PSYC 100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Cochlea, Hair Cell, Middle Ear

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jens Pruessner

Document Summary

When helen keller was 19 months old she lost the senses of sight and hearing. The only senses that aided her were touch, smell, and taste. Psychologists divide the way we experience the world into two distinct phases: Sensation: detect external stimuli; an elementary experience such as colour or motion without the more complex perceptual experience of what is being seen or what is moving; detection. Perception: is the brain"s further processing of these detected signals; construction of meaningful and useful information about a particular environment. What we sense is the result of how we perceive. Stimuli must be coded to be understood by the brain. Transduction: the translation of stimuli into chemical and electrical signals. Most sensory information first goes to the thalamus, a structure in the middle of the brain. Neurons in the thalamus send information to the cortex where incoming neural impulses are interpreted as sight, smell, taste, sound or touch.