AP Psych Myers unit 4: p. 133- 150

Sensorineural hearing loss

Nerve deafness; hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor hair cells or to the auditory nerves

Volley principle

Neural cells can alternate firing

Vestibular sacs

Connect the semicircular canals with the cochlea; contains fluid that moves when your head rotates or tilts

Helmholtz

Created the place theory

Auditory nerve

Send neural messages via the thalamus to the temporal lobes auditory cortex

Nociceptors

Sensory receptors that detect hurtful temperatures pressure or chemicals

Eardrum

Separates the outer ear from the middle ear; A tight membrane that vibrates with the waves

Gate- Control theory

The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The "gate" is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain

Pitch

The tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency

Kinesthesis

The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Phantom limb sensations

When the brain misinterprets the spontaneous central nervous system activity that occurs in the absence of normal sensory input

Pain

Your body's way of telling you something has gone wrong

William Stokoe

1960 book called 'Sign Language Structure' showed that sign is a complete language with its own grammar, syntax, and meanings

Cochlea

A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses

Cochlear implant

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea

Umami

Flavor enhancer monosodium

Condition hearing loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts soundwaves to the cochlea

Place theory

In hearing, Helmholtz's theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated; presumes we hear different pitches because different sound waves trigger activity at different places along the basilar membrane

Frequency theiry

In hearing, associated with Békésy, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense it's pitch; can explain how we perceive low-pitched sounds

Sound waves

Jostling molecules of air, each bumping into the next

Hair cells

Lines the surface of the basilar membrane, movement triggers impulses in the adjacent nerve sells; damage to these account for most hearing loss; interpret loudness

Semicircular canals

Look like a 3D pretzel; contain fluid that moves when your head rotates or tilts

Rubber-hand illusion

One looks at a realistic rubber hand while their own is hidden. If an experimenter simultaneously touches your fake and real hands you will likely perceive the rubber hand as your own

Endorphins

Our natural painkillers

Tinnitus

People with hearing loss experience phantom sounds- a ringing- in- the- ears sensation

Melzack and Wall

Psychologists who came up with gate-control theory: the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate"

Auditory cortex

Receives neural messages from the auditory nerve allowing us to hear

Amplitude

Strength of sound waves

Middle ear

The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window

Inner ear

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

Basilar membrane

The layer of inner ear which separates the two fluid filled tubes of the cochlea

Frequency

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given a time

Sensory interaction

The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste

Vestibular sense

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

Audition

The sense or act of hearing

Synaethesia

The senses become joined, where one sort of sensation produces another. Thus hearing music or seeing a specific number may activate color sensitive cortex regions and trigger a sensation of color

Outer ear

Visible part of the ear that channels the sound waves through the auditory canal to the eardrum

McGurk effect

We may perceive a third syllable that blends a syllable we see with one we hear

Olfaction

When breathing, the resulting experiences of smell