Chapter 5 Sensation, Myers Psychology 8e

5:

Sensation

CHAPTER OVERVIEW Sensation refers to the process by which we detect physical energy from the environment and encode it as neural signals. This chapter describes the senses of vision, hearing, taste, touch, smell, kinesthesis, and the vestibular sense. It also presents research findings from studies of subliminal stimulation. In this chapter there are many terms to learn and several theories you must understand. Many of the terms are related to the structure of the eye, ear, and other sensory receptors. Doing the chapter review several times, labeling the diagrams, and rehearsing the material frequently will help you to memorize these structures and their functions. The theories discussed include the signal detection, YoungHelmholtz three-color and opponent-process theories of color vision, and the frequency and place theories of pitch. As you study these theories, concentrate on understanding the strengths and weaknesses (if any) of each. NOTE: Answer guidelines for all Chapter 5 questions begin on page 145.

CHAPTER REVIEW First, skim each section, noting headings and boldface items. After you have read the section, review each objective by answering the fill-in and essay-type questions that follow it. As you proceed, evaluate your performance by consulting the answers beginning on page 145. Do not continue with the next section until you understand each answer. If you need to, review or reread the section in the textbook before continuing.

Introduction (pp. 197–198) David Myers at times uses idioms that are unfamiliar to some readers. If you do not know the meaning of the following expression in the context in which it appears in the text, refer to page 154 for an explanation: . . . in a mirror she is again stumped. Objective 1: Contrast sensation and perception, and explain the difference between bottom-up and topdown processing. 1. The process by which we detect physical energy from the environment and encode it as neural signals is . The process by which sensations are selected, organized, and interpreted is . 2. Sensory analysis, which starts at the entry level and works up, is called . Perceptual analysis, which works from our experience and expectations, is called . 3. The perceptual disorder in which a person has lost the ability to recognize familiar faces is .

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Sensing the World: Some Basic Principles (pp. 198–203) If you do not know the meaning of any of the following words, phrases, or expressions in the context in which they appear in the text, refer to page 154 for an explanation: A frog could starve to death knee-deep in motionless flies; The shades on our senses are open just a crack; the faintest whimper from the cradle; “satanic messages”; hucksters; price hike . . . to raise the eyebrows; So everywhere that Mary looks, the scene is sure to go. Objective 2: Distinguish between absolute and difference thresholds, and discuss whether we can sense stimuli below our absolute threshold and be influenced by them. 1. The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them is .

. 8. The principle that the difference threshold is not a constant amount, but a constant proportion, is known as . The proportion depends on the . Objective 3: Describe sensory adaptation, and explain how we benefit from being unaware of changing stimuli. 9. After constant exposure to an unchanging stimulus, the receptor cells of our senses begin to fire less vigorously; this phenomenon is called . 10. This phenomenon illustrates that sensation is designed to focus on changes in the environment. Explain why sensory adaptation is beneficial.

2. The refers to the minimum stimulation necessary for a stimulus to be detected percent of the time. 3. The theory of led to the concept that absolute thresholds depend not only on the strength of the signal but also on a person’s state. 4. Some entrepreneurs claim that exposure to “below threshold,” or , stimuli can be persuasive, but their claims are probably unwarranted. 5. Some weak stimuli may trigger in our sensory receptors a response that is processed by the brain, even though the response doesn’t cross the threshold into awareness. 6. Under certain conditions, an invisible image or word can a person’s response to a later question. The illustrates that much of our information processing occurs . 7. The minimum difference required to distinguish two stimuli 50 percent of the time is called the . Another term for this value is the

Vision (pp. 204–215) If you do not know the meaning of any of the following words, phrases, or expressions in the context in which they appear in the text, refer to pages 154–155 for an explanation: blind spot; Rods have no such hotline; Holy Grail; blindsight; Color, like all aspects of vision, . . . the theater of our brains.

Objective 4: Define transduction, and specify the form of energy our visual system converts into the neural messages our brain can interpret. 1. Stimulus energy is converted into messages through the . process of sensory 2. The visible spectrum of light is a small portion of the larger spectrum of radiation. 3. The distance from one light wave peak to the next is called . This value

Vision

determines the wave’s color, or .

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network of cells. The axons of ganglion cells converge to form the , which carries the visual information to the .

4. The amount of energy in light waves, or , determined by a wave’s , or height, influences the of a light. Objective 5: Describe the major structures of the eye, and explain how they guide an incoming ray of light toward the eye’s receptor cells.

11. Where this nerve leaves the eye, there are no receptors; thus the area is called the .

5. Light enters the eye through the , then passes through a small opening called the ; the size of this opening is controlled by the . colored

12. Most cones are clustered around the retina’s point of central focus, called the , whereas the rods are concentrated in more regions of the retina. Many cones have their own cells to communicate with the visual cortex.

6. By changing its curvature, the can focus the image of an object onto the , the lightsensitive inner surface of the eye.

13. It is the (rods/cones) of the eye that permit the perception of color, whereas (rods/cones) enable blackand-white vision.

7. The process by which the lens changes shape to focus images is called . Clarity, or sharpness, of vision is called .

14. Unlike cones, in dim light the rods are (sensitive/insensitive). Adapting to a darkened room will take the retina minutes. approximately

8. In nearsightedness, light rays from (nearby/distant) objects (in front of/in converge back of) the retina, rather than on it, and (nearby/distant) objects are seen more clearly than (nearby/distant) objects. In farsightedness, light rays from (nearby/distant) objects converge (in front of/in back of) the retina, and (nearby/distant) objects are seen more clearly than (nearby/distant) objects. Objective 6: Contrast the two types of receptor cells in the retina, and describe the retina’s reaction to light. 9. The retina’s receptor cells are the and

.

10. The neural signals produced in the rods and cones activate the neighboring cells, which then activate a

Objective 7: Discuss the different levels of processing that occur as information travels from the retina to the brain’s cortex. 15. Visual information percolates through progressively more levels. In the brain, it is routed by the to higher-level brain areas. Hubel and Wiesel discovered that certain neurons in the of the brain respond only to specific features of what is viewed. They called these neurons . 16. Feature detectors pass their information to higher-level brain cells in the brain, including an area in the cortex, which responds to specific visual scenes. Research has shown that in monkey brains such cells specialize in responding to a specific , , , or .

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Researchers have also identified nerve cells that may respond or not, depending on how a monkey a given image. Objective 8: Define parallel processing, and discuss its role in visual information processing. 17. The brain achieves its remarkable speed in visual perception by processing several subdivisions of a stimulus (simultaneously/sequentially). This procedure, called , may explain why people who have suffered a stroke may lose just one aspect of vision. Other braindamaged people may demonstrate by responding to a stimulus that is not consciously perceived. 18. Once the distributed parts of the brain have processed sensory stimuli, EEG recordings reveal a moment of neural , lasting for about a fourth of a second and creating waves. Other senses process information with (similar/slower/faster) speed and intricacy. Objective 9: Explain how the Young-Helmholtz and opponent-process theories help us understand color vision. 19. An object appears to be red in color because it the long wavelengths of red and because of our mental of the color. 20. One out of every 50 people is color deficient; this is usually a male because the defect is genetically . 21. According to the

color, as an

23. Hering’s theory of color vision is called the theory. According to this theory, after visual information leaves the receptors it is analyzed in terms of pairs of opposing colors: versus , versus , and also versus . Summarize the two stages of color processing.

Objective 10: Explain the importance of color constancy. 24. The experience of color depends on the in which an object is seen. 25. In an unvarying context, a familiar object will be perceived as having consistent color, even as the light changes. This phenomenon is called . 26. We see color as a result of our brains’ computaby any tions of the light object relative to its .

-

theory, the eyes have three types of color receptors: one reacts most strongly to , one to , and one to . Mixing lights, as Young and von Helmholtz did, is color mixing, unlike mixing paints, which is . 22. After staring at a green square for a while, you will see the color red, its

.

Hearing (pp. 215–224) If you do not know the meaning of any of the following words, phrases, or expressions in the context in which they appear in the text, refer to page 155 for an explanation: sensitive to faint sounds, an obvious boon; A piccolo produces much shorter, faster sound waves than does a tuba; earlids; If a car to the right honks; cock your head; the culprits are . . . ear-splitting noise or music.

Hearing

Objective 11: Describe the pressure waves we experience as sound. 1. The stimulus for hearing, or , is sound waves, created by the compression and expansion of . 2. The amplitude of a sound wave determines the sound’s . 3. The pitch of a sound is derived from the of its wave. 4. Sound energy is measured in units called . The absolute threshold for hearing is arbitrarily defined as such units. Objective 12: Describe the three regions of the ear, and outline the series of events that triggers the electrical impulses sent to the brain. 5. The ear is divided into three main parts: the ear, the ear, and the ear. 6. The outer ear channels sound waves toward the , a tight membrane that then vibrates. 7. The middle ear transmits the vibrations through a piston made of three small bones: the , , and . 8. In the inner ear, a coiled tube called the contains the receptor cells for hearing. The incoming vibrations cause the to vibrate the fluid that fills the tube, which causes ripples in the , which is lined with . This movement triggers impulses in adjacent nerve fibers that converge to form the auditory nerve, which carries the neural messages (via the ) to the lobe’s auditory cortex. The brain interprets loudness from the of hair cells a sound activates.

