1. EXPLORING PSYCHOLOGY EIGHTH EDITION IN MODULES David Myers
PowerPoint Slides
Aneeq Ahmad
Henderson State University
Worth Publishers, © 2011

2. Sensation and Perception

3. The Other Senses
Module 15

4. Kinesthesis and Vestibular Sense
Hearing
The Stimulus Input: Sound Waves
The Ear
Perceiving Loudness
Locating Sounds
Kinesthesis and Vestibular Sense
Touch

5. Pain Taste Smell Understanding Pain Controlling Pain
Sensory Interaction
Smell

6. Hearing The Stimulus Input: Sound Waves
Audition is the act of hearing and sound waves, compressing and expanding air molecules, are the stimulus our ears detect then transform into into nerve impulses that our brains decode as sound.
Preview Question 1: What are the characteristics of air pressure waves that we hear as sound?

7. The Physical Properties of Waves
The strength, or amplitude, of sound waves determines loudness. The frequency, or number of complete waves lengths to pass a point in a given time, determines pitch, a sounds perceived highness or lowness.

8. The Ear
To convert sound waves into neural activity the outer ear first collects and sends sounds to the eardrum. The middle ear, transmits the vibrations via three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, stirrup) to the cochlea, a snail-shaped tube in the inner ear, causing it’s membrane to vibrate.
This causes ripples in the basilar membrane, bending the hair cells lining its surface, triggering impulses in the nerve cells, whose axons form the auditory nerve, which sends neural messages to the auditory cortex.

9. The Ear
Preview Question 2: How does the ear transform sound energy into neural messages?

10. The Ear
Damage to hair cells accounts for most hearing loss. Sounds that exceed 100 decibels, especially if prolonged or repeated are potentially harmful.

11. Locating Sounds
Because we have two ears, sounds that reach one ear faster than the other ear cause us to localize the sound.
Preview Question 3: How do we locate sounds?

12. Kinesthesis and Vestibular Sense
The vestibular sense monitors the head (and body’s) position. The semicircular canals and vestibular sacs in the inner ear contain fluid which moves when the head moves triggering hairlike receptors which send messages to the cerebellum enabling you to sense your position and maintain balance.
Preview Question 4: How do we sense our body’s position and movement?

13. Kinesthesis and Vestibular Sense
The sense of our body parts’ position and movement is called kinesthesis and is enabled by sensors in the joints, tendons, bones, ears, and skin.

14. Touch
The sense of touch is a mix of distinct skin senses—pressure, warmth, cold, and pain. Only pressure has identifiable receptors. Other skin sensations are variations of the basic four.
Preview Question 5: How do we sense touch? How do we experience pain?

15. Touch
Touch sensations involve more than tactile stimulation as illustrated by the rubber-hand illusion.
When a researcher simultaneously touches a volunteer’s real and fake hands, the volunteer feels as though the seen fake hand is her own.

16. 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. A rare disease exists in which the afflicted person feels no pain.
AP Photo/ Stephen Morton
Ashley Blocker (right) feels neither pain
nor extreme hot or cold.

17. Biological Influences
No one type of stimulus triggers pain. Instead, there are different nociceptors— sensory receptors that detect hurtful temperatures, pressure, or chemicals.

18. Gate-Control Theory
Melzack and Wall (1965, 1983) proposed that our spinal cord contains neurological “gates” that either block pain or allow it to be sensed.

19. Biopsychosocial Influences

20. Controlling Pain
Pain can be controlled by a number of therapies including, drugs, surgery, acupuncture, exercise, hypnosis, and even thought distraction.

21. Taste
Traditionally, taste sensations consisted of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter tastes. Recently, receptors for a fifth taste have been discovered called “Umami”.
Preview Question 6: How do we experience taste?

22. Taste
Taste is a chemical sense. Each taste bud on the tongue contains a pore that catches food chemicals. In each pore, taste receptor cells project antenna-like hairs that sense food molecules. Some receptors respond mainly to sweet-tasting molecules, others to salty, and so on.

23. 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.

24. Smell
Like taste, smell is a chemical sense. Odorants enter the nasal cavity to stimulate 5 million receptors to sense smell. Unlike taste, there are many different forms of smell.
Preview Question 7: How do we experience smell?

25. Smell and Memories
The brain region for smell (in red) is closely connected with the brain regions involved with memory (limbic system). That is why strong memories are made through the sense of smell.