Ch. 4.4 - The Sense of Touch/Taste/Smell

Question 1

types of stimulation (3)

Answer 1

pressure, temperature, pain

Question 2

mechanoreceptors

Answer 2

detect pressure and touch

Question 3

nociceptors (3)

Answer 3

• free nerve endings that detect pain and heat
• fast fibres: registers sharp, immediate pain
• slow fibres: register chronic dull pain

Question 4

acuity (2)

Answer 4

• ability to discern two points of pressure

- two-point threshold test

Question 5

haptics (2)

Answer 5

• active, exploratory aspect of touch sensation and perception
• tactile agnosia

Question 6

kinesthesis (2)

Answer 6

• our sense of bodily motion and position

- works in conjunction with haptics to grasp and move objects

Question 7

nociception

Answer 7

activity of the nerve pathways that respond to uncomfortable stimulation

Question 8

gate control theory

Answer 8

explains our experience of pain as an interaction between nerves that transmit pain messages and those that inhibit those messages

Question 9

subjectivity and pain

Answer 9

pain has a subjective component

Question 10

empathy study (2)

Answer 10

• participants watched video of actor that they empathized with or didn’t
• rated their pain to heat stimuli while watching actor experience similar pain

Question 11

gustatory system: taste (3)

Answer 11

• receptorts for taste (tastebuds) located on small bumps (papillae) that cover the tongue
• detect sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami (savoury)
• projections go to the thalamus > gustatory cortex

Question 12

supertasters (3)

Answer 12

• about 1/4 of the population
• can have many times the typical number (10,000) of the taste buds of average people
• especially sensitive to bitter taste

Question 13

olfactory epithelium (2)

Answer 13

• thin layer of cells that are lined by sensory receptors called cilia
• cilia transmit transducer signal to olfactory bulb via the olfactory tract