In this video I explain the process of transduction for taste and how gustatory cells detect tastant molecules in food. I discuss structures of the tongue, including papillae, taste buds, and gustatory cells and consider evolutionary explanations for changes in the number of taste buds over time. I also mention … Read More
Touch, Haptic Perception, & the Somatosensory Cortex
In this video I describe touch sensation and haptic perception, which refers to exploring the world by grasping. I outline the types of receptor in the skin including mechanoreceptors, thermoreceptors, and nocireceptors, and then discuss how signals are mapped out according to sensitivity in the somatosensory cortex of the parietal … Read More
Signal Detection Theory
In this video I explain how signal detection theory relates to psychophysics and the study of absolute and difference thresholds. I also explain how response criteria play a role in signal detection theory and the possibility of type I and type II errors. Finally, I consider applications of signal detection … Read More
Psychophysics!
In this video I introduce psychophysics and explain the difference between the absolute threshold and the difference threshold (or just noticeable difference). I also discuss the difficulties of measuring our sensitivity to stimulation and provide a simple demonstration of Weber’s Law, which is that the difference threshold relates to proportions … Read More