Module 19

Question 1

What are the characteristics of air pressure waves that we hear as sound?

Answer 1

Sound waves are bands of compressed and expanded air.

Our ears detect these changes in air pressure and transform them into neural impulses which the brain decodes as sound.

Sound waves vary in amplitude which we perceive as differing loudness

and in frequency which we experience as differing pitch.

Question 2

How does the ear transform sound energy into neural messages?

Answer 2

The outer ear is the visible portion.

The middle ear is the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea.

The inner ear consists of the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs.

Through a mechanical chain of events, sound waves traveling through the auditory canal cause tiny vibrations inside the eardrum.

The bones of the middle ear amplify the vibrations and relay them to fluid filled cochlea. Rippling of the basiliar membrane caused by pressure changes in the cochlear fluid causes movement of the tiny hair cells triggering neural messages to be sent via the thalmus to the auditory cortex of the brain.

Question 3

audition

Answer 3

the sense or act of hearing

Question 4

True or False. We hear best sounds with frequencies in a range corresponding to that of the human voice.

Answer 4

True

Question 5

We hear by both ____ and ____.

Answer 5

air, bone conduction

Question 6

A sound’s loudness is determined by what?

Answer 6

Amplitude - height of waves

Question 7

A sound’s pitch is determined by what?

Answer 7

Frequency

Question 8

frequency

Answer 8

the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time

Question 9

Sound is measured in ____.

Answer 9

decibels

Question 10

Identify the different components of the outer, middle, and inner ear.

Answer 10

See Chart Ear & Middle/Inner Ear

Question 11

middle ear

Answer 11

the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea

containing three bones - hammer, anvil, stirrup

concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window

Question 12

cochlea

Answer 12

a coiled, bony, fluid filled tube in the inner ear

sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses

Question 13

inner ear

Answer 13

the innermost part of the ear

containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

Question 14

True or False. The cochlea has 6,000 tiny hair cells.

Answer 14

False. It has 16,000 of them.

Question 15

sensorineural hearing loss

Answer 15

hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves

nerve deafness

Question 16

conduction hearing loss

Answer 16

hearing loss caused by damage to he mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea

Question 17

True or False. If we cannot talk over a noise, it is potentially harmful, especially if prolonged and repeated.

Answer 17

True

Question 18

True or False. Hair cells are like carpet fibers.

Answer 18

True. They will normally rebound quickly but with repeated pressure they may never rebound.

Question 19

cochlear implant

Answer 19

a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory never through electrodes threaded into the cochlea

Question 20

True or False. A cochlear implant will enable normal hearing in adults even if their brain never learned to process sound during childhood.

Answer 20

False

Question 21

How does the brain interpret loudness?

Answer 21

By the number of hair cells activated

Question 22

What two theories help us understand pitch perception?

Answer 22

Place theory

Frequency theory

Question 23

place theory

Answer 23

the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated

like a shaken bedsheet

high pitches

Question 24

frequency theory

Answer 24

the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch

low pitches

Question 25

the volley principle

Answer 25

neural cells can alternate firing and achieve a combined frequency above 1000 waves per second

Question 26

How do we locate sound?

Answer 26

Sound waves strike one ear sooner and more intensely than the other.

The brain analyzes the minute differences in the sounds and computes the sound’s source.

Question 27

How do we sense touch?

Answer 27

Our sense of touch is actually several senses.

Pressure, warmth, cold, pain

combine to produce other sensations such as “hot”

Question 28

True or False. We should be thankful for occasional pain.

Answer 28

True. It alerts us to something that is wrong causing us change our behavior.

Question 29

How can we best understand pain?

Answer 29

Bottom up sensations & Top down processes

One theory is that a “gate” in the spinal cord either opens to permit pain signals or closes to prevent their passage. The gate is opened by pain signals traveling up small fibers. The gate is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain.

Biopsychosocial perspective

Question 30

How does massage and electric stimulation help ease pain?

Answer 30

Stimulating neural fibers which will close the gate.

Question 31

True or False. We feel, see, hear, taste, and smell with our brain, which can sense even without functioning senses.

Answer 31

True

Question 32

True or False. Placebo and pretend acupuncture have no affect on relieving pain.

Answer 32

False

Question 33

True or False. Distracting images can be very effective in relieving pain.

Answer 33

True

Question 34

How do we experience taste?

Answer 34

Taste and smell are chemical senses.

Taste is a composite of five basic sensations and the aromas that interact with information from taste receptor cells of the taste buds.

Question 35

What are the five basic tastes

Answer 35

sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami

Question 36

How do we experience smell?

Answer 36

We have some 5 million olfactory receptor cells with about 350 receptor proteins. Odor molecules trigger combinations of receptors, in patterns that the olfactory cortex interprets. The receptor cells send messages to the brain’s olfactory bulb then to the temporal lobe and to parts of the limbic system.

Question 37

sensory interaction

Answer 37

the principle that one sense may influence another as when the smell of food influences its taste

Question 38

embodied cognition

Answer 38

In psychological science, the influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgments

Question 39

How does our system for sensing smell differ from our sensory systems for touch and taste?

Answer 39

We have four basic touch senses and five taste sensations. But we have no basic smell receptors. different combinations of odor receptors send messages to the brain, enabling us to recognize 10,000 different smells

Question 40

kinesthesis

Answer 40

the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Question 41

vestibular sense

Answer 41

the sense of body movement and position including sense of balance

Question 42

Where are vestibular sense receptors located?

Answer 42

the inner ear