San Antonio College Library

University of California psychologist and researcher Lawrence D. Rosenblum explores the astonishing abilities of the five senses, abilities few of us even know we have. Drawing on groundbreaking insights into the brain's neuroplasticity and integrative powers, including findings from his own research, Rosenblum examines how the brain uses the subtlest information to apprehend the world. A blind person, for example, can "see" through batlike echolocation;...

Ever wonder why some people have difficulty recognizing faces or why food found delicious in one culture is reviled in another? The author ponders these and other surprising facts in this book. From when stimuli first excite our senses to the near-miraculous sense organs themselves to the mystery of how our brain interprets senses, he explains the complex phenomena of how we see, feel, taste, touch, and smell. He takes us through the history of sensory...

Chris Packham explores the remarkable ways animals use their senses. Focusing on dogs, he discovers how their powerful sense of smell creates a bizarre alternative reality.

Research suggests that color or no color can be used strategically to change how consumers feel about a product.

The star sommelier of The Bernardin has his famous nose put to the test by neurochemist Terry Acree. How sophisticated can our sense of smell get? Aldo Sohm oversees a 15,000 bottle wine collection made up of 900 wine selections from 12 countries with vintages from as early as 1875. Terry Acree is Professor of Food Science at Cornell University. His laboratory is interested in why there is such a functional variation in taste and olfaction that has...

Psychologists like Max Luscher believe the secrets of peoples' personalities are revealed in their color choice. David Lewis investigates claims made regarding color psychology.

Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche discusses sensory deprivation with R. Clay Reid, Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard, comparing its use as means of stimulating the brain (as in Bon and Buddhist 'dark retreat practice') with its use as a torture practice. "Dark retreat" (mun mtshams) is apowerfulmeans in which special circumstances--both physical and psychological--are created in order to enhance particular meditation and yogic practices. This form of solitary...

A collection of short fiction addresses issues of race, identity, and politics, in the title story about an anti-apartheid activist and academic who pursues questions of his own racial identity, and thirteen other stories.

This program discusses the development, organization, and functions of the nervous system and the input organs that stimulate it. Beginning with an introductory overview of neural anatomy, the video outlines the organization of the central and peripheral nervous systems and the processes of sensation, transduction, and perception. In addition, the senses of vision, hearing, taste, smell, and equilibrium are analyzed, as well as sensitivities to temperature,...