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9. (Close-Up) On tasks requiring alert performance, people in noisy environments work (more/less) efficiently. People who live in noisy environments suffer elevated rates of -related disorders such as , , and . Noise is especially stressful when it is or . Objective 13: Contrast place and frequency theories, and explain how they help us to understand pitch perception. 10. One theory of pitch perception proposes that different pitches activate different places on the cochlea’s basilar membrane; this is the theory. This theory has difficulty accounting for how we hear -pitched sounds, which do not have such localized effects. 11. A second theory proposes that neural impulses, sent to the brain at the same frequency as the sound wave, allow the perception of different pitches. This is the theory. This theory fails to account for the perception of -pitched sounds, because individual neurons cannot fire faster than times per second. 12. For the higher pitches, cells may alternate their firing to match the sound’s frequency, according principle. to the Objective 14: Describe how we pinpoint sounds. 13. We locate a sound by sensing differences in the and with which it reaches our ears. 14. A sound that comes from directly ahead will be (easier/harder) to locate than a sound that comes from off to one side. 15. As with visual information, the brain uses as specialized neural teams work on different auditory tasks simultaneously.

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Objective 15: Contrast the two types of hearing loss, and describe some of their causes. 16. Problems in the mechanical conduction of sound waves through the outer or middle ear may cause . 17. Damage to the cochlea’s hair cell receptors or their associated auditory nerves can cause hearing loss. It may be caused by disease, but more often it results from the biological changes linked with and prolonged exposure to ear-splitting noise or music.

Other Important Senses (pp. 224–235) If you do not know the meaning of any of the following words, phrases, or expressions in the context in which they appear in the text, refer to pages 155–156 for an explanation: we yearn to touch—to kiss, to stroke, to snuggle; Rubbing the area around your stubbed toe; Sometimes the pain in sprain is mainly in the brain; firewalking, . . . putting his feet where his mouth was; A welltrained nurse may distract needle-shy patients by chatting with them; there is more to taste than meets the tongue; bathing your nostrils in a stream of scent-laden molecules; Words more readily portray the sound of coffee brewing than its aroma; biological gyroscopes.

18. Scientists have discovered ways to hair cell regeneration. Objective 17: Describe the sense of touch. Objective 16: Describe how cochlear implants function, and explain why Deaf culture advocates object to these devices. 19. An electronic device that restores hearing among nerve-deafened people is a . 20. Advocates of object to the use of these before they implants on have learned to . The basis for their argument is that deafness is not a . 21. Sign language (is/is not) a complete language, (with/without) its own grammar, syntax, and semantics. Those who learn only sign language during childhood (have/do not have) difficulty later learning to read and write. People who lose one channel of sensation (such as hearing) (seem to/do not seem to) compensate with a slight enhancement in their other sensory abilities. 22. People who become deaf, or who lose another channel of sensation, often experience in another ability. 23. (Close-Up) Deaf children raised in a household where sign language is used express higher and feel more .

1. The sense of touch is a mixture of at least four senses: , , , and . Other skin sensations, such as tickle, itch, hot, and wetness, are of the basic ones. 2. The influence on touch is illustrated by the fact that a self-produced tickle produces less activation in the than someone else’s tickle. Objective 18: State the purpose of pain, and describe the biopsychosocial approach to pain. 3. People born without the ability to feel pain may be unaware of experiencing severe . People with illness-related experience extreme sensitivity to things others find only mildly painful. 4. Pain is a property of the as well as of the .

and our

5. A sensation of pain in an amputated leg is referred to as a sensation. Another example , experienced by people is who have a ringing-in-the-ears sensation.

Other Important Senses

6. Pain-producing brain activity may be triggered with or without . 7. The pain system (is/is not) triggered by one specific type of physical energy. The body (does/does not) have specialized receptor cells for pain. 8. Melzack and Wall have proposed a theory of pain called the theory, which proposes that there is a neurological in the that blocks pain signals or lets them through. It may be opened by activation of (small/large) nerve fibers and closed by activation of (small/large) fibers or by information from the . 9. Individual differences in perceiving pain are an example of influences on pain. Such influences demonstrate that pain is not phenomenon, as merely a proposed centuries ago by . . Rather, pain is created by the List some pain control techniques used in the Lamaze method of prepared childbirth and in other health care situations.

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12. Taste receptors reproduce themselves every . As we age, the number of taste buds (increases/decreases/remains unchanged) and our taste sensitivity (increases/decreases/remains unchanged). Taste is also affected by and by use. 13. When the sense of smell is blocked, as when we have a cold, foods do not taste the same; this illustrates the principle of . The effect occurs when we a speaker saying one syllable while another. Objective 20: Describe the sense of smell, and explain why specific odors so easily trigger memories. 14. Like taste, smell, or

, is a sense. Unlike light, an odor (can/cannot) be separated into more elemental odors.

15. The ability to identify scents peaks in and declines thereafter. 16. The attractiveness of smells depends on associations. 17. Odors are able to evoke memories and feelings because there is a direct link between the brain area that gets information from the nose and the centers associated ancient with memory and emotion.

Objective 19: Describe the sense of taste, and explain the principle of sensory interaction.

Objective 21: Distinguish between kinesthesis and the vestibular sense.

10. The basic taste sensations are , , , , and a meaty taste called .

18. The system for sensing the position and movement of body parts is called . The receptors for this sense are located in the , , and of the body.

11. Taste, which is a enabled by the 200 or more

sense, is

on the top and sides of the tongue. Each contains a that catches food chemicals.

19. The sense that monitors the position and movement of the head (and thus the body) is the .

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The receptors for this sense are located in the and of the inner ear.

PROGRESS TEST 1 Multiple-Choice Questions Circle your answers to the following questions and check them with the answers beginning on page 146. If your answer is incorrect, read the explanation for why it is correct and then consult the appropriate pages of the text (in parentheses following the correct answer). 1. Which of the following is true? a. The absolute threshold for any stimulus is a constant. b. The absolute threshold for any stimulus varies somewhat. c. The absolute threshold is defined as the minimum amount of stimulation necessary for a stimulus to be detected 75 percent of the time. d. The absolute threshold is defined as the minimum amount of stimulation necessary for a stimulus to be detected 60 percent of the time. 2. Nearsightedness is a condition in which the: a. lens has become inflexible. b. lens is too thin. c. image falls behind the retina. d. image falls in front of the retina. 3. If you can just notice the difference between 10and 11-pound weights, which of the following weights could you differentiate from a 100-pound weight? a. 101-pound weight b. 105-pound weight c. 110-pound weight d. There is no basis for prediction. 4. A decrease in sensory responsiveness accompanying an unchanging stimulus is called: a. sensory fatigue. b. accommodation. c. sensory adaptation. d. sensory interaction. 5. The size of the pupil is controlled by the: a. lens. c. cornea. b. retina. d. iris.

6. The process by which the lens changes its curvature is: a. accommodation. c. feature detection. b. sensory adaptation. d. transduction. 7. The receptor of the eye that functions best in dim light is the: a. fovea. c. bipolar cell. b. cone d. rod. 8. The Young-Helmholtz theory proposes that: a. there are three different types of colorsensitive cones. b. retinal cells are excited by one color and inhibited by its complementary color. c. there are four different types of cones. d. rod, not cone, vision accounts for our ability to detect fine visual detail. 9. Frequency is to pitch as . a. wavelength; loudness b. amplitude; loudness c. wavelength; intensity d. amplitude; intensity

is to

10. Our experience of pain when we are injured depends on: a. our biological make-up and the type of injury we have sustained. b. how well medical personnel deal with our injury. c. our physiology, experiences and attention, and our surrounding culture. b. what our cultural allows us to express in terms of feelings of pain. 11. The place theory of pitch perception cannot account for how we hear: a. low-pitched sounds. b. middle-pitched sounds. c. high-pitched sounds. d. chords (three or more pitches simultaneously). 12. The hearing losses that occur with age are especially pronounced for: a. low-pitched sounds. b. middle-pitched sounds. c. high-pitched sounds. d. chords.

Progress Test 1

13. According to the gate-control theory, a way to alleviate chronic pain would be to stimulate the nerve fibers that the spinal gate. a. small; open c. large; open b. small; close d. large; close 14. The transduction of light energy into nerve impulses takes place in the: a. iris. c. lens. b. retina. d. optic nerve. 15. The brain breaks vision into separate dimensions such as color, depth, movement, and form, and works on each aspect simultaneously. This is called: a. feature detection. b. parallel processing. c. accommodation. d. opponent processing. 16. Kinesthesis involves: a. the bones of the middle ear. b. information from the muscles, tendons, and joints. c. membranes within the cochlea. d. the body’s sense of balance.

