Reading Assignment Unit 4: Sensation Part 3 Due Tue. Nov. 4

A.P. Psychology – Reading assignment and guide

Unit 4: Sensation – Part 3 – Chemical, Somatic and Vestibular Senses
(10 pts): Due Tuesday, November 4th.

Bernstein Text Chapter 4, Part 3 – Pp. 131- 149 (Through Chapter Review)

As you take your Cornell notes remember to DRAW DIAGRAMS of important images, write your own examples, write your own mnemonic devices and write questions you think of. Your notes (and your brain) should contain the answers the following questions when you are done with this assignment:

Smell and Taste – The Chemical Senses Pp. 131-136

1. Define olfaction and gustation (and olfactory and gustatory)
2. What triggers olfactory receptors?
3. How many different types of olfactory receptors are there?
4. Describe the path signals from the olfactory receptors follow as they enter the brain and are processed.
5. Which brain structure usually associated with sensation is NOT involved with olfaction?
6. Explain the function of pheromones and the vomeronasal organ?
7. What are taste receptors called and where are they located?
8. How many taste buds are in a typical person? To what flavors are they sensitive?
9. How are supertasters different from normal people?
10. What are the components of flavor?
11. What is anosmia?
12. What is capsasin? Explain one theory of why people eat spicy foods.
13. Explain some adaptive (evolutionarily advantageous) functions of smell and taste.

Somatic Senses and the Vestibular System Pp. 137-145

14. What are the Somatic Senses?
15. Describe how touch receptors are different from most other neurons.
16. Explain sensory adaptation of touch receptors. Why is it evolutionarily adaptive?
17. Explain how weight and location are coded in the sense of touch.
18. Describe an example of how touch and temperature can interact.
19. Compare A-delta fiber pain and C fiber pain. Come up with a mnemonic to remember the difference.
20. How does pain cause arousal? What structure is activated which would wake you up if someone poked you with a pin while you slept?
21. Explain how Gate Control Theory and natural analgesics explain pain relief.
22. What evidence is there that acupuncture relieves pain?
23. Define proprioception and kinesthesia.
24. Describe the structure and function of the vestibular system.
http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/content/vestibular.html
The above link is to an excellent animation which will help you understand the vestibular system.
25. Go through the chapter linkages and summary on Pp. 47-49 to review and test yourself.
26. Smile because you are getting even smarter every day when you do this reading.

Reading Assignment Unit 4: Sensation Part 2 Due Fri. 10/31 BOO!

Bernstein Text Chapter 4, Part 2 – Pp. 117 -131 (through Synesthesia)

(10 pts): Due Friday, October, 31st

Follow the reading instructions you received the first week of class and take Cornell notes as you read. As you take your notes remember to DRAW DIAGRAMS of important images, write your own examples, write your own mnemonic devices and write questions you think of. Your notes (and your brain) should contain the answers the following questions when you are done with this assignment:

Light and Structure of the Eye Pp. 117-119
1. Describe the physical dimensions of light.
2. How do the physical properties of light relate to brightness and color?
3. How does visible light fit into the electromagnetic spectrum?
4. Describe and DRAW the major structures of the eye.
5. Describe the accessory structures and sensory receptor of the eye.
6. What is accommodation in vision?

Converting Light into Images & Visual Pathways Pp. 119 – 122
http://www.sumanasinc.com/webcontent/animations/content/receptivefields.html
The above link is to an excellent animation which may help you understand some of the more complex aspects of visual processing in the retina.

7. What is visual transduction and were does it take place?
8. What are photoreceptors and photopigments? Where are they located?
9. What causes your eyes to take time to adjust when you go from bright sunlight to a dark room? What is this adjustment called?
10. Compare the structure, function and distribution of rods and cones.
11. What is the fovea?
12. How does “lateral inhibition” improve the sharpness and contrast of our vision?
13. What do ganglion cells do? Why would vision be impossible without them?
14. How do ganglion cells correspond to the visual field?
15. Describe how the center-surround fields of ganglion cells improves vision.
16. Why does everyone have a blind spot?
17. Describe how the optic nerves separate and cross at the optic chiasm.
18. How is spatial coding demonstrated in the retina, the LGN and the visual cortex?
19. Explain how parallel processing can analyze different types of visual information from the same visual data in the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN.)
20. What are “feature detectors?”
21. Define the physical properties of color: hue, saturation and brightness.
22. Explain the “Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision.”
23. Explain the “Opponent-Process Theory of Color Vision.”
24. Describe and explain color blindness.
25. What is synesthesia?

Reading Assignment Unit 4: Sensation Part 1 Due Mon. 10/27

Unit 4: Sensation – Part 1


(10 pts): Due Monday, October, 27th

Bernstein Text Chapter 4, Part 1 – Pp. 104 -116 (through frequency-matching theory)

As you take your Cornell notes DRAW DIAGRAMS of important images. Your notes (and your brain) should contain the answers the following questions when you are done with this assignment:

General Sensation Pp. 104-109
1. What is a phantom limb?
2. Explain whether sensation is objective or subjective?
3. What is a “sense” and what is “sensation?”
4. Describe the difference between sensation and perception.
5. Define accessory structure, transduction, sensory receptor and adaptation.
6. What types of energy do our senses gather?
7. What role does the thalamus play in sensation? Which sense does not go through it?
8. Explain what “coding” is in sensory systems. Describe temporal and spatial coding.
9. Define the “doctrine of specific nerve energies.”
10. What is “contralateral representation?”
11. What is “topographical representation?”

Hearing Pp. 109-116
See http://www.medindia.net/animation/ear_anatomy.asp for good ear animation.
12. Define “sound.” Why is it true that, “In space, no one can hear you scream?”
13. Compare low-frequency and high-frequency sounds and their waveforms.
14. Describe physical characteristics of sound: amplitude, wavelength and frequency.
15. Describe psychological dimensions of sound: loudness, pitch and timbre (tamber).
16. Describe the ear’s accessory structures: pinna, ear canal, tympanic membrane
17. Describe the bones of the middle ear (malleus, incus, stapes), and the oval window.
18. Describe the structures on the inner ear: the cochlea, hair cells and basilar membrane.
19. What is the auditory nerve?
20. Describe different causes of deafness: conduction deafness and nerve deafness.
21. Where and what is the “primary auditory cortex?”
22. What are “preferred frequencies” and “frequency maps” in the auditory cortex?
23. Explain how intensity of sound is coded.
24. Compare “place theory” and “frequency matching theory” of frequency coding.

Exam on Monday Oct. 20th - NOTE NEW DATE

This exam will primarily cover Unit 3, the Biological Basis of Behavior. There will be some questions from Units 1 and 2 as well, so you need to review everything. The exam will be a combination of multiple choice questions and a free response question.

I suggest doing the multiple choice practice tests in the study guide to help you decide what to spend the most time studying.

If you start to study asap and distribute your studying over as many days as possible you will learn and remember more than if you just cram for a couple of hours the night before the test. Then again cramming for a couple of hours is way better than not studying at all.

Good luck.... although luck doesn't really have anything to do with it.

Chapter 3 Assignement Part 2 - Due Tues 10/7/2008

Bernstein Study Guide

1. Fill-in-the-Blanks P. 68
2. Multiple Choice Quiz 2 P. 76