Chapter 4: Sensation and Perception Our Senses Chapter 4: Sensation and Perception

Vision Light gathers to the eye Light enters the eye The cornea reflects the light through the pupil (the iris opens and closes the pupil) The lens sends light to the back of the eye Light gets turned into neural impulses The image is interpreted in the occipital lobe

Color Blindness Color vision deficiency affects about 8% males and less than 1% females Most common: red-green These colors may appear “washed out”

Color Blindness Monochromats: people who are totally colorblind; they can see only light and darkness Dichromats: people who are only partially colorblind; they can only discriminate between two colors - red/green or blue/yellow

Hearing Sound waves cause the eardrum to vibrate The vibrations go to the inner ear Signals are sent to the auditory nerve and to the temporal lobe

Loudness and Pitch Loudness depends on amplitude of the sound wave. The greater the amplitude, the louder the sound perceived. Pitch depends on the frequency of sound waves FYI – NEYLAND STADIUM 122

Smell Neural receptors in the nose send information to the olfactory bulb in the brain and onto the thalamus. Smell works in connection with taste.

Taste Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, savory Hot and spicy is not a taste The sides of the tongue is more sensitive. The back is more sensitive to bitter.

Kinesthesis Movement: kinesthesis is the sense that informs us about the positions and motion of parts of our bodies. Without this, we would have to watch every time we made a movement or took a step.

Vestibular Sense Balance: the sense of equilibrium that tells us about our position relative to gravity; whether or not we are upside-down, about to fall, spinning, etc. Sensory organs in the ears monitor the body’s motion and position.