Purchase Solution

Weisel's 1981 Nobel Lecture: Empiricism vs. Rationalism

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

In Weisel's 1981 Nobel lecture, he reported research performed on cats and monkeys by depriving visual experience from these animals from birth. The animals failed to develop basic visual perception and only recovered very slightly after the deprivation had ended. However, he also noted that some basic visual processing capabilities were present at birth even without visual experience with the world. Do the findings support empiricism or rationalism? Why?

Purchase this Solution
Solution Summary

This solution discusses how Wiesel's lecture on visual cortex supports empiricism.

Solution Preview

Empiricism vs. Rationalism

Empiricism believes that sense experience is the main source of our knowledge. Rationalism believes that a significant source of our knowledge is derived from other sources, such as innate or biology, that is ...

Purchase this Solution
Free BrainMass Quizzes
Brain and behaviour

Reviews areas of the brain involved in specific behaviours. This information is important for introductory psychology courses.

Piaget's Theories on Development

Do you know all about Piaget's theories on development? Find out with this quiz!

Role of Memory in Learning

This quiz addresses the role of memory in the learning process. The quiz differentiates between the different types of memory that facilitate learning.

Theories of Work Motivation

This quiz tests the student's understanding of the major theories of work motivation from an organizational behavior perspective.

Motion Perception

This quiz will help students test their understanding of the differences between the types of motion perception, as well as the understanding of their underlying mechanisms.

View More Free Quizzes
Related BrainMass Solutions

  • Ethics of Weisel's research

    Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1981-1990, Editor-in-Charge Tore Frängsmyr, Editor Jan Lindsten, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1993 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1981/wiesel-lecture.pdf - Swiss Academy

  • Rationalism and Empricism

    For example " It is snowing outside" Here you can find a complete explanation of Rationalism vs Empiricism: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rationalism-empiricism/ And for more information on the individual philosophers (Descartes, Spinoza

  • The limits of empiricism and rationalism

    231444 Empiricism vs. Rationalism Hello. I need assistance with regards to validating the following statement: -Neither Empiricism nor Rationalism represents a satisfactory solution to the problem of knowledge.

  • Determinism, empiricism and rationalism

    This solution discusses determinism, empiricism and rationalism.

  • Scientific Method for the Mind (Empiricism vs. Rationalism)

    628392 Scientific Method for the Mind (Empiricism vs. Rationalism) What are some of the major differences between Empiricism and Rationalism?

  • How Kant reconciles rationalism and empiricism.

    During the Enlightenment, the debate between rationalism and empiricism was represented by philosophers like Rene Descartes (rationalism) and John Locke (empiricism).

  • Theories of Knowledge

    Let's look at each of these theory (rationalism, metaphorism and empiricism) a little closer. 1.

  • Does reason play a primary role in knowledge?

    Empiricism claims that the source of knowledge is experience while rationalism claims it is the intellect. Rationalism is examined here with special reference to Plato and Descartes. The weaknesses of rationalism are also discussed.

  • Scientific Methods: Philosophical Underpinnings

    The most apt philosophical position that is de-facto in ethnography therefore is a compromise between rationalism and empiricism where rationalism is defined as a position or judgment based on reason.

View More Related Solutions