Other Important Senses Module 15 Psychology 7e in Modules

Other Important Senses Sense of touch is a mix of four distinct skin senses- pressure, warmth, cold, and pain. OBJECTIVE 15-1| Describe the sense of touch. “Touch is both the alpha and omega of affection” (James, 1890). Bruce Ayers/ Stone/ Getty Images Psychology 7e in Modules

Skin Senses Only pressure has identifiable receptors, all other skin sensations are variations of pressures, warmth, cold and pain. Pressure Vibration Vibration Burning hot Cold, warmth and pain Psychology 7e in Modules

Ashley Blocker (right) feels neither pain Pain tells the body that something has gone wrong. Usually pain results from damage to the skin and other tissues. There is a rare disease in which the person feels no pain. OBJECTIVE 15-2| State the purpose of pain, and describe the biopsychosocial perspective on pain. AP Photo/ Stephen Morton Ashley Blocker (right) feels neither pain nor extreme hot or cold. Psychology 7e in Modules

Biopsychosocial Influences

Pain Phantom Limb: Missing limb feels like it is present, like always, before amputation Visceral Pain: Pain fibers located in internal organs Referred Pain: Pain felt on surface of body, away from origin point Somatic Pain: Sharp, bright, fast Table of Contents Exit

Fig.5.28 Visceral pain often seems to come fro m the surface of the body, even though its true origin is internal. Referred pain is believed to result from the fact that pain fibers from internal organs enter the spinal cord at the same location as sensory fibers from the skin. Apparently, the brain misinterprets the visceral pain messages as impulses from the body’s surface. Table of Contents Exit

Gate-Control Theory Melzak and Wall (1965, 1983) proposed that our spinal cord contains neurological “gates” that either block pain or allow it to be sensed. One way to treat chronic pain is to stimulate it through massage by electrical stimulation or acupuncture. Rubbing causes competitive stimulation to pain thus reduces its effect. Gary Comer/ PhototakeUSA.com Psychology 7e in Modules

Types of Pain Warning System: Pain carried by large nerve fibers; sharp, bright, fast pain that tells you body damage may be occurring (e.g., knife cut) Reminding System: Small Nerve Fibers: Slower, nagging, aching, widespread; gets worse if stimulus is repeated; reminds system that body has been injured Table of Contents Exit

Pain Control Pain can be controlled by a number of therapies including, drugs, surgery, acupuncture, exercise, hypnosis and even thought distraction. Burn victims can be distracted by allowing them to engage in illusory virtual reality. Their brain scans show differences in pain perceptions. Todd Richards and Aric Vills, U.W. ©Hunter Hoffman, www.vrpain.com Psychology 7e in Modules

How do we taste? What is the central muscle involved in taste? Taste (and smell) are chemical senses. What is the central muscle involved in taste?

Tongue

Papillae Those bumps on our tongue are called Papillae. Papillae help grip food while your teeth are chewing. They also have another special job - they contain your taste buds

Taste Buds Map out the tongue

Taste Traditionally taste sensations consisted of sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastes. Recently receptors for a fifth taste have been discovered called “Umami”. OBJECTIVE 15-3| Describe the sense of taste, and explain the principle of sensory interaction. Sweet Sour Salty Bitter Umami (Fresh Chicken) Psychology 7e in Modules

PTC Strips

Taste Taste cells absorb chemicals in saliva and trigger neural impulses routed through the thalamus. Taste preferences are largely learned and heavily shaped by social processes. Sensitivity to tastes are distributed somewhat unevenly across the tongue, but the variations are small.

Sensory Interaction When one sense affects another sense sensory interaction takes place. So the taste of strawberry interacts with its smell and its texture on the tongue to produce flavor.

Smell and Taste Olfaction: Sense of smell Anosmia: Defective sense of smell for a single odor Taste Buds: Taste-receptor cells Gustation: Sense of taste Four Taste Sensations: sweet, salt, sour, bitter Most sensitive to bitter, least sensitive to sweet Umami: Possible fifth taste sensation; brothy taste Table of Contents Exit

Smell Like taste smell is a chemical sense. Odorants enter the nasal cavity to stimulate 5 millions receptors to sense smell. Unlike taste there are many different forms of smells. OBJECTIVE 15-4| Describe the sense of smell and explain why specific odors so easily trigger memories. Psychology 7e in Modules

Age, Gender and Smell Ability to identify smell peaks during early adulthood but steadily decline after that. Women are better at detecting odors than men. Psychology 7e in Modules

Smell and Memories Brain region (red) for smell is closely connected with brain regions (limbic system) involved with memory, that is why strong memories are made through the sense of smell. Psychology 7e in Modules

Gender related odors Can you smell the difference between? Hands, Breath, Shirts

So can we smell the difference? Well….yes and no. Pheromones Chemical messengers that are picked up through our sense of smell. Founded in the early 1930’s by studying silkworms. Jury is still out on whether they exist in humans. Best evidence we have comes out of the university of Chicago.

Body Position and Movement The sense of our body parts’ position and movement is called kinesthesis. And the vestibular sense monitors the head (and body’s) position. OBJECTIVE 15-5| Distinguish between kinesthesis and vestibular sense. http://www.heyokamagazine.com Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works Whirling Dervishes Wire Walk Psychology 7e in Modules

Kinesthetic Sense Tells us where our body parts are. Receptors located in our muscles and joints. Without the kinesthetic sense you could not touch the button to make copies of your buttocks.

Vestibular System Otolith Organs: Sensitive to movement, acceleration, and gravity Semicircular Canals: Fluid-filled tubes in ears that are sensory organs for balance Crista: “Float” that detects movement in semicircular canals Ampulla: A wider part of the canal Table of Contents Exit

Fig. 5.30 The vestibular system. Table of Contents Exit

Fig. 5.29 Hold a variety of elongated objects upright between your fingertips. Close your eyes and move each object about. Your ability to estimate the size, length, shape, and orientation of each object will be quite accurate. (after Turvey, 1996) Table of Contents Exit

Vestibular Sense Semicircular canals and the vestibular sacs, which connect the canals with the cochlea. Contain fluid that moves when the head rotates or tilts. Sends messages to the cerebellum at the back of your brain Enables you to sense your body position and to maintain your balance.

Vestibular Sense Tells us where our body is oriented in space. Our sense of balance. Located in our semicircular canals in our ears.

Vestibular System and Motion Sickness Motion sickness is directly related to vestibular system Sensory Conflict Theory: Motion sickness occurs because vestibular system sensations do not match sensations from the eyes and body After spinning and stopping, fluid in semicircular canals is still spinning, but head is not Mismatch leads to sickness Medications, relaxation, and lying down might help Table of Contents Exit