Chapter 5: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Sensory Receptor Cell

Answer 1

specialized cells that convert specific form of environmental stimuli into neural impulses

Question 1

Sensory Transduction

Answer 1

process of converting specific environmental stimuli into neural impulses

Question 2

Senses and its Stimuli

Answer 2

Olfactory : Odorants
Gustatory : Chemicals
Somatosensory : Pressure of damage to skin
Auditory : Sound waves
Visual : Light

Question 3

Absolute Threshold

Answer 3

minimum stimulation necessary for detection

Question 4

Difference Threshold

Answer 4

minimum difference necessary for detecting the difference between two stimuli

Question 5

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 5

repeated stimulation of a sensory cell leads to reduced response

Question 6

Botton-up Processing

Answer 6

transducing environmental stimuli to neural impulses that move into more complex brain region

used for unfamiliar things

Question 7

Top-down Processing

Answer 7

perception processes led by cognitive processes, such as memory or expectation (perceptual sets)

Question 8

Olfactory sense

Answer 8

sense of smell

Question 9

Gustatory sense

Answer 9

sense of taste

Question 10

Path of olfactory signals

Answer 10

Olfactory bulb (first region where olfactory information reaches the brain on its way to the nose)

sent to piriform cortex (very plastic and changes to apart to different experiences)
amygdala and hippocampus

Question 11

How is smell related to learning

Answer 11

top down processing where people recognize a smell because of a memory associated with it.

learning about association between odors and experience influences our behavior to perceive sensory information in the future.

some smells trigger specific events (due to amygdala and hippocampus)

Question 12

Path of taste signals

Answer 12

taste receptor cells have no axons but have synapse with sensory neurons in tongue to sed info to brain

sent to thalamus and then to cerebral cortex

integrated with brain’s reward system

Question 13

Differences in sensitively to smell and taste

Answer 13

women are more sensitive to taste and smell than men for evolutionary purposes
women sensitivity heightens during ovulation. able to detect less things during menopause

3 groups of people- non taster (25%), medium taster(25%), super taster (25%)

Question 14

Ageusia

Answer 14

inability to taste

Question 15

Anosmia

Answer 15

inability to smell.

leading factor is head trauma

Question 16

5 receptors for touch

Answer 16

Free nerve endings- located near surface of skin. detect touch, pressure, pain, and temp

Meissner’s corpuscles- located in hairless parts. transduce info about sensitive touch

Merkel’s disc transduce info about light to moderate pressure against skin

Ruffin’s end-organ- located deep in skin. register have pressure and movement of joints

Pacinian corpuscles- buried deep in kin. respond to vibration and heavy pressure

Question 17

Path of touch signals

Answer 17

tactile receptors send info to spinal cord

info is relayed to thalamus

thalamus sends info to somatosensory cortex (in parietal lobe)

Question 18

2 pathways for pain fiber

Answer 18

fast pathway- for acute pain. myelinated axons to help us respond quickly with withdrawal reflex

slow pathway- burning pain. inputs communicate with brain regions to process emotions and thought about the pain

Question 19

Endorphins and Enkephalins

Answer 19

naturally-occuring pain killing chemical in brain. belong to class of opiates.

Question 20

Familial Dysautonomia

Answer 20

inability to detect pain or temperature

Question 21

Phantom sensations

Answer 21

hallucination of touch, pressure, vibration, pain, temp on parts of body that no longer exist

Question 22

Pathway of auditory signal

Answer 22

1. sound wave enters the outer ear and deflect the tympanic membrane (eardrum)
2. vibration of tympanic membrane cause ossicles (3 bones) in middle ear to move: hammer, anvil, and stirrup.
   stirrup hits the oval window
3. deflection of oval window cause a wave to be formed in fluid filled cochlea in the inner ear. deflects basilar membrane (covered with auditory receptors). the movements causes hair cells to bend, which transduce sound wave to electrical signals
4. nerves in cochlea send neural impulses to brain

Question 23

Two theory of how auditory system converts sound waves

Answer 23

Frequency theory- different sound frequencies are converted into different rates of firing in our auditory nerve.

Place theory- differences in sound frequency activate different regions in basilar membrane

Question 24

3 ways to localize sound

Answer 24

General loudness- loudness to assess distance (quiet = far) Loudness in each ear- ear closer ears a louder noise than other ear. good for detecting location of high frequency sounds Timing- differences in time at which sound waves hit each ear. sound wave will also hit each ear at slightly different part of wave cycle. good for low frequency

Question 25

Tonotopic map

Answer 25

representation in the auditory cortex of different sound frequencies

Question 26

Synesthesia

Answer 26

perceive sensations different than the one being activated "see" music or "hear" smell

Question 27

Tinnitus

Answer 27

ringing in the ear

Question 28

Retina

Answer 28

specialized sheet of nerve cells in the back of the eye containing the sensory receptors for vision

Question 29

Rods

Answer 29

photoreceptor most responsive to levels of light and dark more concentrated around the edge. helps w peripheral vision

Question 30

Cones

Answer 30

photoreceptor responsive to color more concentrated in the center

Question 31

Fovea

Answer 31

center of retina. containing only cones. where vision is most clear

Question 32

Optic Nerve

Answer 32

bundle of axons of ganglion cells that carries visual information from the eye to the brain

Question 33

Blind spot

Answer 33

where the optic nerve leaves the retina

Question 34

Pathway of light signals

Answer 34

light is transducer by photoreceptors in the retina (rods and cones), at the back of the eye signal excited the bipolar cell then the ganglion cell then gets transmitted to the optic nerve communicates with the thalamus and then sent to occipital lobe

Question 35

Three characteristic of color

Answer 35

hue- refers to wavelength of light that shows the color saturation- how pure and deep the color appears (how much white is mixed in the color) brightness- how much light is reflected from the visual stimulus

Question 36

Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision

Answer 36

that human eyes only perceive three colors of light: red, blue, and green. The wavelengths of these three colors can be combined to create every color on the visible light spectrum.

Question 37

Opponent Process Theory

Answer 37

color perception depends on the actions of three systems of color opposites: blue-yellow, red-green, and black-white

Question 38

2 Pathways of processing information about complex visual stimuli