card 2 versus test card 1? 

If you DON’T have synesthesia, you would have found it more difficult to identify the differences in numbers. Sure, you could do it, but it just took a little more time. This is because all the numbers were the same color, so your eyes had to work a little harder to identify the differences. 




If you DIDN’T have any trouble identifying the differences and the numbers were just as clearly separate as they were in test card 1, then you probably have synesthesia! Remember, this is NOT a disorder or a bad thing to have--you just experience the world a little differently!




Now that you understand the synesthesia testing process, try testing out your friends and family members!




Your goal is to determine whether your participants have synesthesia, but also to identify whether certain letters or numbers are associated with certain colors for most people. This may be a cultural phenomenon and would be interesting to discover! For example, if the majority of your participants associated the color red with the letter F, you might infer that that reaction relates to an F letter grade written in red pen. Of course, you would only create this association if your cultural background includes that experience. 




YOU WILL NEED

• Test card 1
• Test card 2
• Paper
• Writing utensil
• Computer (optional) to make a table

HERE’S WHAT TO DO!

1. Just as you already did yourself, show your participant test card 1. Have your participant point out all the numbers that are different from the majority. 
2. How long did it take your participant to discover the red numbers? Most people will be able to point them out immediately. Ask your participant how difficult it was to identify the red numbers. Record the response. 
3. Now, have your participant look at test card 2 and identify the numbers that are different. 
4. What was your participant’s reaction to test card 2? Did it take longer to identify the numbers? Ask your participant whether it was more difficult, less difficult, or the same level of difficulty to identify the numbers that were different in test card 2 versus test card 1. 
5. If your participant answers that test card 2 was the same difficulty or less difficult than test card 1, he/she likely has synesthesia!
6. Repeat steps 1-5 for as many participants as you would like to use. The more participants you have, the better your results will be! It is always more accurate to use  more participants, as a larger number will be more representative of your population. 
7. Make a table to report your test results. You may use paper and writing utensils or use your computer. Word or Excel would work well. Your table might look something like this: 

8. If you did not find that any of your participants had synesthesia, that’s ok! Less than 0.5% of people have this unique trait, so your chances of finding someone who has synesthesia are pretty slim.



Extension: What colors do people associate with numbers?

This is an interesting study to complete, even if none of your participants had synesthesia. You might find out that people commonly relate certain numbers to certain colors. For example, people might commonly associate the number 1 with blue or gold, as first place ribbons are blue and first place medals are gold. Test it out!


HERE'S WHAT TO DO!

1. Generate a random list of numbers.
2. Read the number and have your participant say the first color that he/she thinks of. Record the responses.
3. Repeat step 2 for each participant.
4. Generate a second list using the same numbers, but in different order. 
5. Repeat step 2 and 3 with this new list.
6. Analyze your results--did your participants create the same associations in the second round as they did in the first? Did the participants come up with the same associations as each other?
7. Create a table to organize your results. Your table may look something like this:

8. Finally, make inferences about why certain colors were associated with certain numbers for most people. 





References

https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/syne.html

http://www.education.com/science-fair/article/color-numbers-letters/

http://www.refinery29.com/synesthesia-video

http://www.livescience.com/169-rare-real-people-feel-taste-hear-color.html

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” you’ll hear people say.  You probably have your own memories too, like what you ate for breakfast, or what you did on your last birthday.  Our memories are very important; they help us learn at school, recognize our friends and family, and even find our way around.  But just what are memories, and how do we get them?

Memory is one of the things our brains do for us: they take information from all around us and store it so we can retrieve it (get it back) at a later time.  The part of the brain mostly responsible for our memory is called the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped ridge of tissue buried in the middle-lower part of the brain (it would be near the base of your skull, behind your eyes).  People who have damage in this part of the brain cannot form new memories, so despite its being pretty small, it’s very important!

