PSY-P101, FA15

Prep Guide 06
Ch. 05, pp. 164 174
1. Define
a. Audition
- The sense of hearing
b. Sensorineural hearing loss
- Failure to transmit neural signals from the cochlea to the brain
c. Olfactory bulb
- Bulb-like structure at the tip of then frontal lobe, where the olfactory nerves
begin
d. Pattern perception
- Ability to discriminate among different figures and shapes
e. Inflammatory pain
- Signal that some types of tissues damage has occurred
f. Neuropathic pain
- Pain from damage to neurons of either the peripheral or central nervous
system
2. Sounds physical properties and our perceptions of them:
a. Identify and describe the physical dimensions of auditory stimuli
- Frequency: is measured in the and is the number of waves in a sound cycle per
second
- Amplitude: refers to the amount of enrgy in the wave
b. State what perceptual quality each physical property is responsible for
- Frequency is responsible for pitch and amplitude is responsible for loudness
3. Transduction of auditory stimuli
a. List the important anatomical structures that help transduce sound (diagram
optional but encouraged) (pg 164)

b. Briefly describe each of their roles in transducing, or transforming, pressure waves

in air to neurological activity
- The outer ear is responsible for gathering sound energy and funneling it to the
eardrum
- The outer ear consists of the pinna, meatus, and tympanum (eardrum).
The outer ear helps capture the sound waves and channel them into the ear
- The middle ear acts as a mechanical transformer
- The middle ear consists of the ossicle bone. The middle of the ear is filled
with air so it allows sound waves to move better
- The inner ear has receptors for transduction of the mechanical wave into an
electrical signal
- The inner ear consists of 3 parts: semicircular canals, the vestibule, and
then cochlea. The semicircular canals and the vestibule affect the sense of balance.
The cochlea is whorled structure that contains receptors for transduction of the
mechanical wave into an electrical signal
4. Pitch perception:
a. Briefly describe/explain place theory
- Different portions of the basilar membrane are sensitive to sounds of different
frequency. The base responds to high frequency and the tip of the basilar membrane
responds to low frequency
b. Briefly describe/explain temporal theory
- Frequency is coded by the activity level of a sensory neuron
5. Sound localization:
a. Compare and contrast monaural cues and binaural cues
- Monaural cues help us locate sounds that occur above or below and in front or
behind us. Binaural cues provide information on the location of a sound along a
horizontal axis by relying on differences in patterns of vibration of the eardrum
between our two ears
b. Compare and contrast interaural level and interaural timing
- Interaural level refers to the fact that a sound coming from your right side of
your body is more intense at your right ear than your left because of the attenuation of
the sound wave as it passes through your head. Interaural timing refers to the small
differences in the time at which a given sound wave arrives at each ear
6. Taste perception:
a. Identify the five primary tastes that humans can detect
- Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami
b. For each taste, identify a possible behavioral role/survival value of that taste
- Everyone has cravings that tell us what our body wants to taste, such as the
craving for a chocolate bar. Umami is a Japanese words for yummy, and it is the new

taste that we have discovered

7. Touch receptors: For each of the receptor types listed, describe (i) the relative
location & (ii) the type of sensory stimulus that activates the receptor
a. Meissners corpuscles
- Is near the top of the skin and is next to the Merkels disk
- Responds to pressure and lower frequency vibrations
b. Pacinian corpuscles
- Is the deepest of the corpuscle and is below the Ruffini corpuscle
- Detects transient pressure and higher frequency vibrations
c. Merkels disks
- Is in between the Ruffini corpuscle and the Mesissners corpuscle
- Respond to light pressure
d. Free nerve endings
- Are in the skin starting in the epidermis and end in the stratum granulosum
- Respond to pain
8. Vestibular sense:
a. What is the vestibular sense?
- Sensations by the body rotation, gravitation, and movement
b. Compare and contrast proprioception & kinesthesia.
- Both have to do with the vestibular system but proprioception has to do with
the bodys perception of body position and kinesthesia has to do with the perception of
the bodys movement through space
c. What type of physical stimulus is processed by the vestibular system?
d. What receptors are used in the vestibular system?
- Gravity receptors. They work to adjust blood pressure, limb positiong and
immune responses
e. List the important anatomical structures for the vestibular system.
- semicircular ducts and the 2 otholic organs which are saccule and utericle
9. Briefly explain each of the listed Gestalt principles. mean and give an example of
how context effects influence the perception:
a. Figure-ground
- According to this principle we tend to segment our visual world into figure and
ground. Our ability to interpret sensory information depends on what we label as figure
and ground
b. Proximity
- This principle asserts that things that are close to one another tend to be
grouped to together. How we read something provides us with another illustration of

this concept
c. Similarity
- This principle states, things that are alike tend to be grouped together. When
watching football we group the individuals by the color of their uniforms
d. Continuity
- The law suggests that we are more likely to perceive continuous smooth
flowing lines rather than jagged, broken lines. Such as when we see to lines crossing
at a specified point, we see 2 continuously flowing lines and not for little lines meeting
at the same spot
e. Closure
- This principle states that we organize our perceptions into complete objects
rather than as a series of parts. Such as when we see an image of a shape that has
segments take out of it we can still figure out what it is