17. One light may appear reddish and another greenish if they differ in: a. wavelength. c. opponent processes. b. amplitude. d. brightness. 18. Which of the following explains why a rose appears equally red in bright and dim light? a. the Young-Helmholtz theory b. the opponent-process theory c. feature detection d. color constancy 19. Which of the following is an example of sensory adaptation? a. finding the cold water of a swimming pool warmer after you have been in it for a while b. developing an increased sensitivity to salt the more you use it in foods c. becoming very irritated at the continuing sound of a dripping faucet d. All of the above are examples. 20. Most color-deficient people will probably: a. lack functioning red- or green-sensitive cones. b. see the world in only black and white. c. also suffer from poor vision. d. have above-average vision to compensate for the deficit.

Matching Items Match each of the structures with its function or description. Structures or Conditions

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

lens iris pupil rods cones middle ear inner ear large nerve fiber small nerve fiber semicircular canals sensors in joints acuity farsightedness nearsightedness

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Functions or Descriptions

a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. m. n.

amplifies sounds closes pain gate vestibular sense controls pupil accommodation eyeball is too short opens pain gate admits light eyeball is too long vision in dim light transduction of sound sharpness of vision kinesthesis color vision

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PROGRESS TEST 2 Progress Test 2 should be completed during a final chapter review. Answer the following questions after you thoroughly understand the correct answers for the section reviews and Progress Test 1. Multiple-Choice Questions 1. Which of the following is not one of the basic tastes? a. sweet c. umami b. salty d. bland 2. Of the four distinct skin senses, the only one that has definable receptors is: a. warmth. c. pressure. b. cold. d. pain. 3. The process by which sensory information is converted into neural energy is: a. sensory adaptation. c. signal detection. b. feature detection. d. transduction. 4. The receptors for taste are located in the: a. taste buds. c. fovea. b. cochlea. d. cortex. 5. The inner ear contains receptors for: a. audition and kinesthesis. b. kinesthesis and the vestibular sense. c. audition and the vestibular sense. d. audition, kinesthesis, and the vestibular sense. 6. According to the opponent-process theory: a. there are three types of color-sensitive cones. b. the process of color vision begins in the cortex. c. neurons involved in color vision are stimulated by one color’s wavelength and inhibited by another’s. d. all of the above are true. 7. Nerve deafness is caused by: a. wax buildup in the outer ear. b. damage to the eardrum. c. blockage in the middle ear because of infection. d. damage to the cochlea. 8. What enables you to feel yourself wiggling your toes even with your eyes closed? a. vestibular sense b. sense of kinesthesis c. the skin senses d. sensory interaction

9. The frequency theory of hearing is better than place theory at explaining our sensation of: a. the lowest pitches. b. pitches of intermediate range. c. the highest pitches. d. all of the above. 10. Hubel and Wiesel discovered feature detectors in the visual: a. fovea. c. iris. b. optic nerve. d. cortex. 11. Weber’s law states that: a. the absolute threshold for any stimulus is a constant. b. the jnd for any stimulus is a constant. c. the absolute threshold for any stimulus is a constant proportion. d. the jnd for any stimulus is a constant proportion. 12. The principle that one sense may influence another is: a. transduction. c. Weber’s law. b. sensory adaptation. d. sensory interaction. 13. Which of the following is the correct order of the structures through which light passes after entering the eye? a. lens, pupil, cornea, retina b. pupil, cornea, lens, retina c. pupil, lens, cornea, retina d. cornea, pupil, lens, retina 14. In the opponent-process theory, the three pairs of processes are: a. red-green, blue-yellow, black-white. b. red-blue, green-yellow, black-white. c. red-yellow, blue-green, black-white. d. dependent upon the individual’s experience. 15. Wavelength is to brightness. a. hue; intensity b. intensity; hue c. frequency; amplitude d. brightness; hue

as

is to

Psychology Applied

16. Concerning the evidence for subliminal stimulation, which of the following is the best answer? a. The brain processes some information without our awareness. b. Stimuli too weak to cross our thresholds for awareness may trigger a response in our sense receptors. c. Because the “absolute” threshold is a statistical average, we are able to detect weaker stimuli some of the time. d. All of the above are true. 17. Which of the following is the most accurate description of how we process color? a. Throughout the visual system, color processing is divided into separate red, green, and blue systems. b. Red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white opponent processes operate throughout the visual system. c. Color processing occurs in two stages: (1) a three-color system in the retina and (2) opponent-process cells en route to the visual cortex. d. Color processing occurs in two stages: (1) an opponent-process system in the retina and (2) a three-color system en route to the visual cortex. 18. Which of the following is the most accurate explanation of how we discriminate pitch? a. For all audible frequencies, pitch is coded according to the place of maximum vibration on the cochlea’s basilar membrane. b. For all audible frequencies, the rate of neural activity in the auditory nerve matches the frequency of the sound wave. c. For very high frequencies, pitch is coded according to place of vibration on the basilar membrane; for lower pitches, the rate of neural activity in the auditory nerve matches the sound’s frequency. d. For very high frequencies, the rate of neural activity in the auditory nerve matches the frequency of the sound wave; for lower frequencies, pitch is coded according to the place of vibration on the basilar membrane. 19. One reason that your ability to detect fine visual details is greatest when scenes are focused on the fovea of your retina is that: a. there are more feature detectors in the fovea than in the peripheral regions of the retina. b. cones in the fovea are nearer to the optic nerve than those in peripheral regions of the retina.

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c. many rods, which are clustered in the fovea, have individual bipolar cells to relay their information to the cortex. d. many cones, which are clustered in the fovea, have individual bipolar cells to relay their information to the cortex. 20. Given normal sensory ability, a person standing atop a mountain on a dark, clear night can see a candle flame atop a mountain 30 miles away. This is a description of vision’s: a. difference threshold. c. absolute threshold. b. jnd. d. signal detection.

PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED Answer these questions the day before an exam as a final check on your understanding of the chapter’s terms and concepts. Multiple-Choice Questions 1. In shopping for a new stereo, you discover that you cannot differentiate between the sounds of models X and Y. The difference between X and Y is below your: a. absolute threshold. c. receptor threshold. b. signal detection. d. difference threshold. 2. In order to maximize your sensitivity to fine visual detail you should: a. stare off to one side of the object you are attempting to see. b. close one eye. c. decrease the intensity of the light falling upon the object. d. stare directly at the object. 3. The phantom limb sensation indicates that: a. pain is a purely sensory phenomenon. b. the central nervous system plays only a minor role in the experience of pain. c. pain involves the brain’s interpretation of neural activity. d. all of the above are true.

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4. While competing in the Olympic trials, marathoner Kirsten O’Brien suffered a stress fracture in her left leg. That she did not experience significant pain until the race was over is probably attributable to the fact that during the race: a. the pain gate in her spinal cord was closed by information coming from her brain. b. her body’s production of endorphins decreased. c. an increase in the activity of small pain fibers closed the pain gate. d. a decrease in the activity of large pain fibers closed the pain gate. 5. Which of the following is an example of sensory interaction? a. finding that despite its delicious aroma, a weird-looking meal tastes awful b. finding that food tastes bland when you have a bad cold c. finding it difficult to maintain your balance when you have an ear infection d. All of the above are examples. 6. In comparing the human eye to a camera, the film would be located in the eye’s: a. pupil. c. cornea. b. lens. d. retina. 7. Sensation is to as perception is to . a. recognizing a stimulus; interpreting a stimulus b. detecting a stimulus; recognizing a stimulus c. interpreting a stimulus; detecting a stimulus d. seeing; hearing 8. I am a cell in the thalamus that is excited by red and inhibited by green. I am a(n): a. feature detector. c. bipolar cell. b. cone. d. opponent-process cell. 9. Which of the following correctly lists the order of structures through which sound travels after entering the ear? a. auditory canal, eardrum, middle ear, cochlea b. eardrum, auditory canal, middle ear, cochlea c. eardrum, middle ear, cochlea, auditory canal d. cochlea, eardrum, middle ear, auditory canal

10. Dr. Frankenstein has forgotten to give his monster an important part; as a result, the monster cannot transduce sound. Dr. Frankenstein omitted the: a. eardrum. c. semicircular canals. b. middle ear. d. basilar membrane. 11. Seventy-five-year-old Claude has difficulty hearing high-pitched sounds. Most likely his hearing problem involves: a. his eardrum. b. his auditory canal. c. the bones of his middle ear. d. the hair cells of his inner ear. 12. Which of the following is true of cones? a. Cones enable color vision. b. Cones are highly concentrated in the foveal region of the retina. c. Cones have a higher absolute threshold for brightness than rods. d. All of the above are true. 13. Assuming that the visual systems of humans and other mammals function similarly, you would expect that the retina of a nocturnal mammal (one active only at night) would contain: a. mostly cones. b. mostly rods. c. an equal number of rods and cones. d. more bipolar cells than an animal active only during the day. 14. As the football game continued into the night, LeVar noticed that he was having difficulty distinguishing the colors of the players’ uniforms. , which enable color This is because the vision, have a absolute threshold for brightness than the available light intensity. a. rods; higher c. rods; lower b. cones; higher d. cones; lower 15. After staring at a very intense red stimulus for a few minutes, Carrie shifted her gaze to a beige wall and “saw” the color . Carrie’s experience provides support for the theory. a. green; trichromatic b. blue; opponent-process c. green; opponent-process d. blue; trichromatic

