Types of Sensory Organs - Eyes, Ears, Nose, Skin, Tongue
The receptors that allow us to hear don't also allow up to interpret what we're hearing or where the sound is coming from
Pupil - an adjustable opening that widens and narrows to control the amount of light entering the eye
Iris - The colored structure on the surface of the eye surrounding the pupil
Retina - A layer of visual receptors covering the back surface of the eyeball
Cornea - Rigid transparent layer on the surface of the eyeball. Focuses light the same way.
Lens - A flexible structure that varies it thickness. Bends and focuses light to create a clear image
The lens can cause vision problems and can be replaced to treat some conditions (cataracts)
Fovea - The central area of the retina, adapted for detailed vision.
Contains more cones than rods
Rods - Adapted for vision in dim light
Cones - Adapted for perceiving color and detailing bright light
The Visual Pathway - Light enters the eye through the pupil and strikes the retina. The light is changed into neuron impulses which are understood by the brain
Structures of the Eye
A) Iris
B) Pupil
C) Cornea
D) Lens
E) Retina
F) Optic Nerve
Metaphorical Use of Sensation
"I see what you mean"
"I feel your pain"
"She has good taste"
"Their actions are disgusting"
"Sounds like a good thing"
The overlapping of senses
Sensory situations and expressions cause us to feel and misinterpret things
The pinna (ear) funnels sound to the inner pinna, where the receptors lie. The ear converts sound waves into mechanical displacements along the row of receptor cells
Sound Waves - vibrations of the ear, water, or any other medium. Vary in frequency and amplitude.
The frequency of a sound wave is the number of cycles (vibrations) per second - Hertz (Hz)
Pitch - perception closely related to frequency
High frequency sound wave = High Pitched
Low-frequency sound wave = Low Pitched
Timbre - tone complexity, the sound difference is due to timbre
Cochlea - the ear converts weak sound waves into more intense waves of pressure in the fluid-filled canals of the snail-shaped organ (cochlea) which is responsible for hearing.
Hearing Loss:
Conduction Deafness - results when the bones (Incus, Malleus, Stapes) connected to the eardrum fail to transmit sound waves properly to the cochlea
Nerve Deafness - results when there is damage to the cochlea, hair cells, or auditory nerve
Pitch Perception:
Children can hear pitches at higher frequencies than adults
Dogs can hear pitches at higher frequencies than humans
Prosody - emotion in pitch, the ability to change your voice in a way that transmit and interpret emotion in speech
Sound starts off as a mechanical process and turns into a chemical process when it interacts with receptors in the cochlea
Pain
Mixture of body sensation and emotional reaction which depend on different brain areas.
Physical pain can be intense at the moment, but emotional pain is more enduring.
Phantom Limbs- continuing sensations including pain in a limb long after it has been amputated
Neuroplasticity - when a portion of the brain is unused, surrounding areas tries to move into the region, so when that area of the brain is interacted with it triggers impulses in its adjacent part and the phantom part that is has intruded to.
If your hand has been amputated you are most likely to feel phantom sensation after touching your face
Reason: because of how the cortex is wired
Treatments for Phantom Pain:
Mirror Therapy
Physical Therapy/Massage Therapy
Artificial Limbs
Medications (ex. Antidepressants)
Acupuncture
The Chemical Senses
Taste-Receptors are in the taste buds
Smell/Olfaction-Receptors are located on the mucous membrane in the rear air passage of the nose
Synesthesia - a condition in which a stimulus of one type, such as sound, also elicits another experience, such as a color
Subliminal Perception - the phenomenon that a stimulus can influence behavior even when it is presented so faintly or briefly that the observer has no conscious perception of it
Commercials
Musical Provocation
Faint audio messages used to improve memory
Stimulus - something outside of us, we experience with our senses
Gestalt Psychology - deals with perception
Bottom-Up Process - Tiny elements combine to produce larger items
Top-Down Process - You apply your experiences and expectations to interpret each item in context
Bottom-Up - you come into class for the first time and you see people with their devices off and their pencils out, you assume there is a test
Top-Down - you've checked the calendar so you come to class with only a pencil because you know there is a test
Perception of Movement
Induced Movement - incorrectly perceiving an object as moving (ex. eyes of a painting following you)
Stroboscopic Movement - an illusion of movement created by a rapid succession of stationary images (ex. flipbook)
Perception of Depth:
Binocular Clues - retinal disparity or convergence, depends on both eyes
Monocular Clues - judging depth and distance with just one eye or when both eyes see the same image (image appears differently)