L3- perception

Question 1

How do we hear sounds?

Answer 1

When hearing a sound, we detect the vibrating waves that travel through the air.

The brain then translates the physical properties of the wave into perceptual qualities. Such as the
frequency wave of the vibration = pitch of sound.
Complexity = timbre (quality).
Amplitude of the wave = (intensity) loudness

Question 2

What is the formal term for the outside part of our ear? What does this do?

Answer 2

The Pinna.

It amplifies the sounds (hence ear shape)

Question 3

What is the cochlea? What does it do?

Answer 3

It is inside of the ear and has a snail shape. (its name is greek for snail).

It contains the basilar membrane (receptive organ for hearing). Sound is interpreted in cochlea. Through its auditory receptor cells
(On the surface) vibrating up and down as a response to sound waves. (Up and down depending on sound wave)

Vibrations activate auditory receptor cells

Question 4

How many people have deafness

Answer 4

16% of uk adults have a degree of hearing loss

(up to half of over 75s have deafness to a degree) through age related hearing loss

Question 5

What is age related hearing loss?

Answer 5

Caused mostly by physical damage to auditory receptor cells in cochlea.

This damage also affects high frequency of sounds being heard

Question 6

What is a cochlea implant and why do people have this?

Answer 6

Electronic devices which ate surgically implanted in the inner ear that can enable deaf people to hear

They stimuli signals that would come from the auditory receptor cells and send them to the brain

Can be successful at restoring hearing, especially on young children.

However is deafness something which needs to be fixed. Many deaf societies would argue not

Question 7

What can influence hearing?

Answer 7

Visual stimuli input can modify context and our interpretation

Question 8

What is gustation?

Answer 8

Taste

Question 9

How many qualities of taste are there in the simplest modalities

Answer 9

• 5
• sourness
• sweetness
• bitterness
• saltiness
• umami (savoury)

Question 10

Do individuals have a variation in their taste ? If so how?

Answer 10

Yes.
PTC chemical was used to see how different people taste his. It was perceived as different by different people.
-16% are non tasters of PTC
-56% medium tasters
-28% super tasters
If you are a super taster, PTC is tasted as bitter. (Eat less vegetables) but if you are a non taster then you want more flavour in food (especially fat) assumed you taste PTC as more sweet.

Question 11

What does our taste ability depend on ?

Answer 11

It depends on the tongue and the mouth receptors in them.

Question 12

What are papillae?

Answer 12

The bumps on the tongue which contain taste buds with receptor cells in them

Question 13

Where are the receptor cells on the tongue? And what do they do?

Answer 13

In the taste buds within the bumps on the tongue. They affect how we taste things.

Question 14

What regions of the tongue detect specific tastes?

Answer 14

All tongue regions can detect the same tastes.

Question 15

What is the definition of perception

Answer 15

Process which we recognise what is represented by the information provided by our sense organs

Question 16

What is the relation of taste and smell?

Answer 16

The thing we perceive as “flavour” is not actually the taste but is a multi sensory phenomenon of both taste and smell.

This is cause there is evidence of the pathways of both senses emerge within the brain (orbital cortex).

Question 17

What is somatosenses?

Answer 17

Touch

Question 18

What would you describe touch as?

Answer 18

Our ability to respond to touch, vibration, pains, warmth, coolness, limb positive etc.

Question 19

How do we have ability to touch?

Answer 19

Our skin contains neurone dendrites which transmits somatosensory information to the brain.

-there is no specific receptor cells for each type of touch

Question 20

If we are in chronic pain, how does out behaviour change?

Answer 20

Each psychological process has a behavioural consequence.

• perception; hemi-inattention/ neglect: altered size of perception
• cognition; deficits cognitively including in performance
• attention; hyper vigilance (increases alertness); interception
• emotion; reward deficit state; depression; heightened anxiety; suicide.
• learning and memory; memory deficits; fear learning
• motivation; decreased levels of goal centred value; altered survival salience.

Question 21

How do we interpret temperature?

Answer 21

Different sensory endings produce sensations of warmness and coolness

We have temperature detectors which respond best to changes in temperature. They adapt to the environment to understand how hot/ col it is.

Question 22

How do we perceive pain and how do we sense pain?

Answer 22

Nociceptors= are pain receptors which we have in the body. This is to detect this pain.

The process itself of sensing this pain is noiception.

Pain includes sensory stimulation and emotional components

Question 23

What did master et al 2009 find about perception of pain of those in LT relationships.