Psychology Applied

16. Elderly Mrs. Martinez finds that she must spice her food heavily or she cannot taste it. Unfortunately, her son often finds her cooking inedible because it is so spicy. What is the likely explanation for their taste differences? a. Women have higher taste thresholds than men. b. Men have higher taste thresholds than women. c. Being elderly, Mrs. Martinez probably has fewer taste buds than her son. d. All of the above are likely explanations. 17. When admiring the texture of a piece of fabric, Calvin usually runs his fingertips over the cloth’s surface. He does this because: a. if the cloth were held motionless, sensory adaptation to its feel would quickly occur. b. the sense of touch does not adapt. c. a relatively small amount of brain tissue is devoted to processing touch from the fingertips. d. of all the above reasons. 18. Superman’s eyes used , while his . brain used a. perception; sensation b. top-down processing; bottom-up processing c. bottom-up processing; top-down processing d. sensory adaptation; subliminal perception 19. How does pain differ from other senses? a. It has no special receptors. b. It has no single stimulus. c. It is influenced by both physical and psychological phenomena. d. All the above are true. 20. Tamiko hates the bitter taste of her cough syrup. Which of the following would she find most helpful in minimizing the syrup’s bad taste? a. tasting something very sweet before taking the cough syrup b. keeping the syrup in her mouth for several seconds before swallowing it c. holding her nose while taking the cough syrup d. gulping the cough syrup so that it misses her tongue

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Essay Question A dancer in a chorus line uses many sensory cues when performing. Discuss three senses that dancers rely on and explain why each is important. (Use the space below to list the points you want to make, and organize them. Then write the essay on a separate sheet of paper.)

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Summing Up Use the diagrams to identify the parts of the eye and ear, then list them in the order in which they contribute to vision and hearing. Also, briefly explain the role of each structure. The Eye 1. 2. 3. 4.

5.

6.

7.

The Ear 1. 2. 3. 4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Key Terms

Key Terms Writing Definitions Using your own words, on a piece of paper write a brief definition or explanation of each of the following terms.

22. nearsightedness 23. farsightedness 24. rods and cones 25. optic nerve 26. blind spot

1. sensation

27. fovea

2. perception

28. feature detectors

3. bottom-up processing 4. top-down processing 5. psychophysics 6. absolute threshold 7. signal detection theory 8. subliminal 9. priming 10. difference threshold 11. Weber’s law 12. sensory adaptation 13. transduction 14. wavelength and hue 15. intensity 16. pupil 17. iris 18. lens 19. accommodation 20. retina 21. acuity

29. parallel processing 30. Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory 31. opponent-process theory 32. color constancy 33. audition 34. pitch and frequency 35. middle ear 36. cochlea 37. inner ear 38. place theory 39. frequency theory 40. conduction hearing loss 41. sensorineural hearing loss 42. cochlear implant 43. gate-control theory 44. sensory interaction 45. kinesthesis 46. vestibular sense

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Cross-Check As you learned in the Prologue, reviewing and overlearning of material are important to the learning process. After you have written the definitions of the key terms in this chapter, you should complete the crossword puzzle to ensure that you can reverse the process— recognize the term, given the definition. ACROSS

1

2 3 6

11

4

5 8

7

12

9

10

13

14

15

16

17

1. The retina’s point of central focus. 19 20 7. Types of fibers that close the “pain gate.” 21 12. Nerve that carries visual information to the brain. 13. Aspect of light and sound 25 26 determined by the amplitude of energy waves. 14. Unit of measurement for 29 electromagnetic energy. 15. The perceptual experience 30 of color. 16. Membrane that lies at the end of the auditory canal. 17. Term for the color seen after staring at its opponent for a while. 19. Physical dimension of light and sound that determines brightness and loudness, respectively. 21. Type of deafness that results from damage in the mechanics of the outer or middle ear. 22. Membrane “window” at the entrance to the ear’s cochlea. 28. Adjustable opening in the eye through which light enters. 29. Sense of hearing. 30. Transparent protective membrane through which light enters the eye. 31. Inner surface of the eye that contains the rods and cones. DOWN

1. Theory of hearing that the rate of auditory nerve impulses matches the frequency of tones, enabling us to sense pitch. 2. Type of vision caused by a shorter-than-normal eyeball. 3. Energy spectrum that contains visible light. 4. Type of brain cell discovered by Hubel and Wiesel. 5. The basis of a “bionic ear.”

18

22

23 24 28

27

31

6. 8. 9.

10.

11. 18. 20. 23. 24. 25. 26.

27.

-down processing is information processing guided by higher-level mental processes. Sense of the position and movement of body parts. Ability of some brain-damaged patients to respond to something that is not consciously perceived. Study of the relationship between the physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them. Perception of color is strongly influenced by the object’s . Region of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye. Part of the eye that changes shape to focus images on the retina. Sharpness of vision. Region of the ear that contains the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. Region of the ear that contains the cochlea. Theory that the region of maximum vibration along the basilar membrane is the basis of pitch discrimination. Visual receptors that are concentrated in the periphery of the retina.

Answers

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ANSWERS

18. integration; gamma; similar 19. reflects (rejects); construction

Chapter Review

20. sex-linked

Introduction

21. Young-Helmholtz trichromatic; red; green; blue; additive; subtractive

1. sensation; perception 2. bottom-up processing; top-down processing 3. prosopagnosia Sensing the World: Some Basic Principles 1. psychophysics 2. absolute threshold; 50 3. signal detection; psychological 4. subliminal 5. conscious 6. prime; priming effect; automatically 7. difference threshold; just noticeable difference 8. Weber’s law; stimulus 9. sensory adaptation 10. informative Although sensory adaptation reduces our sensitivity, it enables us to focus our attention on informative changes in the environment without being distracted by the uninformative, constant stimulation that bombards our senses. Vision 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.

neural; transduction electromagnetic wavelength; hue intensity; amplitude; brightness cornea; pupil; iris lens; retina accommodation; acuity distant; in front of; nearby; distant; nearby; in back of; distant; nearby rods; cones bipolar; ganglion; optic nerve; brain blind spot fovea; peripheral; bipolar cones; rods sensitive; 20 abstract; thalamus; visual cortex; feature detectors temporal; gaze; head angle; posture; body movement; perceives simultaneously; parallel processing; blindsight

22. opponent; afterimage 23. opponent-process; red; green; yellow; blue; black; white In the first stage of color processing, the retina’s red, green, and blue cones respond in varying degrees to different color stimuli, as suggested by the three-color theory. The resulting signals are then processed in the thalamus by red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white opponent-process cells, which are stimulated by one wavelength and inhibited by its opponent. 24. context 25. color constancy 26. reflected; surrounding objects Hearing 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

audition; air molecules loudness frequency decibels; 0 outer; middle; inner eardrum hammer; anvil; stirrup cochlea; oval window; basilar membrane; hair cells; thalamus; temporal; number less; stress; high blood pressure; anxiety; feelings of helplessness; unanticipated; uncontrollable place; low frequency; high; 1000 volley speed (timing); loudness harder parallel processing conduction hearing loss sensorineural; aging stimulate cochlear implant Deaf culture; children; speak; disability is; with; have; seem to sensory compensation self-esteem; accepted

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Other Important Senses pressure; warmth; cold; pain; variations top-down; somatosensory cortex injury; hyperalgesia senses; brain; expectations phantom limb; tinnitus sensory input is not; does not gate-control; gate; spinal cord; small; large; brain 9. social; physical; René Descartes; brain The Lamaze method of prepared childbirth combines several pain control techniques, including distraction, deep breathing and muscle relaxation, and counterstimulation through gentle massage. Similarly, for burn victims, distraction during painful wound care can be created by immersion in a computer-generated 3-D world. 10. sweet; sour; salty; bitter; umami (meat) 11. chemical; taste buds; pore 12. week or two; decreases; decreases; smoking; alcohol 13. sensory interaction; McGurk; see; hearing 14. olfaction; chemical; cannot 15. early adulthood 16. learned 17. limbic 18. kinesthesis; muscles; tendons; joints 19. vestibular sense; semicircular canals; vestibular sacs 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Progress Test 1 Multiple-Choice Questions 1. b. is the answer. Psychological factors can affect the absolute threshold for a stimulus. (pp. 199–200) a. The absolute threshold for detecting a stimulus depends not only on the strength of the stimulus but also on psychological factors such as experience, expectations, motivation, and fatigue. Thus, the threshold cannot be a constant. c. & d. The absolute threshold is defined as the minimum stimulus that is detected 50 percent of the time. 2. d. is the answer. In nearsightedness, objects converge in front of the retina; one cause of this is an eyeball longer than normal in relation to the lens. (p. 206)

