This blog is for students in Mr. Cantor's AP Psychology class at North-Grand High School. To contact Mr. Cantor please e-mail at ptdworkin-cantor@cps.edu
Another video on YouTube is great 3D animation that takes you into the ear as if you are a sound wave... it demonstrates the movements in the middle and inner ear with classical music... fantastic piece. The link is at http://youtu.be/PeTriGTENoc - since it's YouTube it may not work at school...
Hearing Tests: You need over-the-ear headphones and a decent computer to use this (not medically accurate) hearing test, but it's interesting to check out even if you don't have the right set-up. Keep your volume at a moderate level, and if you stop hearing the tone DO NOT increase the volume to try to hear it. This website has lots of different tone generators including this hearing test.
Mr. Cantor who was born in 1964 can hear sounds below roughly 14,000 Hz. How about you? -- YouTube actually compresses audio, so this may not be accurate. Try the link above for more accuracy.
FlashCards Check (10 pts)
Due: Fri. Nov. 15 (Work on these as you
read…)
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. These questions should guide your reading – you should be able to
answer as many of them as possible in your head before you take the quiz! Bold
ones are especially important.
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.”
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
Smell and Taste – The
Chemical Senses Pp. 131-136
1.Define olfaction and gustation (and
olfactory and gustatory senses)
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 ofpheromones 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.
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.
Pay close attention to the "center-surround" aspects of retinal processing in this Web Animation below. The narrator's voice is a bit boring, but it's a great video that explains the whole "center-surround" opponent process thing.
This animation shows how the photoreceptors, bipolar and ganglion cells of the retina are organized in "center-surround" arrangements that allow "bottom up" processing of visual information to begin in the retina.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, an animation is worth way more. This animation really shows the visual pathway very well. Pay attention to how visual information is split in the Optic Chiasm and how it routs through the LGN of the thalamus as well as other areas specifically related to eye movement and the "biological clock" which controls circadian rhythms.
This excellent animation really explains how the visual information from the left and right visual fields makes its way to the right and left occipital lobes via the LGN of the thalamus.
Check out this amazingly comprehensive video that covers the visual system in about 10 minutes. It's on YouTube, so it may be hard to watch at school. Link: http://youtu.be/AuLR0kzfwBU
What do you see in the circle?
This site sells glasses that are supposed to correct for some color blindness. I don't know how well they work, but they do have a really nice color blindness test. http://enchroma.com/test/instructions/
Do you have "SuperVision? Are you a tetrachromat - a person with 4
types of cones rather than 3? This website has a test for you.
Ever wonder what those little blobs floating around your visual field are? They'r caused by shadows of little chunks of debris floating around in the vitreous fluid inside your eye-ball. This video explains it all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6e_m9iq-4Q
And Hank's Crash Course Psychology is always good...
Notes check (10 pts): Due: Thurs. Oct. 17 Nov. 4 Due to Strike
Flash Cards (10 pts) Due: Tues. Oct 21Nov.4 Due to Strike
Superhero assignment Due Tues. Oct. 22Nov.4 Due to Strike
Everything psychological is biological... In other words, "Mind is what brain does..."
Objectives (think about these as you read):
1. Describe the general structure, organization and function of the central and peripheral nervous systems.
2. Describe the structure and function of neurons and other cells in the nervous system.
3. How and why do neurons communicate with each other?
4. What are “action potentials,” and how do they work?
5. Compare the somatic and autonomic parts of the peripheral nervous system.
6. Compare the important neurotransmitters.
7. Describe the endocrine system. What does it do?
8. Describe the various parts of the limbic system and what they do.
9. Describe the various parts of the cerebral cortex and what they do.
10. Be able to explain how damage to a part of the brain may affect the organism.
Flash-Cards
1.Key Term Flashcards: There are 63 Key Terms highlighted in the textbook. Do at least 45. Do 5 to 7 per day and you’ll be fine.
2.Pictures/diagrams are important to this unit!
3.Don’t freak out. I know it’s a lot of flashcards. It will be worth memorizing and understanding the key terms. You will need to review the flashcards before quizzes and exams in class and as you study for the AP exam.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This site has some very easy to read descriptions of parts of the brain. Use it to help you understand what's between your ears if our book gets too confusing. http://brainmadesimple.com/index.html
Our friend Hank discusses the chemistry of our brain...
And Hank discusses the overall structure of the brain... from phrenology to Phineas to the old brain and the new brain.
Here is the EdPuzzle link for this video... try it out! Remember, quizzing yourself and connecting new information to old is the best way to learn new content. More specifics about neurons and the nervous system... Thanks HANK! And... Hank on the Action Potential... You need to know the basics of how action potentials work. This video goes into a bit more detail than you'll need for the AP exam, but it's super solid.
And the Synapse... where lots of the action happens! Focus on the chemical synapses... the electrical synapses are more specialized and more abundant in embryonic development than in our fully developed nervous system (and the chemical synapse will show up on the AP exam.)
Encoding, episodic vs. semantic and procedural memory, explicit vs. implicit memory, maintenance and rehearsal strategies to improve memory, various models of how memory works such as PDP and Info Processing, understand the difference between sensory, short term, and long term memory, compare recency and primacy effects, understand what affects memory retrieval, understand the limits of eye-witness testimony, Herman Ebbinghauss , compare retroactive and proactive interference, compare retrograde and anterograde amnesia,
*****Use mnemonics and distributed practice to learn all this stuff and know why you are remembering and forgetting.
This is not specifically about memory, but about implicit associations we make about people.
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/ You can take some of the Implicit Association Tests to see what some of your implicit associations about people and groups are. I’m putting it with this unit as an example of implicit vs. explicit thought processes.
Story from National Public Radio (NPR) about H.M., the man who had the bilateral removal of his hippocampus (What is the plural of hippocampus?) and ended up with the nearly complete inability to form new memories. Find out why he had his hippocampus removed and learn about this amazing case study of anterograde amnesia.
This video clip was made based on 2000 slices that were made of H.M.'s brain after he died in 2008.
The movie Memento was the first feature film by star director Christopher Nolan who went on to direct The Dark Night and Inception. It is a fictional film about a character who, like H.M., loses the ability to create any new memories, but still tries to solve a horrible crime.
It is rated R due to some very violent content and adult language. If that sort of film is acceptable to you and your parents, you can stream it on Netflix or rent it. It's definitely not appropriate for younger siblings.
