PSY 201 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Olfaction, Optic Chiasm, Cornea
8 Feb 2018
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Document Summary
Audition (hearing) caused by vibrations in the air. Somatosensation (touch) caused by deformation / temperature / pain of skin. Olfaction (smell) sensed by chemicals in the air we breathe. Gustation (taste) sensed by chemicals in the food we eat. Kinesthetics (body awareness) sensed through muscle strength and joint angles. Vestibular sense (balance) caused by gravity & motion. Sensation: initial coding of messages from the senses. Continuous process: can think of sensation and perception as the incoming signals into useful informations (representations) about the world. Receptors: specialized structures that respond to a physical stimuli by producing electrical changes that can initiate neural impulses. React differently to stimulation from the environment. Transduction: the conversion of energy from a physical stimulus to neural responders. Coding: representation of the stimulus in the pattern of action potentials. More intense light) -> larger electrical changes in the receptors -> faster rates of action potentials in sensory neurons.