a. Inflexibility of the lens may cause the emergence of farsightedness as we get older. b. Thinness of the lens is unrelated to near- or farsightedness. c. A shorter-than-normal eyeball is related to farsightedness. 3. c. is the answer. According to Weber’s law, the difference threshold is a constant proportion of the stimulus. There is a 10 percent difference between 10 and 11 pounds; since the difference threshold is a constant proportion, the weight closest to 100 pounds that can nonetheless be differentiated from it is 110 pounds (or 100 pounds plus 10 percent). (p. 201) 4. c. is the answer. (p. 202) a. “Sensory fatigue” is not a term in psychology. b. Accommodation refers to an adaptive change in shape by the lens of the eye. d. Sensory interaction is the principle that one sense may influence another. 5. d. is the answer. (p. 205) a. The lens lies behind the pupil and focuses light on the retina. b. The retina is the inner surface of the eyeball and contains the rods and cones. c. The cornea lies in front of the pupil and is the first structure that light passes through as it enters the eye. 6. a. is the answer. (p. 205) b. Sensory adaptation is our diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus. c. Feature detection is the process by which neural cells in the brain respond to specific visual features. d. Transduction refers to the conversion of an environmental stimulus, such as light, into a neural impulse by a receptor—a rod or a cone. 7. d. is the answer. (p. 208) a. The fovea is not a receptor; it is a region of the retina that contains only cones. b. Cones have a higher threshold for brightness than rods and therefore do not function as well in dim light. c. Bipolar cells are not receptors; they are neurons in the retina that link rods and cones with ganglion cells, which make up the optic nerve. 8. a. is the answer. The Young-Helmholtz theory proposes that there are red-, green-, and bluesensitive cones. (p. 212) b. This answer describes Hering’s opponentprocess theory. c. The Young-Helmholtz theory proposes that there are three types of cones, not four.

Answers

d. The Young-Helmholtz theory concerns only color vision, not the detection of visual detail. 9. b. is the answer. Just as wave frequency determines pitch, so wave amplitude determines loudness. (p. 216) a. Amplitude is the physical basis of loudness; wavelength determines frequency and thereby pitch. c. & d. Wavelength, amplitude, and intensity are physical aspects of light and sound. Because the question is based on a relationship between a physical property (frequency) of a stimulus and its psychological attribute (pitch), these answers are incorrect. 10. c. is the answer. The biopsychosocial approach tells us that our experience of pain depends on biological, psychological, and social-cultural factors.. (p. 226) 11. a. is the answer. (p. 219) b. & c. Although the localization of low-pitched sounds along the basilar membrane is poor, that for sounds of middle and, especially, high pitch is good. Therefore, place theory accounts well for high-pitched sounds and, together with frequency theory, can account for middle-pitched sounds. d. As long as the notes of a chord are within the range of responsiveness of the basilar membrane, chord perception can be accounted for by place theory. 12. c. is the answer. (p. 220) d. Chord perception, except for chords comprised exclusively of high-frequency notes, shows no age-dependent decline. 13. d. is the answer. The small fibers conduct most pain signals; the large fibers conduct most other sensory signals from the skin. The gate either allows pain signals to pass on to the brain or blocks them from passing. When the large fibers are stimulated, the pain gate is closed and other sensations are felt in place of pain. (p. 227) 14. b. is the answer. (pp. 206–207) a. The iris controls the diameter of the pupil. c. The lens accommodates its shape to focus images on the retina. d. The optic nerve carries nerve impulses from the retina to the visual cortex. 15. b. is the answer. (p. 210) a. Feature detection is the process by which nerve cells in the brain respond to specific visual features of a stimulus, such as movement or shape. c. Accommodation is the process by which the lens changes its curvature to focus images on the retina.

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d. The opponent-process theory suggests that color vision depends on the response of brain cells to red-green, yellow-blue, and black-white opposing colors. 16. b. is the answer. Kinesthesis, or the sense of the position and movement of body parts, is based on information from the muscles, tendons, and joints. (p. 233) a. & c. The ear plays no role in kinesthesis. d. Equilibrium, or the sense of balance, is not involved in kinesthesis but is, rather, a companion sense. 17. a. is the answer. Wavelength determines hue, or color. (pp. 204–205) b. & d. The amplitude of light determines its brightness. c. Opponent processes are neural systems involved in color vision, not properties of light. 18. d. is the answer. Color constancy is the perception that a familiar object has consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by that object. (pp. 213–214) a. & b. These theories explain how the visual system detects color; they do not explain why colors do not seem to change when lighting does. c. Feature detection explains how the brain recognizes visual images by analyzing their distinctive features of shape, movement, and angle. 19. a. is the answer. Sensory adaptation means a diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus. Only the adjustment to cold water involves a decrease in sensitivity; the other examples involve an increase. (p. 202) 20. a. is the answer. Thus, they have difficulty discriminating these two colors. (p. 212) b. Those who are color deficient are usually not “color blind” in a literal sense. Instead, they are unable to distinguish certain hues, such as red from green. c. Failure to distinguish red and green is separate from, and does not usually affect, general visual ability. d. Color deficiency does not enhance vision. A deficit in one sense often is compensated for by overdevelopment of another sense—for example, hearing in blind people. Matching Items 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

e (p. 205) d (p. 205) h (p. 205) j (p. 206) n (p. 206)

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

a (p. 217) k (p. 217) b (p. 227) g (p. 227) c (p. 234)

11. 12. 13. 14.

m (p. 233) l (p. 206) f (p. 206) i (p. 206)

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Progress Test 2 Multiple-Choice Questions 1. d. is the answer. (p. 229) 2. c. is the answer. Researchers have identified receptors for pressure but have been unable to do so for the other skin senses. (p. 225) 3. d. is the answer. (p. 204) a. Sensory adaptation refers to the diminished sensitivity that occurs with unchanging stimulation. b. Feature detection refers to the process by which nerve cells in the brain respond to specific aspects of visual stimuli, such as movement or shape. c. Signal detection is a task in which the observer must judge whether a faint signal is present. 4. a. is the answer. (p. 230) b. The cochlea contains receptors for hearing. c. The fovea contains receptors for vision (the cones). d. The cortex is the outer layer of the brain, where information detected by the receptors is processed. 5. c. is the answer. The inner ear contains the receptors for audition (hearing) and the vestibular sense; those for kinesthesis are located in the muscles, tendons, and joints. (pp. 217, 234) 6. c. is the answer. After leaving the receptor cells, visual information is analyzed in terms of pairs of opponent colors; neurons stimulated by one member of a pair are inhibited by the other. (p. 213) a. The idea that there are three types of colorsensitive cones is the basis of the YoungHelmholtz three-color theory. b. According to the opponent-process theory, and all other theories of color vision, the process of color vision begins in the retina. 7. d. is the answer. Sensorineural hearing loss is caused by destruction of neural tissue as a result of problems with the cochlea’s receptors or the auditory nerve. (p. 220) a. & c. Wax buildup and blockage because of infection are temporary states; sensorineural hearing loss is permanent. Moreover, sensorineural hearing loss involves the inner ear, rather than the outer or middle ear. b. Damage to the eardrum impairs the mechanical system that conducts sound waves; it could therefore cause conduction hearing loss, not sensorineural hearing loss.

8. b. is the answer. Kinesthesis, the sense of movement of body parts, would enable you to feel your toes wiggling. (p. 233) a. The vestibular sense is concerned with movement and position, or balance, of the whole body, not of its parts. c. The skin, or tactile, senses are pressure, pain, warmth, and cold; they have nothing to do with movement of body parts. d. Sensory interaction, the principle that the senses influence each other, does not play a role in this example, which involves only the sense of kinesthesis. 9. a. is the answer. Frequency theory best explains the lowest pitches. Place theory best explains the highest pitches, and some combination of the two theories probably accounts for our sensation of intermediate-range pitches. (p. 219) 10. d. is the answer. Feature detectors are cortical neurons and hence are located in the visual cortex. (p. 209) a. The fovea contains cones. b. The optic nerve contains neurons that relay nerve impulses from the retina to higher centers in the visual system. c. The iris is simply a ring of muscle tissue, which controls the diameter of the pupil. 11. d. is the answer. Weber’s law concerns difference thresholds (jnd’s), not absolute thresholds, and states that these are constant proportions of the stimuli, not that they remain constant. (p. 202) 12. d. is the answer. (p. 230) a. Transduction is the process by which stimulus energy is converted into nerve impulses. b. Sensory adaptation is diminished sensitivity to unchanging stimulation. c. Weber’s law states that the jnd is a constant proportion of a stimulus. 13. d. is the answer. (p. 205) 14. a. is the answer. (p. 213) 15. a. is the answer. Wavelength determines hue, and intensity determines brightness. (pp. 204–205) 16. d. is the answer. (pp. 200–201) 17. c. is the answer. (p. 211) a. This answer is incorrect because separate red, green, and blue systems operate only in the retina. b. This answer is incorrect because opponentprocess systems operate en route to the brain, after visual processing in the receptors is completed. d. This answer is incorrect because it reverses the correct order of the two stages of processing.