So how good is your memory?  Well, let’s find out!  Go get a piece of paper, a pencil, and a stopwatch.  Take a look at the objects below for 30 seconds (be sure to use a stopwatch or a clock with a second hand so you only get 30 seconds)!  Try to memorize all the different objects you see here.  When 30 seconds is up, scroll down so you can’t see the pictures anymore, and write down all the items you can remember.   Don't cheat by looking at the pictures!!

Now from the list below circle the two items that were in the picture.

1.      Eggs

2.      Slide

3.      Coat

4.      Hat

5.      Guitar

6.      Shoes

7.      Books

8.      Banana

9.      Bell

10.    Radio

Did you list books as being in the picture?  Take a look at the picture again; books are not one of the objects (the two that were in the picture were the slide and the guitar)! 

How did that happen?  All of the items in the picture are things you see at school, so your memory categorized the picture as being of things you see at school.  So when you saw the word books, your memory decided that is also something you must see at school, and so it must have been among the items in the picture.  This is called a false memory, and it happens when our memories cause us to believe we saw or experienced something that did not really occur.   (Don’t worry, false memories like these are not dangerous, and are not a sign of any problems with your memory!)

TEST YOUR FRIENDS WITH A FEW MEMORY CHALLENGES!

Challenge #1: Memory Test

Here’s what you’ll need:

1.      A lunch tray, or a small table

2.      A towel or a sheet

3.      Paper and pens for all your friends

4.      A stopwatch, timer, or a clock with a second hand

5.      15-20 different items

 


Here’s what to do:

1.      Place all the items you selected on the tray or table, and cover them with the towel.

2.      Invite your friends to stand around the table, and uncover the items.  Allow 30 seconds to look at the objects and try to memorize them.

3.      After 30 seconds, cover the objects again and hand out pens and paper.

4.      Ask everyone to write down the objects they remember.

After everyone has finished, allow your friends to look at the items again. 

Were there any items that all your friends remembered?  Were there any that nobody remembered?  Write down items that were either easy or hard to remember.

Challenge #2: False Memory Test

Here’s what you’ll need:

1.      Pens and paper for all your friends

2.      A timer or stopwatch

3.      The lists of words below*

List 1*: read, pages, letters, school, study, reading, stories, sheets, cover, pen, pencil, magazine, paper, words

List 2*: house, pencil, apple, shoe, book, flag, rock, train, ocean, hill, music, water, glass, school

Here’s what to do:

1.      Read List 1 aloud to your friends.

2.      Wait 5 minutes.  Be sure to set a timer!

3.      Pass out paper and pens.

4.      Ask them to listen to the next list, and write down which words they remember from List 1.

5.      Read List 2 aloud.  Allow everyone to write down the words they believe they heard on List 1.

6.      Read List 1 aloud again. 

How many people thought “book” was on List 1? 

This is a false memory (only “pencil” and “school” were on List 1)!  Be sure to let them know false memories aren’t dangerous!

MAKE UP YOUR OWN MEMORY TESTS!

·         Try having your friends walk around a room for 30 seconds.  Then have them leave the room, and you make some change, like remove something or turn something upside-down.  Let them re-enter the room and see how many people notice the change.

·         Make up your own lists of words like the ones you used for Challenge #2, or groups of pictures like those on pages 2 and 4.  See if you can create a false memory!

REMEMBER:  Always be sure to write down all your observations!

*These lists were created by Eric H. Chudler, PhD.  For more memory tests created by Dr. Chudler, please visit Neuroscience For Kids at https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chmemory.html

Take a close look at the picture below.  How many different colors do you see?

You might have said three: one shade of green, and two shades of red. 

Actually, there are only two colors: one shade of green, and one shade of red!  If you find this hard to believe, look at the close-up picture below of where the two red lines cross.

Why do these colors look so different in the first picture?  This is an example of an optical illusion, an image in which the things you believe you see are different from what is actually there.  In the above case, this is a color and brightness illusion:  the color of the red squares appears darker when they are surrounded by the green squares and lighter when they are surrounded by the white squares.  Your perception of the shade of red is being affected by the surrounding color, creating the illusion that the two stripes are different shades. 

