Sensation and perception

Introduction to Psychology
HUL261, Semester II, 2023-2024
Lecture 7
January 25, 2024
 Outline for today
• Recap of previous lecture
• Sensation vs. perception
• Gustation
• Olfaction
• Audition
• Somatosensation
• Conclusions

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 Recap of previous lecture
• Main divisions and functions of different parts of the brain
• In the brain, grey matter lies on the outside and white matter inside. This is reversed
in the spinal cord
• There are 4 main lobe of the cerebrum – it is important for many cognitive functions
• Cerebrospinal fluid flows between arachnoid and pia mater of the meninges and in
the ventricles
• Methods of studying the brain
• Behavioral studies – Investigations of healthy human participants
• EEG – Recording the electrical activity by monitoring voltage changes on the scalp
• fMRI – Measuring the ratio of oxygenated to deoxygenated Hb in brain’s blood supply
• Neural recordings – Recording neural activity directly from the brain
• TMS – Can stimulate the brain from over the skull

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 Sensation vs. perception

Sensation Perception
• The ‘raw’ input coming in • The end result of processing
through the senses within the nervous system
• The ‘bottom-up’ input • What pops out of the ‘top’ of
the nervous system

The mental representation of that original stimulus, whether it

accurately reflects the stimulus or not, is called a percept.
Thus, perception is the process of constructing the percept
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 Organs detect energy or substances
• Animals have body parts that are particularly sensitive to some forms of
energy or substances. These are called sensory receptor organs
• Any event that affects a sensory organ is called a stimulus
• Receptor cells within the organs detect stimuli and convert them into
electrical signals
• Receptors have a specific range (we see light in the range 400 – 700
nm), have sensitivity (or acuity), and they adapt
• Information from sensory receptor organs enters the brain and our brains
try to make sense of it all
• In general, if a sensory system devotes more receptors to certain types
of information, there is a corresponding increase in brain representation
of that information

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 Gustation
• Gustation is the sensation while taste is the
perception
• Taste is produced when a substance reacts
chemically with taste receptor cells
• These taste receptor cells are located in structures
called taste buds
• These taste buds on the tongue occur in structures
called papillae (the tiny protrusions on the tongue)
• There are five basic tastes: salty, sour, bitter, sweet,
and umami (savory) https://blog.freshprep.ca/2021/10/25/what-is-gustation-and-why-is-it-important/

• But there may be more tastes such as water, fat,

metallic etc. (Listen to this:
https://www.npr.org/2017/01/20/510621715/are-
there-more-than-five-basic-tastes)
https://www.wired.com/story/science-of-taste/ 6
 Taste
• Perception of different tastes involve different
chemical processes (e.g., H+ sensing receptors for
sour taste, Na+ sensing receptors for salty taste)
• A supertaster is a person who tastes certain flavors
and foods more strongly than other people,
especially bitter taste
• Supertasting abilities may be the result of tongues
that are more densely crowded with taste buds
• Interestingly, women generally have more taste
buds than men
Read more at https://greatist.com/health/supertaster 8
 Interim summary
Sensation vs. perception
• Sensation is the ‘raw’ input coming in through the senses & perception
is the end result of processing within the nervous system
• Gustation
• Taste is the perception that is produced when a substance reacts
chemically with taste receptor cells
• Olfaction
• Audition
• Somatosensation
• Conclusions

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 Olfaction
• Olfaction refers to the sense of smell
• Olfaction has important role in:
• Evaluating whether a potential food is edible
• Detecting hazards such as fire or airborne toxins
• Social communication: Pheromones are chemicals that trigger a
response in another individual of the same species
• Odor molecules or odorants enter the nasal cavity during the course of
normal breathing or when we sniff
• Odorants can also enter the system through the mouth (e.g., during
consumption of food), and from there travel back up into the nasal
cavity
• Odorants activate olfactory sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium
• These neurons send signals to the olfactory bulb which then sends
projection to the primary olfactory cortex

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 Olfactory perception
• Many animals possess far superior olfactory abilities than
humans. This may be because of increased numbers of
olfactory receptor neurons, increased odorant receptor
proteins, and a larger olfactory cortex
• Nevertheless, when challenged, humans can “sniff out” a
scent trail
• Women have a finer sense of smell. This may be related to
women have ~40% more neurons in the olfactory bulb
(Oliveira-Pinto et al, 2014; https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111733)
• Olfactory sensitivity is several orders of magnitude greater in
females of reproductive age compared to men and females
of non-reproductive age (Dalton et al, 2002;
https://www.nature.com/articles/nn803)

