Module 25: Psychology for the AP Course

Kinesthesis

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

Vestibular Sense

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

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.

Sensory Interaction

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

Olfaction

our sense of smell

Synesthesia

The stimulation of one sense (such as hearing a sound) triggers an experience of another (such as seeing a color).

Chemical Senses

refers to the senses of taste (gustation) and smell (olfaction), as they both detect chemical compounds in the environment through specialized receptors in the mouth and nose respectively, allowing us to perceive flavors and odors; essentially, they are the senses that respond to molecules in the air we breathe or food we eat

Pheromones

chemical signals secreted by an organism that trigger specific behavioral responses in other members of the same species, essentially acting as a form of chemical communication used to influence behavior without conscious awareness; often related to reproductive cues and social interactions.

Gustation

sense of taste

Tastes

sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami (savory)

Oleogustus

the taste of fat

Taste Receptors

chemical receptors on the tongue that decode molecules of food or drink to identify them

Tasters

"supertasters," are highly sensitive to taste; they have twice as many taste receptors as "nontasters," who are relatively insensitive to taste.

Touch

refers to the sense that allows us to perceive pressure and temperature applied to our skin, encompassing sensations like pressure, pain, cold, and warmth, and is considered one of the five basic senses

Tounge

the muscular organ located in the mouth that is primarily responsible for the sense of taste

Phantom Limb Syndrome

the perception of sensations, including pain, in a limb that has been amputated