Psychology 2221B Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Cochlear Nucleus, Medial Geniculate Nucleus, Tectorial Membrane

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2221B
• Professor: Shelley Cross- Mellor

Document Summary

Characteristics of sound waves give raise to different sounds. Frequency: how many cycles per second, perceived as differences in pitch. Low freq= low pitch complexity of sound waves we perceive as differences in timbre. Auditory system: sounds: vibrations of air molecules that stimulate the auditory system; humans only hear between. Amplitude, frequency and complexity of the molecular vibrations are closely linked to perceptions of loudness, pitch and timbre respectively. Pure tones: sine wave vibrations exist only in labs and sound studios; in real life sound is more complex vibrations series of sine waves added together form one sound (fourier analysis: breaking sound into sine waves) Pitch: related to fundamental frequency: the highest frequency of which various component frequencies ie a sound with 100 hz, 200 hz, 300 hz frequencies has a pitch related to 100 hz. The ear sound wave gets sent to auditory canal to the tympanic membrane.