W9: Perception 1 Flashcards
The major senses that contribute to perception
- Vision
- Audition
- Chemical sense:
- Gustation
- Olfaction
- Body senses:
- Touch
- Proprioception (balance, occurs in the vestibular system, in the inner ear)
- Equilibrioception (awareness of body position)
Why study pereption?
Because there are times that our brain perceives something contrary to the information being supplied by the senses.
How does perception impact one’s neuropsychology?
- Apperceptive agnosia
- The inability to recognise objects –> can see but can’t draw or copy an object
- Associatie agnosia
- Has intact perception but cannot recognise objects
- Other examples: Alien hand syndrom, rubber hand illusion
How does perception impact one’s clinical psychology?
Eating disorder and body dysmorphia
What is psychophysics?
The scientific study of the subjective experience of perception.
Regarding the relationship between physical stimuli and the psychology experience
How are the smell and taste receptors activated?
Chemicals need to be dissolved for them to be activated
Taste –> chemical dissolve in taste buds –> saliva
Smell –> chemical dissolve in the mucus in the nose
What is the tasting process?
- Saliva secreted during eating mixes with food in the mouth
- Chemicals dissolved in saliva and are detected by taste receptor cells in taste buds
- Sensory neurons in taste buds send taste information to the brain
- Information is processed in the insular cortex, the primary gistory cortex
Can taste perception be interupt?
Taste perception continues uninterupted throughout life.
Taste receptor cells are constanly renewed, replacing cells every 1-2 months
How many primary smells and tastes are known?
7 primary smells
5 primary tastes
Hyposmia vs anosmia
Hyposmia: decresed sense of smell
Anosmia: partial or loss of sense of smell
What disease can affect the ability to smell?
Some diseases can obstruct the nasal passageway
* E.g. Alzheimer’s disease, some cancers, diabetes, zinc deficiency
What is the smelling process?
- Sense of smell is triggered by receptors located in teh olfactory epithelium
- The receptors send signals directly to the olfactory bulbs located in the brain
- Olfactory system bypasses the thalamus and connects directly to the cerebral cortex, limbic system and hypothalamus
limbic system –> emotions –> amygdala is located here
What is the psychological significance of the fact that the olfactory system connects directly to the cerebral cortex, limbic system, and hypothalamus?
The direct connection contributes to emotional and memory-evoked responses triggered by certain smells.
The limbic system, particularly the amygdala, is associated with emotional processing and memory formation –> certain odours can evoke powerful emotional and memory-related responses
Parosmia, Cacosmia, Phantosmia
Parosmia: inability of the brain to correctly identify certain smells
Cacosmia: a type of parosmia; smells get distorted and perceived as intensely foul odours
Phantosmia: smelling an odour that is not there
What is somatosensation? Is it just a single sense?
Somatosensation is sensory expriences that provide informatiom aobut the body’s condition and its interaction with the environment
It’ not jsut a single sense. It’s a collection of sensory experiences including touch, proprioception, pain and thermoception