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Also see Microsoft’s AI nose project: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-lab-artificial-nose

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMuG-kirfqM
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 Audition
• Normally, humans are able to detect
sounds of frequency 20 Hz - 20 kHz, with
the upper limit dropping off somewhat in
adulthood
• Our speech sounds are usually below 6
kHz and our auditory system is particularly
tuned to these frequencies
• Sounds can have an impact on stress,
learning, performance, aggression, and
psychological and physical well-being

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 Audition
• Anatomically the ear has 3 divisions:
• External – increases air pressure 30-100 fold
• Middle (3 small bones) – increases air pressure 200
fold and transduces air pressure to fluid filled inner
ear
• Inner (cochlea) – Hair cells convert pressure waves
into neural impulses
• These neural impulses travel via the thalamus to
primary auditory cortex and then other parts of the
brain for interpretation
• There are dedicated brain regions for speech
production and comprehension
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhSpb36_1s4
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 Somatosensation
• Somatosensory perception is the perception of all
mechanical and some chemical stimuli that affect the
body. It includes:
• Exteroception is the sense of direct interaction with
the external world as it impacts on the body
• The principal mode of exteroception is the sense
of touch
• It also includes the thermal senses of heat and
cold
• It also includes the sense of pain and itch
• Proprioception is the sense of oneself (‘proprius’,
one’s own)
• Interoception, is the sense of the function of the major
organ systems of the body and its internal state. It
helps in regulating autonomic functions and
maintaining homeostasis
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 Somatosensory perception
• The ability of humans to resolve spatial details of textured surfaces depends
on which part of the body is contacted. Tactile acuity is highest on the
fingertips and the lips
• Tactile acuity is slightly greater in women than in men and varies between
fingers but not between hands
• Differences in tactile acuity relate to how these body areas are represented in
the brain
• The initial cortical receiving area is called the primary somatosensory cortex,
and it contains a somatotopic representation of the body called the sensory
homunculus
• This representation is ‘plastic’, i.e. it changes depending on training and
practice. E.g., violin players
• When a body part is removed, its representation can be invaded by some
other body part. This can give rise to phantom pain
• The sensory homunculus reflects behavioural differences across species
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https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.NXyuIf4M2oLqVc_lTp-_HgHaEa&pid=Api
 Nociception
• The receptors that respond selectively to stimuli that can damage tissue
are called nociceptors (‘nocere’, to injure)
• They respond directly to mechanical and thermal stimuli, and indirectly to
other stimuli by means of chemicals released from damaged tissue
• In general, two categories of pain perception have been described: a
sharp first pain and a more delayed, diffuse, and longer-lasting sensation
that is generally called second pain. These are transmitted by thinly
myelinated and unmyelinated fibers, respectively
• Capsaisin (present in chilli) when injected into skin produces a burning
pain and heightens pain sensitivity to thermal and mechanical stimuli
• So why do some pain ointment have capsaisin in them?!
G oogle im ages

• Repeated applications of capsaicin also desensitize pain fibers.

Consequently, capsaicin is used clinically as an analgesic agent; it is
usually applied as an ointment to relieve the pain

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 Who has a greater tolerance to pain:
women or men?
• Women seem to show lower pain thresholds, a greater ability to
discriminate painful sensations, higher pain ratings, and a lower
tolerance for pain (Vallerand and Polomano, 2000;
https://doi.org/10.1053/jpmn.2000.9759)
• Males and females might benefit from different coping
mechanisms (Keogh and Herdenfeldt, 2002;
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3959(01)00427-4)
• Read also: Why the sexes don’t feel pain the same way
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00895-3

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0y78VLwcQ
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 Conclusion
• Sensory receptor organs are specialized body parts that detect one type of stimuli
• Taste perception begins when a tastant stimulates a taste receptor cell and causes it to
depolarize
• Olfaction begins when an odorant activates olfactory sensory neurons in the olfactory
epithelium
• Audition begins when sound waves vibrate the ear drum which in turn results in firing of
the auditory nerve
• Anatomically, the ear has three parts: outer, middle, and inner
• Somatosensory perception is the perception of all mechanical and some chemical stimuli
that affect the body
• Receptors that respond selectively to stimuli that can damage tissue are called
nociceptors

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