Extra Credit for Participating in Experiments

Go to www.tatalab.ca to sign up

We are recruiting for a variety of experiments including basic

perception and ADHD

ADHD Research ProjectWe are specifically recruiting individuals who

have been diagnosed with ADHD and are currently taking medication

Contact Karla at karla.ponjavic@uleth.ca for more information or to sign up

Test Wednesday and Thursday this week!

• Matching• Multiple Choice

– Select the one best answer

Test Wednesday and Thursday this week!

• True/False and Yes/No:– be sure to select true or false (or yes or no) for each answer.– Note that “yes” doesn’t mean “true”, it just means “yes”.

A quick peek at all the other sensory systems we don’t

have time to considerTouch, Taste, Smell,

Proprioception, Thermoception and Balance

How do we Stay Balanced?

The Vestibular System

Vestibular System (Balance)

Vestibular System (Balance)

Vestibular System (Balance)

Vestibular System (Balance)

Head accelerates this way

Cupula getspushed

Fluid goes this way

Vestibular System (Balance)

Head accelerates this way

Cupula getspushed

Fluid goes this way

Vestibular System (Balance)

• movement of the cupula is detected by hair cells

• hair cells in the vestibular system are more sensitive than hair cells on the basilar membrane!

Vestibular, Visual, and Proprioceptive Systems Work Together

• Try standing on one foot with your eyes closed!

Fun Facts about The Vestibular System

• Seasickness arises when the vestibular system and the visual system send conflicting information

Fun Facts about The Vestibular System

• Seasickness arises when the vestibular system and the visual system send conflicting information

• People can be knocked down by moving walls!

Fun Facts about The Vestibular System

• Seasickness arises when the vestibular system and the visual system send conflicting information

• People can be knocked down by moving walls!

• Alcohol causes the spins by (among other things) changing the density of the fluid in the semicircular canals

Sensory Systems:

• Touch, temperature, taste, smell

There are a variety of touch receptors

• Touch receptors send signals to the somatosensory cortex via long axons in the spinal cord

• Signals are sent to the opposite (contralateral) side of the brain

• Wilder Penfield - Montreal Neurological Institue - 1940’s

• Found somatotopic map by stimulating brain during surgery

The Homunculus

• Two classes of thermoreceptors: warm and cold

Thermoception

Taste (Gustation)

Taste buds contain

chemical receptors

Taste

What are the various “tastes”?

• Multi-dimensional scaling reveals several “varieties” of tastes:– sweet– salt– bitter– sour– umami (MSG) - possibly a protein

receptor– there may also be a lipid (fat) receptor

Taste