Psychology Lecture: Sensation and Perception (Hearing, Taste, Smell, Touch, and Body Senses)

Vocabulary flashcards covering the auditory system, pitch theories, sound localization, hearing impairments, gustation, olfaction, touch, kinesthesis, and vestibular senses.

Audition

The sense of sound production.

Sound Waves

The physical stimulus for audition, consisting of vibrations of molecules travelling through the air.

Frequency

The wavelength measured in Hertz ($Hz$), representing the number of cycles a sound wave travels per second.

Pitch

The perceptual experience of sound wave frequencies.

Amplitude

The loudness of a sound wave measured in decibels ($dB$); high amplitude waves are perceived as louder.

Timbre

The purity of a sound wave.

Pinna

The outer ear structure that funnels soundwaves to the eardrum.

Middle Ear

The section of the ear where the eardrum acts as an amplifier; houses the hammer (malleus), anvil (inclus), and stirrup (stapes), along with the oval window and round window.

Round Window

A structure in the middle ear that balances pressure.

Cochlea

An inner ear structure containing the basilar membrane (neural tissue), the organ of Corti command post, and $25{,}000$ hair cells.

Auditory Perception Pathway

The pathway where sound vibrates middle ear bones, the stirrup hits the oval window of the cochlea, fluid is set in motion, hair cells are stimulated by basilar membrane movement, and physical stimulation converts to neural impulses sent through the thalamus to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobes.

Tonotopic Organization

The specific structural mapping between the basilar membrane and the auditory cortex.

Place Theory

The theory that cell activation in a specific location on the basilar membrane produces our perception of pitch, with higher frequencies detected near the oval window and lower frequencies further along the basilar membrane.

Frequency Theory

The theory that the cell firing rate produces our perception of pitch, where higher firing rates correspond to higher pitch and lower firing rates correspond to lower pitch.

Interaural Time Differences

A binaural cue for sound localization based on sound reaching the closest ear first and the distant ear second.

Interaural Level Differences

A binaural cue for sound localization based on sound being more intense in the closest ear and less intense in the distant ear.

Barn Owls

Animals identified as masters of nocturnal hunting due to their sound localization abilities.

Conductive Deafness

Deafness resulting from damage to the middle ear; can be helped by hearing aids.

Sensorineural Deafness

Deafness caused by damage to the inner ear or auditory nerve; cochlear implants may help with inner ear damage, but not auditory nerve damage.

Noise Induced Hearing Loss

Permanent damage to hair cells in the ear canals resulting from exposure to sounds that are too loud or last long; once damaged, the hair cells cannot be repaired.

Taste Cells

Receptor neurons located on taste buds that sense taste.

Papillae

Little bumps on the surface of the tongue where taste buds are located; each bud contains $50\text{ to }100$ taste-sensitive cells.

Taste Pore

The location of taste-sensitive cells on the tongue where chemicals bind to receptor sites during transduction.

Taste Pathway

The route of gustatory signals: taste buds $\rightarrow$ neural impulse $\rightarrow$ thalamus $\rightarrow$ cortex.

Primary Taste Qualities

The five core taste sensations: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (savory).

Flavour

The combined food sensation that depends on odor, texture, temperature, and taste.

Olfaction

The sense of smell, initiated when odors (sample molecules of substances in the air) trigger receptor neurons in the olfactory membrane.

Olfactory Pathway

The sensory route: olfactory cilia $\rightarrow$ neural impulse $\rightarrow$ olfactory nerve $\rightarrow$ olfactory bulb (brain) $\rightarrow$ orbitofrontal cortex; does not go through the thalamus.

Touch (Skin Senses)

Sensation caused by physical stimuli (mechanical, thermal, and chemical energy) impinging on the skin; follows the pathway: sensory receptors $\rightarrow$ spinal column $\rightarrow$ brainstem $\rightarrow$ cross to opposite side of the brain $\rightarrow$ thalamus $\rightarrow$ somatosensory cortex (parietal lobe).

Free Nerve Endings

Receptors in the skin that detect temperature as well as pain; pain signals travel via two pathways (fast vs. slow), and the experience of pain is created in the brain.

Kinesthesis

The sense of knowing the position of the various parts of the body, monitored by receptors in the joints and muscles.

Vestibular Sense

The sense of equilibrium and balance, mediated by the semicircular canals.