AP Psych - 15. Rest of Senses

Prosopagnosia 

• face blindness 

• deficit or abnormality in fusiform gyrus

Fusiform Gyrus

bottom of temporal lobes, direct neural pathway to occipital lobes

Sensory Interdependency

• senses are dependent on one another

• our full perception is dependent on interaction of senses we don’t usually use just one by itself

Visual Capture

sense of vision tends to override all other senses

Synesthesia

• a cross wiring of the senses

• means “to perceive together"               

• stimulation of one sense leads to the perceptual experience of another sense

Vestibular Sense

• sense of balance (equilibrium)

• regulated by semi-circular canals in ears 

• transduction occurs here

• filled with fluid that moves when your head rotates or tilts

Movement

• stimulates hair cells

• send a message to the vestibular nerve

• which travels to the cerebellum 

Kinesthetic Sense

• Body movement and position (coordinate movement) 

• proprioceptive sense 

Kinesthetic Sense Receptors

• muscles, tendons, & joints 

• processed in your cerebellum, somatosensory cortex, motor cortex 

Gustation

taste

Evolutionary Perspective

choose between good food vs. toxic food

Six Tastes

• bitter

• sweet

• salty

• sour

• umami – savory, meat flavor

• oleogustus – oily or fatty

Spicy

• not a taste

• it is a somatosensation (temperature)

Gustation Transduction

cranial nerve 7 - thalamus - gustatory cortex

Taste and Absolute Threshold

Transduction of Olfaction

odor molecules - olfactory bulb - olfactory nerve - olfactory cortex

Olfaction (Smell)

• ONLY sense that does not go through the thalamus

• olfactory nerve right by the hippocampus 

• many smells evoke powerful memories

Pheromones

chemicals secreted by one organism that are used to signal a response by another organism of the same species

• humans can’t detect

• plays a role in attraction, stress, emotions

• autonomic - triggers hypothalamus (drives - hormones, mood)

Somatosensation

• afferent neurons release neurotransmitter

• relay sensation to the spinal cord (Interneurons)

• thalamus

• somatosensory cortex (parietal lobe) 

• substance P is produced in brain to create pain signals

Pain

our brains alarm system

Gate Control Theory

• the spinal cord acts as a neurological "gate" 

• can block or allow pain signals to reach the brain

• “gate" is opened by pain signals traveling through the spinal cord