THE OTHER SENSES AP PSYCHOLOGY FALL 2014 CHAPTER 5: SENSATION MS. ELKIN

THE OTHER SENSES AP PSYCHOLOGY FALL 2014 CHAPTER 5: SENSATION MS. ELKIN

SENSORY TRANSDUCTION Energy Source Receptor Sites Light Waves Sound Waves Food Molecules Molecules Cold, heat & Pressure Cones/Rods Hair Cells of Cochlea Taste Buds Receptor Cells in Olfactory Membrane Receptor Cells in skin s dermis & epidermis

Smell On average we inhale and exhale nearly 20,000 breaths of lifesustaining air subsequently bathing our nostrils in a stream of scentladen molecules

Physiology of Smell Like the sense of taste, the sense of smell is a chemical sense: facilitated and perpetuated through a series of chemical reactions The experience of smell is captured through olfaction Olfaction encompasses the reception of airborne chemical by receptor cells in the nasal passage

The Process of Olfaction 1. 20,000 breaths per day 2. Breathed in through the nose, the molecules move toward receptor cells located in the lining of the nasal passage 1. the chemical bonds to the receptors which then travel to the brain. There are thousands of different receptors in the cells of the nasal passage 2. Finally, these olfactory signals are diffused throughout the Amygdala, Hippocampus, and Hypothalamus

Effects of Odors - Memory Olfaction is directly linked to memory Hippocampus Amygdala Hypothalamus Our sense of smell is a powerful associative tool Evoke memories and feeling Associated personal episodes

Effects of Olfaction Ability to Distinguish Different Odors Nursing infants and mothers Animals and Human Beings Literal Chemistry Ability to recognize Sense of smell is nowhere as keen as most animals Seeing and Hearing are much more acute Cannot separate into elemental odors Combination of many different receptors allows us to distinguish scents Humans have 10 to 20 million receptors (Dogs have 200 million)

Taste

What is it? On the tongue there are hundreds of bumps called taste buds Taste buds are clumps of around 100 taste cells on the tongue Taste cells respond to the chemicals in your mouth and identify with one of the 5 basic tastes

Umami: meaty, savory taste, depending on the flavor, location on the tongue varies

Each of the taste receptor cells respond differently How do we taste? Inside each bump on your tongue there are 200 or more taste buds Each individual taste bud contains a pore that catches food chemicals These molecules are sensed by taste receptor cells that project antenna like hairs into the pore

Fun Facts As you get older, taste buds become less sensitive Hot foods taste better because the heat allows aromas for nose to smell Smoking and alcohol use accelerate the decline in taste buds People without tongues can still taste through receptors in the back and on the roof of there mouth

Touch The detection of physical contact with the body The sense of touch is made up of four different skin senses Pressure Warmth Cold Pain Touch is sensed from various types of nerve endings in the skin or more specifically the bottom layer of your skin, the dermis

Touch An object can feel soft, hard, rough smooth, wet, dry, warm, cold, etc. Information is taken in from the skin receptor, or touch receptors, and sent to the sensory cortex in our brain This is how we experience the sense of touch The hands and fingers, feet and toes, lips, and genitals are especially sensitive to touch and have a major portion of the sensory cortex devoted to them This is why people enjoy kissing and feel with their fingers and wear shoes to avoid rough terrain

The Sixth Sense: Kinesthesis Not a sense, but a process in which nerve signals use sensory inputs to coordinate how muscles move to keep us upright and keep equilibrium Kinesthesis: the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Kinesthesis USES THREE INPUTS: Vestibular system -inner ears -3 semicircular canals -vestibular nerve -cochlea Visual Input -verticals & horizontals Proprioceptive System -body awareness in space -pressure sensors in muscles, tendons, joints -senses gravity & joint position

The Vestibular Sense How It Works 1) You move (your head) 2)Fluid in your vestibular sacs move, senses position 3)This activates hair like receptors in the Vestibular System 4)Messages are sent to the cerebellum via the vestibular nerve (from canals) 5)Cerebellum, pons, and medulla work together to keep balance

The Vestibular Sense Where it s located

Pain Pain is a property of: The senses Our brain Our expectations

Pain - Influences Biological: -activity in spinal cord s fibers -genetic differences in endorphin production Psychological: -attention to pain -learning based on experience expectations Socio-Cultural: -presence of others -empathy for other s pain -cultural expectations

Pain The brain creates pain: When you feel empathy for others, your brain mirrors that feeling and creates pain for you (mirror neurons) We can experience pain through memories In the same way, many amputees feel pain going though phantom limbs (amputated limbs)

Gate-Control Theory Spinal cord contains a neurological gate that either blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain Small nerve fibers: carry pain messages to brain Large nerve fibers: carry all other sensory information to the brain Stimulating large nerve fibers sends competing signals through the spinal cord blocking some of the pain messages

Pain Management Pain control is indeed a physical and a psychological phenomenon. Pain then should be treated both physically and psychologically. Depending on the symptoms, hospitals use many different ways to treat pain. Medication (ex: Morphine, an opiate) Lamaze during labor Hypnosis