AP psych sensation

Sensation

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

Sensation process

reception, transduction/actionpotential, transmission

Perception

Perception is the process of understanding and interpreting sensations. It helps us make sense of the world around us.

6 senses

Vision, hearing, smell, sight, touch, kinesthetic, vestibular

Energy senses

vision, hearing, touch

Chemical senses

taste and smell

Body position senses

vestibular and kinesthetic

Vision receptors

rods and cones in the retina

Hearing receptors

pressure-sensitive hair cells in cochlea of inner ear

Touch receptors

Nerves on the skin that respond to temperature or pressure

Taste receptors

chemical receptors on the tongue that decode molecules of food or drink to identify them (taste buds/papillae)

Flavors that can be identified

sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami

Smell receptors

olfactory receptors in nasal cavity

Vestibular receptors

mechanoreceptors/hairlike cells that detect fluid movement in the semicircular canal of the inner ear (Balance)

Kinesthetic receptors

Receptors in the muscles, joints, and skin that provide information about movement, posture, and orientation.

Balance

The sense of balance is created by the vestibular system. If you feel like you're off balance, your brain-muscle feedback loop will react instantly and automatically to fix it.

Fluid in the ears

Inside each ear, attached to the cochlea are three semi-circular canals. Like a canal, they have fluid in them. The three canals help your brain process in which direction your´e moving.

Vestibular sense disruptions

Disruptions in the vestibular system can cause dizziness and nausea. For example, during an exciting roller coaster ride, the rapid movements cause the fluid in the semicircular canals to move a lot. This sends confusing signals to your brain about your body's position, leading to dizziness and nausea.

Kinesthetic sense

The kinesthetic sense gives you feedback about the position of specific body parts. Receptors in your muscles and joints send signals to your brain about the position and movement of your limbs. This, combined with visual information, allows you to accurately sense where your body parts are in space.

Feedback loop

The body gives the brain information. The brain then tells the body information. The body adjusts according to information from the brain.

Sensory neurons

Afferent: arrive at the brain from the body

Motor neurons

Efferent: exit the brain and to the body

Role of pain

it warns us of potential dangers.

Gate control theory

Pain has a limit. The gate control theory explains how the brain prioritizes pain messages. Is like the amount of pain that can enter the brain. When a high-priority pain message is sent, the "gate" opens to let it through, while lower-priority messages are blocked.

Dull/sharp pain

The spinal cord can prioritize certain sensations over others.Impact is often felt before the stinging pain of damage skin.

Controlling pain

Endorphins are natural pain-killing chemicals produced by the body. They are similar to opiates like morphine and can help control pain.

Synesthesia

when one kind of sensory stimulus evokes the subjective experience of another

Sensory switchboard

Thalamus located in midbrain. Receives messages from all senses (not smell) and sends them onto higher brain regions that deal with hearing, seeing, tasting and touching.

Supertasters

Supertasters have more densely packed taste buds, and experience tastes more strongly

Nontasters

Nontasters have more spread out taste buds and experience tastes less intensely

Reasons for picky eaters

Kids have more taste buds than adults. We lose taste buds as we age.

Smell plays a big role in-

Our memories and emotions.

Smell & Taste are linked

Smell and taste work together to create the full experience of flavor. Smell provides the majority of what we perceive as the "taste" of food. If your sense of smell is reduced, your sense of taste is also diminished, this is why food can seem bland when you have a cold or congestion.

Steps of Vision

Step 1: Gathering Light Step 2: Within the Eye Step 3: Transduction Step 4: In the Brain

Within the eye

• Sclera: shell

• Cornea: windshield

• Lens: clear, flexible M&M • Iris: colored sphincter

• Pupil: light hole

• Retina: movie screen

• Rods, black &white, peripheral vision

• Fovea: Focus of the movie screen • Center, cones, color

Upside down vision

Your lens infront of the eye inverts the image so that it is projected onto the back of the eye (retina) upside down.

Blind spot

the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye

Transduction

The process of converting outside stimuli, such as light, into neural signals

Theories of Color Vision

Trichromatic Theory: three types of cones for red, green, and blue

Opponent-Process Theory: color receptors in pairs (red/green, yellow/blue, black/white)

Color blindness

a variety of disorders marked by inability to distinguish some or all colors

Males are more likely to suffer from it

After image

An afterimage happens in the mind. It doesn't exist "out there," even though you "see it." Before we can have an afterimage, we need to stare at a "before" image.

Sound waves

Sound waves are vibrations that travel through the air

Amplitude

Determines loudness

Frequency

Determines pitch

Pinna

outer ear, collects sound

Middle ear

Vibrations move through 3 tiny bones called ossicles: 1. Hammer (malleus)

2. Anvil (incus)