4.0339 Sensation v. Information; Handedness and Memory (2/35)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 31 Jul 90 23:12:31 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0339. Tuesday, 31 Jul 1990.
(1) Date: Tue, 31 Jul 90 08:34:55 EDT (22 lines)
From: Frank Dane <FDANE@UGA>
Subject: Sensation v. Information
(2) Date: Mon, 30 Jul 90 21:26:26 EDT (13 lines)
From: Germaine Warkentin <WARKENT@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: left-handedness
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 90 08:34:55 EDT
From: Frank Dane <FDANE@UGA>
Subject: Re: 4.0329 Queries: GRAMCORD; Simtel; E. Journals; On Poems
re: Higley's inquiry on the difference between sensation and information.
Yes, there is a distinction. Sensation is what occurs at the sensory
cell level (yes, I recognize the tautology). The biochemical processes
that convert pressure to neural impulse (ears, skin) and convert light
to neural impulse (eyes) falls under "sensation." Information is what
is stored in memory (even if only short-term memory) after the process
of perception. Perception is the process of converting the sensory
signal into meaningful units; interpreting the sensory signal.
Your retinal cells react to the edges and tilt of the letters you see
befor you on the monitor. Perceptual processes, many of which
are learned, enable you to interpret these edges and tilts as letters,
which you further interpret as words. What you store in memory as a
result of the perceptual process known as "reading" is information.
Presumably, what you do with that information reflects knowledge.
Frank Dane, Psychology, Mercer University
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------23----
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 90 21:26:26 EDT
From: Germaine Warkentin <WARKENT@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: left-handedness
Oh dear. I always remember students' faces. And their life histories.
And their marks. I cannot remember their names (which I have piously
learned) at all. Lately I have had trouble remembering _anybody's_ name.
I am female and left-handed, and if I don't get off this machine in a
minute my spouse will allege yet once more that I am a computer junkie.
Is there perhaps something I should know?
Germaine Warkentin
(WARKENT@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)