Author: lhecht

  • A Sixth Sense?!

    Written by Stephanie Anderson, Kaylyn Leonard, Ronald Romero, and Jada Zevenbergen   Sight, touch, smell, taste, hearing … and spatial orientation? If you were asked, “how many senses do you have?”, most likely you would answer five: sight (vision), touch (somatosensation), smell (olfaction), taste (gustation), and hearing (audition); but did you know that we actually…

  • A Hands-Down Simple Illusion: The Aristotle Illusion

    Written by Taylor Carlson, Elizabeth Johnson, Marie Osuna, Katie Rhoten, and Madison Sinclair Tactile illusions refer to sensations that ​affect your sense of touch​. For example, if you are wearing rubber gloves while doing dishes, you may feel as if your hands are wet! This sensation might feel odd, but you aren’t crazy for feeling…

  • Aging and Two Point Touch

    Written by Sophia Redding, Sierra Weis, Hannah Rupp, and Hieu Trinh When we hear “two-point touch,” our initial thought is likely an object touching ourselves or another object at two separate points of interest. Frankly, that’s exactly what it is. The two-point touch technique measures the smallest distance between two points at which an individual…

  • Plant Blindness: Our Unintentional Disregard for Flora


    Written by Taylor Mac, Madisyn Plumhoff, Julie Terrone, and Lydia Brekke   “Plant blindness is the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own environment.” (Ro, 2019) Why Does ‘Plant Blindness’ Occur? Our brains detect differences in the world in a formidable fashion, favoring wildlife such as animals with higher rates of recognition than…