PSYCH 3A03 Lecture Notes - Psych, Kilogram, Atomic Clock

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 3A03
• Professor: Paul Faure

Document Summary

When we are listening we are interested in identifying: Different sounds from different sources combine to produce one physical stimulus (i. e. there is a complex sound field) Able to differentiate the sources of complex sound field such as an orchestra. What are the basic physical aspects of sound. Complex sound field: sounds from different sources combine to produce one physical stimulus. Multiple frequencies combine to produce one stimulus. This differs dramatically from our two other major senses: Only one time varying pressure wave form; only one signal for the auditory system. Nervous system processes complex sound field and decodes signals into electrochemical signal. Integration with other systems to produce appropriate behaiour. Able to decode the information from a single stimulus from sound. Auditory system is the fastest auditory system. Cochlea is receptor map which corresponds to the frequency, no one to one mapping in space.