Answer 23

Females After seeing a photo of their partners face, their perception of pain was reduced.

Pain was applied by heating the skin(half of trials were tolerable and others were higher).

Seeing their partners face led to lower pain ratings compared to seeing a strangers face.

This shows that social networks can affect our perception of pain. (Emotional component)

Question 24

How do we know there is a emotional component of pain ?

Answer 24

Master et al 2009 found that social networks can affect perception of pain (emotional component of seeing LT partners photo lowering pain felt.)

Question 25

Can psychological interventions help chronic pain?

Answer 25

Cochrane review =
-cbt has small benefits on chronic pain. We dont know if bt does.

• no certain evidence on ACT
• evaluation is narrow and doesn’t reflect patients real life

Question 26

What does different sensory processing lead to?

Answer 26

To different behavioural differences.

Such as food preferences with taste and smell receptor differences. Chronic pain effects on our emotion, attention, cognition.

Question 27

How good is our sense of smell as humans?

Answer 27

It is good, we can follow a 10cm trail accurately. Even if blindfolded.

Question 28

How good are humans at naming odours?

Answer 28

Only can name 20-50% of common odours

It is hard to categorise smells. As we have 350 olfactory receptors within humans (1000 in mice). Different molecules/ odourants stimulate different patterns of olfactory receptors this pattern is then transmitted to the brain. In the brain this pattern is recognised to be a specific odour.

Question 29

Is there evidence on human pheromones

Answer 29

There is a lot of marketing on pheromones being in perfumes to attract the opposite sex etc. Despite this, there is a lack of evidence on if we are strongly influenced by pheromones.

-controversial research area!

Black and Biron, 1982=
Participants interacted with someone of the opposite sex who wore either androstenone (found in males pigs to attract female pigs) or a control odour. There was found to be no effect of androstenone on the rated attractiveness of the opposite sex.

Question 30

What are pheramones?

Answer 30

Scents which produce stereotypical responses in receiving organisms. This scent is not overtly detected.

Question 31

Pheromones in animals? Do these work?

Answer 31

In pigs, they have andestrone which secretes saliva in males which cause females to adopt the mating position. Males have this pheramone too but there is not much evidence eon this having the same effect in humans as it does animals.

Question 32

What are visual illusions?

Answer 32

When our visual system constructs its bets guess at what it can see (holding tower photos)

Question 33

Illusory contours defintion

Answer 33

Visual system makes a displaced assumption. Assuming something is there when it isnt.

Question 34

How does the visual system makes it best guesses?

Answer 34

Based on previous experiences and assumptions. (Hence why we have visual illusions)

Question 35

How do we view different colours?

Answer 35

Different wave lengths account for specific colours

Question 36

What is the retina of the eye?

Answer 36

Contains the recpetive tissue of the eye (layer on the eye)

Containing two photoreceptors (rods and cones)

Question 37

What are the two photoreceptors of the retina in the eye?

Answer 37

Rods and cones

• 125 million rods which mainly function within dim conditions.
• 60 million cones which function in bright light (mostly found in the fovea)

Question 38

What is the fovea?

Answer 38

Most cone photoreceptors for bright light are found in the fovea.

The fovea is responsible for detailed vision (move our eyes to look at something, making sure it directly falls on our fovea)

Question 39

What determines our colour vision?

Answer 39

The three types of cone cells. Each cell has a different photopigment; which is most sensitive to specific wave lengths of light which correspond to the colour of the cone cells

Short (blue)
Medium (green)
Long (red)

Question 40

How common is colour blindness ?

Answer 40

1 in 12 men have colour blindness due to genes of photopigments being found in the x chromosome which they have

Question 41

What is the most common type of colour blindness

Answer 41

Deuteranopia/ deuter

Which is when they have a lack of green medium cone cells and cannot see green

Question 42

What are negative after affects

Answer 42

After seeing negative after images. After you see this intense colour stimulus, you can see colours complementary to it when they are removed

For example if you see a green stimulus. The neurones which code for “green” fire storngly when it is present

After this is removed, the neurone is a bit “tired”. The term for this is adaptive. Therefore it fires less than usual

Question 43

What is opponent processing?

Answer 43

The visual system performs comparisons rather than looking for absolutes.

Question 44

Constancy defintion

Answer 44

When the visual system tries to focus on relevant changes rather than irrelevant ones. Such as light changes and angle of viewing

Question 45

What part of the basilar membranes oval window vibrates for low frequency sounds?

Answer 45

The wider end of the oval window

If a high frequency then it is the narrow end.