Answers

18. c. is the answer. (p. 219) a. This answer describes how pitch is sensed in the case of high-pitched, but not low-pitched, sounds. b. This answer describes how pitch is sensed in the case of low-pitched, but not high-pitched, sounds. d. This answer is incorrect because it reverses the range of frequencies. 19. d. is the answer. (p. 207) a. Feature detectors are nerve cells located in the visual cortex, not in the fovea of the retina. b. The proximity of rods and cones to the optic nerve does not influence their ability to resolve fine details. c. Rods are concentrated in the peripheral regions of the retina, not in the fovea; moreover, several rods share a single bipolar cell. 20. c. is the answer. The absolute threshold is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus. (p. 199) a. & b. The difference threshold, which is also known as the jnd, is the minimum difference between two stimuli that a person can detect. In this example, there is only one stimulus—the sight of the flame. d. Signal detection is a research task, not a sensory phenomenon.

Psychology Applied Multiple-Choice Questions 1. d. is the answer. (p. 201) a. The absolute threshold refers to whether a single stimulus can be detected, not to whether two stimuli can be differentiated. b. Signal detection is a task in which one must determine whether or not a faint stimulus is present. c. A receptor threshold is a minimum amount of energy that will elicit a neural impulse in a receptor cell. 2. d. is the answer. Greater sensitivity to fine visual detail is associated with the cones, which have their own bipolar cells to relay information to the cortex. The cones are concentrated in the fovea, the retina’s point of central focus. For this reason, staring directly at an object maximizes sensitivity to fine detail. (p. 207) a. If you stare off to one side, the image falls onto peripheral regions of the retina, where rods are concentrated and sensitivity to fine visual detail is poor.

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b. Sensitivity to detail is not directly influenced by whether one or both eyes are stimulated. c. Decreasing the intensity of light would only impair the functioning of the cones, which are sensitive to visual detail but have a high threshold for light intensity. 3. c. is the answer. Since pain is felt in the limb that does not exist, the pain is simply the brain’s (mis)interpretation of neural activity. (p. 227) a. If pain were a purely sensory phenomenon, phantom limb pain would not occur, since the receptors are no longer present. b. That pain is experienced when a limb is missing indicates that the central nervous system, especially the brain, is where pain is sensed. 4. a. is the answer. (p. 227) b. Since endorphins relieve pain, a decrease in their production would have made Kirsten more likely to experience pain. Moreover, because endorphins are released in response to pain, their production probably would have increased. c. Neural activity in small fibers tends to open the pain gate. d. An increase in large-fiber activity would tend to close the pain gate. 5. d. is the answer. Each of these is an example of the interaction of two senses—vision and taste in the case of a., taste and smell in the case of b., and hearing and the vestibular sense in the case of c. (p. 230) 6. d. is the answer. Just as light strikes the film of a camera, visual images entering the eye are projected onto the retina. (p. 206) a. The pupil would be analogous to the aperture of a camera, since both control the amount of light permitted to enter. b. The lens of the eye performs a focusing function similar to the lens of the camera. c. The cornea would be analogous to a camera’s lens cap in that both protect delicate inner structures. 7. b. is the answer. (p. 197) a. Both recognition and interpretation are examples of perception. c. This answer would have been correct if the question had read, “Perception is to sensation as is to .” d. Sensation and perception are important processes in both hearing and seeing. 8. d. is the answer. (p. 213) a. Feature detectors are located in the visual cortex and respond to features such as movement, shape, and angle. b. & c. Cones and bipolar cells are located in the

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retina. Moreover, neither are excited by some colors and inhibited by others. 9. a. is the answer. (p. 217) 10. d. is the answer. The hair cells, which transduce sound energy, are located on the basilar membrane. (p. 207) a. & b. The eardrum and bones of the middle ear merely conduct sound waves to the inner ear, where they are transduced. c. The semicircular canals are involved in the vestibular sense, not hearing. 11. d. is the answer. Hearing losses that result from aging are greatest in the higher frequencies and involve damage to the hair cells on the basilar membrane of the cochlea. (p. 220) a., b., & c. Damage to the eardrum, auditory canal, or bones of the middle ear would probably cause conduction hearing loss and reduced sensitivity to sounds of all frequencies. 12. d. is the answer. (p. 207) 13. b. is the answer. Rods and cones enable vision in dim and bright light, respectively. If an animal is active only at night, it is likely to have more rods than cones in its retinas. (p. 208) d. Bipolar cells link both cones and rods to ganglion cells. There is no reason to expect that a nocturnal mammal would have more bipolar cells than a mammal active both during the day and at night. If anything, because several rods share a single bipolar cell, whereas many cones have their own, a nocturnal animal (with a visual system consisting mostly of rods) might be expected to have fewer bipolar cells than an animal active during the day (with a visual system consisting mostly of cones). 14. b. is the answer. (p. 208) a. & c. It is the cones, rather than the rods, that enable color vision. d. If the cones’ threshold were lower than the available light intensity, they would be able to function and therefore detect the colors of the players’ uniforms. 15. c. is the answer. (p. 213) a. The trichromatic theory cannot account for the experience of afterimages. b. & d. Afterimages are experienced as the complementary color of a stimulus. Green, not blue, is red’s complement. 16. c. is the answer. As people age they lose taste

17.

18. 19. 20.

buds and their taste thresholds increase. For this reason, Mrs. Martinez needs more concentrated tastes than her son to find food palatable. (p. 230) a. & b. There is no evidence that women and men differ in their absolute thresholds for taste. a. is the answer. (pp. 202–203) b. The sense of touch (pressure) adapts very quickly. c. On the contrary, the extreme sensitivity of the fingertips is due to the relatively large amount of cortical tissue that processes neural impulses from the fingertips. c. is the answer. (p. 197) d. is the answer. (pp. 226–227) c. is the answer. Because of the powerful sensory interaction between taste and smell, eliminating the odor of the cough syrup should make its taste more pleasant. (p. 230) a. If anything, the contrasting tastes might make the bitter syrup even less palatable. b. If Tamiko keeps the syrup in her mouth for several seconds, it will ensure that her taste pores fully “catch” the stimulus, thus intensifying the bitter taste. d. It’s probably impossible to miss the tongue completely.

Essay Question The senses that are most important to dancers are vision, hearing, kinesthesis, and the vestibular sense. Your answer should refer to any three of these senses and include, at minimum, the following information. Dancers rely on vision to gauge their body position relative to other dancers as they perform specific choreographed movements. Vision also helps dancers assess the audience’s reaction to their performance. Whenever dance is set to music, hearing is necessary so that the dancers can detect musical cues for certain parts of their routines. Hearing also helps the dancers keep their movements in time with the music. Kinesthetic receptors in dancers’ muscles, tendons, and joints provide their brains with information about the position and movement of body parts to determine if their hands, arms, legs, and heads are in the proper positions. Receptors for the vestibular sense located in the dancers’ inner ears send messages to their brains that help them maintain their balance and determine the correctness of the position and movement of their bodies.

Answers

Summing Up The Eye 1. Cornea. Light enters the eye through this transparent membrane, which protects the inner structures from the environment. 2. Iris. The colored part of the eye, the iris functions like the aperture of a camera, controlling the size of the pupil to optimize the amount of light that enters the eye. 3. Pupil. The adjustable opening in the iris, the pupil allows light to enter. 4. Lens. This transparent structure behind the pupil changes shape to focus images on the retina. 5. Retina. The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, the retina contains the rods and cones, which transduce light energy into neural impulses. 6. Blind spot. The region of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye, the blind spot contains no rods or cones and so there is no vision here. 7. Optic nerve. This bundle of nerve fibers carries neural impulses from the retina to the brain. The Ear 1. Outer ear. Hearing begins as sound waves enter the auditory canal of the outer ear. 2. Auditory canal. Sound waves passing through the auditory canal are brought to a point of focus at the eardrum. 3. Eardrum. Lying between the outer and middle ear, this membrane vibrates in response to sound waves. 4. Middle ear. Lying between the outer and inner ear, this air-filled chamber contains the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. 5. Hammer, anvil, and stirrup. These tiny bones of the middle ear concentrate the eardrum’s vibrations on the cochlea’s oval window. 6. Inner ear. This region of the ear contains the cochlea and the semicircular canals, which play an important role in balance. 7. Cochlea. This fluid-filled multichambered structure contains the hair cell receptors that transduce sound waves into neural impulses. 8. Auditory nerve. This bundle of fibers carries nerve impulses from the inner ear to the brain.

