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
What are th receptors for somatosensation?
Involves receptors in skin, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments
What is nociception?
Nociceptors sense harmful stimuli such as heat, cold, pressure, chemicals or tissues injury –> nociception
How is pain perceived?
Pain is a conscious process perceived and interpreted in the brain
Psychological and emotional factors influence pain perception
What are the factors that influence pain perception?
Cognitive appraisal:
* Brain evauates significance and threat level of pain signals
* Negative emotional reactions —> amplify pain perception
* Positive emotional reactions –> modulate emotional and psychological impact of pain
Pain chronicity and transition to chronic pain
* Transition from acute pain (short term) to chronic pain (long term) invovles complex interaction between physical and psychological factors
* Chronic pain can lead to changes in the brain’s structure and fuction –> impacting the psychological experience of pain
* Placebo effect: perceiving pain from treatments without active therapeutic value
* Nocebo effect: experiencing negative effects due to negative expectations
Pain modulation:
* Psychological interventions (e.g. CBT) can impact the brain’s pain processing areas and alter perception of pain
What makes the vestibular system?
Semicircular canals
Utricle and saccule
What is the major role of the semicircular canals?
Maintaining out balance and stability
Provide crucial informaton about the head’s rotational movement through the six degrees of freedom
What is the rotational movement of the six degree of freedom?
X-axis:
* Movement: forward and backward
* Rotation: roll
Y-axis:
* Movement: left and right
* Rotation: pitch
Z-axis:
* Movement: up and down
* Rotation: yaw
What’s the function and purpose of the utricle and saccule?
Utricle and saccule are inner ear organs containing calcium carbonate crystals (otoliths)
Function: detect linear accelerations, including gravity, aiding in balance and movement perception
Purpose: ensures smooth movement and balance, often occuring uncounsiously
What is sound? What are the important properites of sound?
Sound is a type of energy that travels through air in the form of pressure waves (amplitude and frequency)
Important properties:
* Pitch:
* Determines by frequency, the number of cycles the wave completes in a second (Hz)
* Higher freqency –> higher pitch
- Amplitude:
- Maximum displacement of the wave from its equilibraium position
- Greater amplitude –> louder sound
The hearing proces
Sound waves enter the ear canal –> eardrum vibrate at the same frequency, causes 3 tiny bones to vibrate, causes the fluid inside the cochlea to vibrate, causes the tiny hairs that line the inside of the cochlea to vibrate –> when the hairs vibrate, they fire neurons –> send signials to the temporal lobe, where the soun is interpreted
Why are we able to hear so many different sounds?
Different frequencies vibrate different hair
The cochlea - the basilar membrane, how does sound travels through it?
High frequency (high pitched) sounds induced the maximal vibration at the narrower, siffer end of the basilar membrane –> the basal end
Low frequency (low pithced) cause maximal vibration at the wider, softer end of the basilar membrane –> the apical end
