Psych Week 10

Audition (Hearing) Overview

Sound transduction occurs within the specialized cilia (hair cells) located along the basilar membrane of the cochlea, which then transmit neural messages to the brain via the auditory nerve.

Place Theory of Hearing

A theory of pitch perception stating that the specific pitch we hear is determined by the exact location along the cochlea's basilar membrane that is stimulated, best explaining high-pitched sounds.

Frequency Theory of Hearing

A theory of pitch perception stating that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a sound wave, best explaining low-pitched sounds.

Sound Localization

The perceptual ability to identify the spatial origin or direction of a sound, calculated by the brain comparing tiny differences in the timing and intensity of sound waves reaching each ear.

Olfaction (Sense of Smell)

A chemical sense involving the detection of airborne odor molecules

Olfactory Neural Pathway

Transduced odor signals travel up to the olfactory bulb and bypass the thalamus initially to project directly to the frontal cortex and limbic system, only later routing back to the thalamus for further processing.

Gustation (Sense of Taste)

A chemical sense where food molecules dissolve in saliva and trigger transduction within specialized taste receptor cells clustered inside the tongue's taste buds.

Gustatory Neural Pathway

Transduced taste information travels from the taste buds directly to the thalamus, which then relays the signals to the primary and secondary taste cortices located in the frontal lobe.

Primary Taste Sensations

The four foundational taste qualities—sweet, sour, salty, and bitter—alongside a fifth confirmed savory sensation called umami, and a potential sixth receptor system for fatty acids.

Flavor

A complex perceptual experience created by the brain combining basic gustatory (taste) inputs from the tongue with olfactory (smell) inputs from the nose.

Skin Sensations

The cutaneous sensory systems embedded in the skin, divided into three distinct modalities: tactition (touch), thermoreception (temperature), and nociception (pain).

Tactition (Touch)

The physical sense of pressure and texture transduced by specialized mechanoreceptors embedded in the outer layer of the skin.

Tactile Neural Pathway

Information from skin mechanoreceptors travels to nerves in the spinal column, ascends to the thalamus, and is ultimately processed in the parietal lobe's primary somatosensory cortex.

Touch-Influenced Impressions

Research demonstrating how incidental physical touch sensations (such as holding a warm vs. cold drink or feeling rough vs. smooth textures) unconsciously bias social judgments and interpersonal impressions.

Thermoreception

The sensory system utilizing specialized thermal receptors embedded in the skin to detect changes in heat and cold.

Perception of Hot vs. Cold

Cold is experienced solely when receptors for decreasing temperatures are stimulated, whereas hot is experienced either when rising-temperature receptors are stimulated or when both rising and decreasing temperature receptors fire simultaneously.

Nociception (Pain)

A protective warning system that is both a physiological sensory response to tissue damage and a subjective psychological phenomenon shaped by attention, emotion, and expectation.

First Pain (A-delta Fibers)

Fast-conducting, myelinated sensory nerve fibers that rapidly transmit sharp, localized, immediate pain signals to the brain upon injury.

Second Pain (C Fibers)

Slower-conducting, unmyelinated sensory nerve fibers that transmit dull, aching, throbbing, or burning pain signals that linger after an injury.

Gate-Control Theory of Pain

The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that either blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain

Anti-Nociceptive Signals

Descending neural pathways originating in the brain that release natural painkillers (like endorphins) to inhibit pain transmission and close the spinal pain gate.

Bottom-Up Processing

Analysis that begins with the raw sensory receptors receiving environmental data and works upward to the brain's integration and interpretation of sensory information.

Top-Down Processing

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, where we construct perceptions by drawing on our prior experiences, expectations, and existing knowledge.

Figure-Ground Organization

The fundamental Gestalt perceptual rule of organizing the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out distinctly from their surrounding environment (the ground).

Perceptual Grouping (Gestalt Principles)

The brain's natural tendency to organize fragmented sensory stimuli into coherent, meaningful whole forms using rules like proximity, similarity, closure, and good continuation.

Proximity (Gestalt Grouping)

The perceptual tendency to group nearby objects or figures together as a single unit rather than seeing them as separate elements.

Similarity (Gestalt Grouping)

The perceptual tendency to group together figures that share physical characteristics such as shape, color, size, or brightness.

Closure (Gestalt Grouping)

The perceptual tendency to mentally fill in gaps in an incomplete figure to create a complete, whole object.

Good Continuation (Continuity)

The perceptual tendency to perceive smooth, continuous patterns and lines rather than discontinuous, jagged, or abruptly changing ones.

Depth Perception

The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the flat retina are two-dimensional, allowing us to judge distance.

Binocular Cues

Depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, that depend on the combined use and comparison of visual input from both eyes.

Convergence

A binocular neuromuscular cue for perceiving depth

Retinal Disparity

A binocular cue for perceiving depth

Monocular Cues

Depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, that are available to each eye separately and allow us to judge distance in flat two-dimensional images.

Relative Size (Monocular Cue)

A monocular depth cue stating that if we assume two objects are similar in size, most people perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image as farther away.

Linear Perspective (Monocular Cue)

A monocular depth cue where parallel lines (such as railroad tracks) appear to converge with distance

Interposition (Overlap)

A monocular depth cue where if one object partially blocks our view of another object, we automatically perceive the blocking object as being closer.

Position on the Horizon (Relative Height)

A monocular depth cue stating that we perceive objects higher in our visual field (closer to the horizon line) as being farther away than objects lower in our field of vision.

Fusiform Gyrus

A specialized brain region located in the temporal/occipital area dedicated specifically to facial recognition and processing human faces.

Perceptual Set

A mental predisposition, shaped by expectations, emotions, and experiences, to perceive one thing and not another.

Cultural Differences in Perception

Variations in how people from different cultural backgrounds interpret visual illusions, depth cues, and social context based on their learned environmental norms.