Key Terms Writing Definitions 1. Sensation is the process by which we detect physical energy from the environment and encode it as neural signals. (p. 197)

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2. Perception is the process by which we select, organize, and interpret sensory information. (p. 197) 3. Bottom-up processing is analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information. (p. 197) 4. Top-down processing is information processing guided by higher-level mental processes. (p. 197) 5. Psychophysics is the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them. (p. 199) 6. The absolute threshold is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50 percent of the time. (p. 199) 7. Signal detection theory explains precisely how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (“signal”). Detection depends partly on experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness. (p. 199) 8. A stimulus that is subliminal is one that is below the absolute threshold for conscious awareness. (p. 200) Memory aid: Limen is the Latin word for “threshold.” A stimulus that is subliminal is one that is sub- (“below”) the limen, or threshold. 9. Priming is the activation of an association by an imperceptible stimulus, the effect of which is to predispose a perception, memory, or response. (p. 200) 10. The difference threshold (also called the just noticeable difference, or jnd), is the minimum difference between two stimuli that a subject can detect 50 percent of the time. (p. 201) 11. Weber’s law states that the just noticeable difference between two stimuli is a constant minimum proportion of the stimulus. (p. 202) Example: If a difference of 10 percent in weight is noticeable, Weber’s law predicts that a person could discriminate 10- and 11-pound weights or 50- and 55-pound weights. 12. Sensory adaptation refers to the decreased sensitivity that occurs with continued exposure to an unchanging stimulus. (p. 202) 13. In sensation, transduction refers to the process by which receptor cells in the eye, ear, skin, and nose convert stimulus energies into neural impulses. (p. 204)

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14. Wavelength, which refers to the distance from the peak of one light (or sound) wave to the next, gives rise to the perceptual experiences of hue, or color, in vision (and pitch in sound). (pp. 204–205) 15. The intensity of light and sound is determined by the amplitude of the waves and is experienced as brightness and loudness, respectively. (p. 205) Example: Sounds that exceed 85 decibels in amplitude, or intensity, will damage the auditory system. 16. The pupil is the adjustable opening in the eye through which light enters. (205) 17. The iris is a ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored part of the eye that controls the diameter of the pupil. (p. 205) 18. The lens is the transparent structure of the eye behind the pupil that changes shape to focus images on the retina. (p. 205) 19. Accommodation is the process by which the lens of the eye changes shape to focus near objects on the retina. (p. 205) 20. The retina is the light-sensitive, multilayered inner surface of the eye that contains the rods and cones as well as neurons that form the beginning of the optic nerve. (p. 205) 21. Acuity refers to the sharpness of vision. (p. 206) Example: If your acuity is 20/10, you are able to see clearly at a distance of 20 feet a visual detail that most people cannot see beyond a distance of 10 feet. 22. Nearsightedness is a condition in which nearby objects are seen clearly but distant objects are blurred because light rays reflecting from them converge in front of the retina. (p. 206) 23. Farsightedness is a condition in which distant objects are seen clearly but nearby objects are blurred because light rays reflecting from them strike the retina before converging. (p. 206) Memory aid: To help you remember that farsightedness is caused by a shorter-than-normal eyeball, think of something falling “far short of the mark.” 24. The rods and cones are visual receptors that transduce light into neural impulses. The rods are concentrated in the periphery of the retina, the cones in the fovea. The rods have poor sensitivity; detect black, white, and gray; function well in dim light; and are needed for peripheral vision. The cones have excellent sensitivity, enable color vision, and function best in daylight or bright light. (p. 206)

25. Comprised of the axons of retinal ganglion cells, the optic nerve carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain. (pp. 206–207) 26. The blind spot is the region of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye. Because there are no rods or cones in this area, there is no vision here. (p. 207) 27. The fovea is the retina’s point of central focus. It contains only cones; therefore, images focused on the fovea are the clearest. (p. 207) 28. Feature detectors, located in the visual cortex of the brain, are nerve cells that selectively respond to specific visual features, such as movement, shape, or angle. Feature detectors are evidently the basis of visual information processing. (p. 209) 29. Parallel processing is information processing in which several aspects of a stimulus, such as light or sound, are processed simultaneously. (p. 210) 30. The Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory maintains that the retina contains red-, green-, and blue-sensitive color receptors that in combination can produce the perception of any color. This theory explains the first stage of color processing. (p. 212) 31. The opponent-process theory maintains that color vision depends on pairs of opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, and whiteblack). This theory explains the second stage of color processing. (p. 213) 32. Color constancy is the perception that familiar objects have consistent color despite changes in illumination that shift the wavelengths they reflect. (pp. 213–214) 33. Audition refers to the sense of hearing. (p. 215) 34. The pitch of a sound is determined by its frequency, that is, the number of complete wavelengths that can pass a point in a given time. Frequency, in turn, is directly related to wavelength: longer waves produce lower pitch; shorter waves produce higher pitch. (p. 216) 35. The middle ear is the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing the three bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the eardrum’s vibrations on the cochlea’s oval window. (p. 217) 36. The inner ear contains the semicircular canals and the cochlea, which includes the receptors that transduce sound energy into neural impulses. Because it also contains the vestibular sac, the inner ear plays an important role in balance, as well as in audition. (p. 217)

Answers

37. The cochlea is the coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube of the inner ear where the transduction of sound waves into neural impulses occurs. (p. 217) 38. The place theory of hearing states that we hear different pitches because sound waves of various frequencies trigger activity at different places on the cochlea’s basilar membrane. (p. 219) Memory aid: Place theory maintains that the place of maximum vibration along the cochlea’s membrane is the basis of pitch discrimination. 39. The frequency theory of hearing presumes that the rate, or frequency, of nerve impulses in the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch. (p. 219) 40. Conduction hearing loss refers to the hearing loss that results from damage in the mechanics of the outer or middle ear, which impairs the conduction of sound waves to the cochlea. (p. 220) 41. Sensorineural hearing loss (nerve deafness) is hearing loss caused by damage to the auditory receptors of the cochlea or to the auditory nerve due to disease, aging, or prolonged exposure to ear-splitting noise. (p. 220) 42. A cochlear implant is an electronic device that converts sounds into electrical signals that stimulate the auditory nerve. (p. 221) 43. Melzack and Wall’s gate-control theory maintains that a “gate” in the spinal cord determines whether pain signals are permitted to reach the brain. Neural activity in small nerve fibers opens the gates; activity in large fibers or information from the brain closes the gate. (p. 227) Example: The gate-control theory gained support with the discovery of endorphins. Production of

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these opiatelike chemicals may be the brain’s mechanism for closing the spinal gate. 44. Sensory interaction is the principle that one sense may influence another. (p. 230) 45. Kinesthesis is the sense of the position and movement of the parts of the body. (p. 233) 46. The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance, is called the vestibular sense. (p. 234) Cross-Check ACROSS

DOWN

1. fovea 7. large 12. optic 13. intensity 14. nanometer 15. hue 16. eardrum 17. afterimage 19. amplitude 21. conduction 22. oval 28. pupil 29. audition 30. cornea 31. retina

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 8. 9. 10. 11. 18. 20. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27.

frequency farsighted electromagnetic feature detector cochlear implant top kinesthesis blindsight psychophysics context blindspot lens acuity middle inner place rods

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FOCUS ON VOCABULARY AND LANGUAGE Page 198: Shown her own face in a mirror she is again stumped. This person (E. H.) is suffering from prosopagnosia and cannot recognize faces and even fails (she is stumped) to recognize her own face in the mirror. What is interesting in this case is that she can process incoming sensory information (bottom up) but is unable to make any sense of it (top down). As Myers notes earlier, she has sensation (bottom-up processing), but her perception (top-down processing) is not working properly. Sensing the World: Some Basic Principles Page 198: A frog could starve to death knee-deep in motionless flies. But let one zoom by and the frog’s “bug detector” cells snap awake. The frog’s eyes and brain are organized in such a way that only fast moving (zooming), small, dark objects will cause these specialized feature detector nerve cells (“bug detectors”) to become active (snap awake). If the frog is surrounded by flies that don’t move (knee-deep in motionless flies), it will die of hunger, completely unaware of the food at its feet. Page 199: The shades on our senses are open just a crack, allowing us only a restricted awareness of this vast sea of energy. Just as sunblinds or curtains (shades) let only a little light in through any small opening (a crack), our sensory system is only able to detect a very small part of the large amount (vast sea) of the physical energy that exists in the world. Page 199: Exhausted parents of a newborn will notice the faintest whimper from the cradle. . . . In signal detection theory there is no single absolute threshold for detecting stimuli; it all depends on the situation. Thus, parents who are sleeping soundly are more likely to become aware of the quietest cry of distress (the faintest whimper) from the infant in its small bed (cradle) than much louder but irrelevant noise. Page 200: . . . ”satanic messages” . . . It has been suggested that some rock music recordings have hidden or subliminal messages and that behavior can be influenced or manipulated by them (i.e., hidden persuasion). Claims have been made that some of these messages are antireligious and promote devil worship (diabolical or satanic). As Myers makes clear, there is not a shred of evidence to support these ideas. Page 201: . . . hucksters . . . A huckster is someone who sells merchandise that may be of dubious value. Those who promote and sell subliminal tapes (hucksters) make claims that are not supported by scientif-

