Chapter 4: 4

Basic sensation combos

1) Heat- hot and cold 2) Tickle- pressure nearby 3) Itch- Pain repeated 4) Wet- cold and pressure repeated

Sensory interaction

2+ senses working together creating experience

Sensory adaptation

A decreased sensitivity to a stimulus after prolonged and constant exposure

Vestibular system

A set of liquid filled areas in inner ear that monitors heads position and movement to have balance

Explain the process and characteristics of smell perception.

Airborne molecules are detected by receptor cells embedded in the olfactory membrane of the upper nasal passage. Olfactory receptor cells are topped with tentacle-like protrusions that contain receptor proteins. There are 10 million to 20 million olfactory receptor cells. We have approximately 1,000 types of odor receptor cells, and we can detect 10,000 different odors.

Carpentered-world theory hypothesis

Growing up around a right angular world makes us more susceptible to illusions based on right angles.

Explain how massage is believed to alleviate pain.

Massage activates large nerve fibers to block the signals of the smaller nerve fibers

What are the basic sensations of touch? Which of these has its own specialized receptors?

Pressure, hot, cold, and pain. Only pressure has its own specialized receptors.

How can people study and watch tv at the same time?

Sensory adaptation, which occurs when we become less sensitive to some aspects of our environment, freeing us to focus on more important changes. Students can concentrate on their work even while monitoring the other stimuli for personal interests.

Explain how more brightly colored foods improve flavor for older people.

Sensory interaction is at work in this case. More brightly colored foods are perceived as having more flavor molecules, so the perception of taste is enhanced.

What are the basic taste sensations?

Sweet, salty, sour, savory, spicy, bitter

Selective attention

The ability to focus on some sensory while tuning out others

Perceptual constancy

The ability to perceive a stimulus as constant despite changes in sensation

Explain what happens in motion sickness and the role of the vestibular system in motion sickness.

The movement of the body is reported by the vestibular system-fluid in the semicircular canals and vestibular sacs is moving. eyes see little or no motion. current hypothesis about the cause of motion sickness is that the body perceives the reported disconnect between the eyes and vestibular system as due to a neurotoxin. Nausea is created to get rid of neurotoxin (gonna vomit)

Illusion

misleading vision or visual image, fools our perceptual process

gate control theory of pain

proposes that pain is determined by the operation of two types of nerve fibers in the spinal cord. Smaller nerve fibers carry pain from the body to the brain. Larger fibers designed to stop or start the flow of pain.

Propriception

sense of orientation or position allows you to locate a body part without looking at it. maintains posture and coordinate body movement. By specialized neurons

Mueller-Lyer illusion

the result of the failure of monocular depth cues—the bottom line looks like an edge that is normally farther away from us, whereas the top one looks like an edge that is normally closer. It may also be the case that people who grew up in a "carpentered" environment (one with many buildings, most of them dominated by right angles) would be more susceptible to it.