Optical illusions can usually be divided into four types: ambiguous illusions, distorting/geometrical illusions, paradox illusions, and fiction illusions.

1)   An ambiguous illusion is one in which the picture may be viewed as one of two or more different images, depending on your perception.  Often you may see both, as your brain switches between the two.  For example, the duck-rabbit illusion below may be viewed as a duck, or a rabbit.

Another good example of an ambiguous illusion is the Rubin Vase illusion, which may be viewed as a vase, or as two faces coming close together.

2)  A distorting/geometric illusion is one which your perception of the length, size, or curvature of an object is not an accurate representation of reality.  A wonderful example of this is the “Café Wall” illusion, as seen below.

The horizontal lines appear slanted, but they are all parallel to each other!

Another example is the Ponzo Illusion. 

In this illusion, the parallel lines running from the top to the bottom of the picture appear to be converging on a point, telling the brain that the yellow line at the top of the image must be further away.  If it is further away, it must be larger than the one at the bottom of the image, which appears closer.  The reality however, is that both the yellow lines are the same size!

3)  A paradox illusion is one in which the perceived picture is not possible in reality.  The Penrose triangle is one example.

Here it appears that a solid triangle is formed, but one side of the triangle appears to be going away from the viewer, and the other side angled towards the viewer, with the bottom perpendicular to view (i.e. not going toward or away from the viewer).  In reality, making a solid triangle this way is physically impossible. 

The drawings of the artist M. C. Escher display many paradox illusions beautifully.  To view some of his works, we recommend visiting the M.C. Escher Official Website, as well as the M.C. Escher page from Artsy.net.

4)  A fictional illusion is when an image is perceived in a picture, even though that image is not really there.  A good example is the Kanizsa Triangle, shown below.

Why do our minds fool us this way?  There are several explanations as to why optical illusions exist. 

First, perceptual organization:  our minds are constantly trying to make sense of the world around us, and to do this they must organize incoming information into a meaningful whole.  This is called Gestalt organization (ref).  Gestalt organization can explain many illusions, including the Duck-Rabbit and the Rubin Vase illusions: our minds perceive the whole, but switch back and forth between the duck and the rabbit, or the vase and the faces.  It can also explain the Kanizsa triangle, in which the mind perceives triangles by filling in lines within the empty space.

A second explanation of optical illusion is depth and motion perception.  In the Ponzo illusion, the lines at the top of the picture appear further away than they are at the bottom of the picture.  If this is true, the yellow line at the top is further away, and thus must be larger than the one at the bottom.  However, our minds forget that this picture is not really three-dimensional—it is only two dimensional.  As such, the lines are really the same size.

Third, as we discussed previously, the perception of color and brightness may make two objects that are the same color and shade appear to be two different shades, as in the red square example from before.

EXPLORE THE WORLD OF OPTICAL ILLUSIONS:

There are many more illusions, and more explanations of how they fool us.  Try looking up a few more illusions, and the explanations of how they work.  Here are a few to start with:

1)      The Hering Illusion

2)      The Shepard Illusion

3)      The Ebbinghaus Illusion

4)      Pinna’s Illusory Intertwining Effect

5)      Illusory motion

References for further research:

1.       Optical illusion. Wikipedia.  2014, March 31.  Retrieved 3-31-2014.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_illusion).

2.       What is an Optical Illusion?  Optics 4 Kids.  Retrieved 3-31-2014.  (http://www.optics4kids.org/home/content/illusions/)

3.       Richard G. (1997) Knowledge in perception and illusion. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B  352: 1121-1128.

4.       Eagleman, D. M. (2001) Visual Illusions and Neurobiology. Nature Reviews Neuroscience.  2(12): 920-926.

5.       Purves, D., Lotto, R.B., Nundy, S. (2002) Why We See What We Do. American Scientist 90(3): 236-242.

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GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2:  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License_1.2