ic research. In fact, the available evidence suggests that subliminal tapes do not have the profound, enduring effects on behavior claimed by their marketers. Page 202: . . . it might take a £4000 price hike in a £40,000 Mercedes to raise the eyebrows of its potential buyers. Raised eyebrows express surprise. So a £4000 increase in the cost (price hike) of a luxury car (Mercedes-Benz), which normally costs £40,000, would be noticed by interested buyers (would raise their eyebrows). Weber’s law states that a constant proportion of the original stimulus is needed in order for the difference to be detected, and the precise proportion will change depending on the stimulus. Thus, a $5 increase in the price of the car would not be a just noticeable difference, or jnd, but a $5 dollar increase (price hike) in the cost of a hamburger and fries would exceed a jnd. Page 202: So everywhere that Mary looks, the scene is sure to go. In order to understand this sentence you need to be familiar with the old nursery rhyme: Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow, and everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go. When a volunteer (Mary) is fitted with a special contact lens and miniature projector she sees the same image no matter where her eyes “look” (everywhere that Mary looks the scene is sure to go). When an image is projected onto the retina in this manner the scene disappears bit by bit and then reappears and disappears again (in meaningful units). This happens because the image, which normally would be moving back and forth rapidly (quivering) as a result of tiny eye movements, is now stationary with respect to the retina and its receptors. As the receptors fatigue the image disappears. Vision Page 207: . . . blind spot . . . You can use the suggestion in Figure 5.10 of your text to demonstrate that there are two small parts of your visual field (one in the left and one in the right) where you have no sight. These tiny areas (blind spots) are where the optic nerve exits the eye. Page 207: Rods have no such hotline [to the brain]. . . . Cones, which are mostly clustered in the fovea and detect color and fine detail, have many more individual connections to the brain than the rods. Rods, which give us our black-and-white vision, have to share bipolar cells and so do not have as many individual connections (hotlines) to the brain (in dim light, however, this can be an advantage as several rods can focus or funnel their individual faint energy output onto a single bipolar cell).

Focus on Vocabulary and Language

Page 210 (caption): The answer to this question is the Holy Grail of vision research. The reference here is to the medieval legend that the cup (grail) Jesus Christ drank from at the Last Supper, and which was later used to catch his blood when he was crucified, survived and may have been brought to England. The quest, or search, for this sacred cup (Holy Grail) symbolized spiritual regeneration and enlightenment. Similarly, attempting to answer the question about how the brain deals with multiple aspects of a visual scene at the same time, automatically, and without our awareness (parallel processing), is an important undertaking that, if successful, will enlighten us about brain functioning (the Holy Grail of vision research). Page 211: . . . blindsight . . . Blindsight refers to the fact that some people with neurological damage have the ability to see, to some degree, without any conscious awareness of the visual experience. They are blind, yet they can see (blindsight). This suggests that there are two parallel processing systems operating, one that unconsciously guides our actions (the zombie within), and one that gives us our conscious perceptions.

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along—and these may be long (low frequency) or short (high frequency). A tuba (a large, deep-toned, brass-wind instrument) produces low-frequency sound waves and thus has a lower pitch than a piccolo (a small flute), which produces high-frequency waves and has a higher pitch. Page 218 (Close-Up): If only our ears had earlids. Myers makes it clear that prolonged exposure to loud and unpredictable noise can affect our wellbeing and seriously damage our hearing. So, in a noisy urban environment it would be nice if we could close our ears (with earlids) as we can our eyes (with eyelids). Page 219: If a car to the right honks, your right ear receives a more intense sound, and it receives sound slightly sooner than your left ear. We locate sounds because our ears are about 6 inches apart and there is a time, as well as a loudness difference, between auditory reception in each ear. If we hear the sound of a car horn (it honks) to our right, the left ear receives a less intense sound somewhat later than the right ear, and thus we locate the direction of the sound to the right.

Hearing

Page 220: That is why, when trying to pinpoint a sound, you cock your head, so that your two ears will receive slightly different messages. When a sound is equidistant from our two ears (directly ahead, behind, or above), and there is no visual clue, we have trouble locating (pinpointing) the source. In this situation it helps to tilt (cock) our heads so that each ear receives a slightly different message (the sound will be a little louder and sensed a little sooner by one ear, and the brain uses this information to detect where the sound is coming from).

Page 215: We also are remarkably sensitive to faint sounds, an obvious boon for our ancestors’ survival when hunting or being hunted or detecting a child’s whimper. Humans are very good at detecting very quiet noises (faint sounds), which was clearly beneficial (a boon) to our predecessors’ ability to survive when they were both predator (hunter) and prey (being hunted). Likewise, the ability to notice and respond to a youngster's quiet cry of distress (a child's whimper) would have had adaptive value. We are also very sensitive to changes in sounds and we have the ability to differentiate among thousands of human voices.

Page 220: Occasionally, disease causes sensorineural hearing loss, but more often the culprits are biological changes linked with heredity, aging and prolonged exposure to ear-splitting noise or music (Figure 5.26). Sensorineural hearing loss, or nerve deafness (cochlear damage), can sometimes be caused by illness, but the agents responsible (the culprits) are more likely to be age-related biological factors and extended encounters with extremely loud (ear-splitting) music or noise. While digital hearing aids are a partial remedy, the latest cochlear implants can restore hearing for children and most adults.

Page 216: A piccolo produces much shorter, faster sound waves than does a tuba. Musical instruments produce stimulus energy called sound waves— molecules of air that bump and push each other

Other Important Senses

Page 212: Color, like all aspects of vision, resides not in the object but in the theater of our brains. Myers notes that when we view a colored object (for example, a blue balloon), it absorbs all the wavelengths except its own (blue) and reflects the wavelengths of blue back to us. The color we perceive is a product of our brain and exists only in the perceiver’s mind (theater of the brain).

Page 224: As lovers, we yearn to touch—to kiss, to stroke, to snuggle. Our sense of touch involves a mixture of at least four distinct senses: pressure,

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warmth, cold, and pain. Intimate relations often involve a desire or longing (we yearn) to caress, kiss, and closely embrace each other (snuggle). Page 227: Rubbing the area around your stubbed toe will create competing stimulation that will block some of the pain messages. If you hit your toe against a solid object (stub your toe), it really hurts. If, however, you massage (rub) the part around the sore spot, it makes you feel better because stimulation interferes with (blocks) some of the pain messages. This supports the gate-control model, which suggests that this stimulation (rubbing) will activate “gate-closing” in large neural fibers and, thus, will reduce pain. Page 228: Sometimes the pain in sprain is mainly in the brain. Myers is doing a parody of the lyrics from a song in the musical My Fair Lady, “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.” The main point: reports of repetitive strain injury (the pain in sprain) were, in the case of groups (pockets) of Australian keyboard operators, due to social and psychological influences (mainly in the brain) and were not the result of damaged ligaments or muscles in the hands or arms, as is usually the case. Page 228 (caption): After explaining heat-diffusion principles that permit firewalking, he then joined several others in putting his feet where his mouth was. The expression “put your money where your mouth is” means that you should be willing to back or support your words or claims with appropriate behavior. So physicist David Willey was willing to support his explanation of firewalking, which was based on scientific facts, by taking the necessary action. By actually walking or stepping across the hot coals without burning his bare feet, he put his feet (firewalking) where his mouth was (his scientific explanation) and showed that the claims of the “mind over matter” promoters were wrong in this case. Page 229: A well-trained nurse may distract needleshy patients by chatting with them and asking them to look away when inserting the needle. One method of pain control is through distraction. If you are nervous or anxious about being injected with a

hypodermic needle (a needle-shy patient), the nurse may talk to you about unimportant matters (she chats with you) and request that you do not watch the procedure. This type of distraction can reduce the intensity of the pain. Page 230: Taste buds are certainly essential for taste, but there is more to taste than meets the tongue. The common expression “there is more to this than meets the eye” suggests that there is something extra going on over and above the obvious or apparent. Myers creates a variation of this expression using a different sense (taste). The flavors we experience are a function of more than just the taste buds in the tongue; they involve sensory interaction with the sense of smell (olfaction). Thus, the sense of taste involves more than simply responding to the chemicals that stimulate taste receptors in the tongue (there is more to taste than meets the tongue). Page 231: Each day, you inhale and exhale nearly 20,000 breaths of life-sustaining air, bathing your nostrils in a stream of scent-laden molecules. Smell (olfaction) is a chemical sense and as substances (flowers, feet, fish, fertilizer, etc.) release molecules, they are carried by the air we breathe (a stream of scent-laden molecules) and wash over (bathe) receptors in our nasal cavities (nostrils). Page 232: Words more readily portray the sound of coffee brewing than its aroma. It is easier to talk about and describe (portray) the subtle aspects of coffee brewing than to put into words the sensory qualities involved in the smell (aroma) of coffee. Olfaction seems to be a more primitive sense than vision or audition. Page 234: The biological gyroscopes for this sense of equilibrium are in the inner ear. A gyroscope is a mechanical device used as a stabilizer in navigation and scientific instruments. Likewise, we have biological stabilizers that monitor the movement and position of our bodies and provide us with a sense of balance (equilibrium). They are called the semicircular canals and the vestibular sacs and are located in the inner ear.