Study Questions for Test 4 – Make sure that you draw all graphs and diagrams.

1.       How are we able to keep our sense of balance through the kinesthetic sense (give the different types of receptors)? What is haptic perception and what 3 systems come into play when an object is being identified using haptic perception? What are exploratory procedures and how do they differ for different object qualities?

2.       Why is temperature perception important? How are warm, cool, and hot sensed (make sure to discuss the fibers in detail)? What factors influence our ability to sense temperature (threshold and adaptation)?

3.       What is the gate control theory of pain perception (include a diagram as well as a discussion of how it works)? What are the cognitive factors that influence our sense of pain?

4.       What is phantom limb? Describe the sensation people experience. What is the cause of phantom limb and what evidence demonstrates this? How does this relate to referred sensation?

5.       How are we able to keep our sense of balance using the vestibular senses? Make sure you describe the different receptors and their purpose and how they are related to vision. Give an example of how the vestibular system is related to vision.

6.       What are the characteristics of the olfactory receptors (where located, what look like, etc.)? What are the neural brain pathways (neural code) and what does each code? Discuss the current theory of smell perception. Why has it been so difficult to develop this theory?

7.       What factors influence our sensitivity to smell (absolute and difference threshold, self and cross adaptation)? What kinds of differences do you see among individuals? What is the lack of smell called and what factors cause this to occur?

8.       Humans can use odor for many things such as person recognition (family, self, gender), reproductive behavior (pheromones), mood, identifying illness, etc. Describe the experiments and the results that demonstrate these behaviors.

9.       Draw what the tongue looks like. Include the various papillae and neural connections made to the tongue. What pathway might this information take to the brain? What are the characteristics of the taste buds?

10.   How are we able to perceive taste (discuss chemical differences, theories of coding, etc.)?

11.   How do all of the senses, experiences, genetics, etc. work together to get the perception of flavor? What area of the brain is important for linking the different senses together to be able to experience flavor?

12.   How does an infant’s visual perception change as the child develops? Make sure to discuss acuity and contrast, object perception, distance perception, motion perception, and color perception.

13.   How does an infant’s auditory perception change as the child develops? Discuss auditory abilities, music perception, speech perception, and coordinating vision and audition.

14.   What is the evidence that infants can recognize different smells and tastes?

15.   What happens to our sensory experiences as we age?

 

BONUS QUESTION – worth up to 10 points.

This question MUST be completed and turned in during last day of class. I will not accept it at a later time. Points will be given based on completeness of the answer.

All term I have been discussing how Sensation and Perception can be applied. Now I want you to set up a scenario which uses a multimodal (more than 1 sense) sensory experience. Make sure to explain the different sensation and perception factors and how they are being used here. Some examples (but you are not limited to these) include:

Developing a product, toy, place, car, or web site for a child, older person, or someone with a neurological problem, designing a building for a movie, restaurant, plays, gambling, etc., use in a courtroom (why people see different things), going into space, designing an amusement park ride or movie, any sporting activity, human factors, etc.