Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

the path of light through the cornea, ilirough the lens, and finally its focusing on the retina. After the fovea is pointed out. the functioning of the rods and cones is explained as they are shown in a drawing. This sequence concludes by showing that pigments can be extracted from the retina in the laboratory. Next, the film explains that the sense of touch consists of at least four other senses. Animated drawings show that when the tip of the finger touches a hot iron, the pain endings, touch, heat and cold, and pressure all send their messages, which trigger a reflex action as well as continuing to the brain. Dr. Baxter explains that the sensation of pain is important; it alerts a person when injured and helps to locate the point of injury. The film continues using animation to show the functioning of the semicircular canals in the inner ear, as Dr. Baxter tells how a series of sensory responses work together to help keep one's sense of balance. Also, slowmotion scenes of a cat dropped from an upside-down position show how it twists itself to land upright. The setting for the next sequence is "under the big top," as the film tells of the senses used by the various circus performers as they do their acts. .Ani mation shows the little nian at the master receiver of the brain as he throws the switches necessary for an aerialist to accomplish the proper physical responses while swinging through the air and grasping the waiting hands of his partner. The film now begins a presentation of evidence to substantiate the statement that the brain interprets visual images through past experiences. Trapezoiilal windows that are revolving appear instead to be moving back and forth because the windows are not rectanglar as one expects them to be. A distorted room looks normal making the size of boy and man in the room appear abnormal. The distorted room looks normal because it looks like what it is expected to be. Professor Hadley Cantril, who has pioneered in this research at Princeton University, explains that one acts in terms of what one has learned to expect from past experiences. Next, the film shows Dr. Baxter demonstrating that the electroencephalograph can measure electrical impulses that reach the human brain. Then the film duplicates the McGill experiment, showing that people who were subjected to extreme and prolonged monotony by cutting off their senses from all stimuli soon developed hallucinations. A uniilar result may be produced by the monotony of such (asks as truck driving and aircraft piloting. Dr. Baxter also mentions that scientists are studying such questions as what happens to men in the monotony of the .Antarctic "white-out" and what is the "rapture of the deep." The film next shows that man has extended his senses with such developments as the field-ion microscope, satellites broadcasting information, bathospheres, and stratosphere balloons. Nevertheless, regardless of how much man extends his senses, he must still depend on the ones he has always had. Finally, the film shows that experiences brought to the brain through the senses are recorded there for a lifetime. Dr. Wilder then presents his findings when he stimulated the surface of the temporal lobe of the human brain of his patients with an electrode. Recordings of the actual words of the patients are heard as they speak of experiences that happened in the distant past. The film concludes with Dr. Baxter telling that scientists are beginning to understand the senses more and more and to realize how remarkable they are. .Appraisal The evaluating committee feels that C.nleways to the Mind continues the 9m|' M\. ROCKETS: PRINCIPLES AND SAFETY elementary-junior high film one reel — color, $110; b/w, $55 SATELLITES: STEPPING STONES TO SPACE elementary-junior high film one and one-half reels — color, $170; b/w, $90 Preview Piiiils Availnble Frotii FILM ASSOCIATES OF CALIFORNIA 1 052 1 SANTA MONICA BLVD. LOS ANGELES 25, CALIFORNIA EdScreen & AV Guide — January, 1959 33