Sensation, Perception and the Aging Process

At the start, he acknowledges that he is a biological psychologist. Thus, these lectures focus on the physiology of our senses.

The discussion of touch brings about the "terrorist" aspects of our society. Young children need a lot of physical touch. However, day care providers are paranoid of liability ad molestation charges, and are thus reluctant to give it. With kids stuck more hours in day care, this can lead to them growing up with a messed up psychological state. Hmmm... And that could lead to them being the people we were scared of in the first place. Ahh, the vicious circle.

The discussion of possible hearing and seeing problems are scaring. Those pesky cars hurting our hearing! Why can't we live in a nice quieter life. As for seeing, well, at least I am lucky that m ocular degeneration is actually improving my vision - at least for now.

There were also plenty of other useful tidbits. Women have a better sense of smell than men - and they tend to lose it at an older age. Smell is actually a very powerful identification sense that has, alas, been hidden away in our society.

These was a well delivered course with many great bits of physiological insights in to human senses and their degradation through aging.