Stop & Think Questions
1. Most bipolar cells receive input from several rods but from only one cone in the fovea. How might this difference explain why rods permit us to see at lower light intensities than do cones? How might it explain why the sharpest images are formed when the object is focused on the fovea?
- The rods permit us to see at lower light intensities because more of them take in the light from the outside source. This means that the intensity of the light coming into each rod is much lower due to the distribution. When the eyes focus on something, the image is on the fovea which is most highly concentrated with cones, which produce the sharpest images.
2. As we age , the tissues of the eardrum thicken and become less flexible. How do these changes partially explain why sensitivity to high frequency sounds is usually lost as we grow older?
-The high frequency sounds are much more unlikely to get through the ear drum because they are generally weaker frequencies. this inflexibility also attests to the fact that older people generally have a harder time hearing normal sounds in general.
3. When you stop moving, there is a time lag before the fluid in the semicircular canals stops swirling. how does this time lag account for the sensation of dizziness after you have been twirling around for a while?
-This dizziness is caused by the motion of the fluid in the semicircular canals after the body has stopped moving. The sensory receptors throughout the body tell the brain that the body is not in motion, yet the fluid in the ears is telling the brain that it is. The contradiction is shown through dizziness.
MY STOP & THINK QUESTIONS
1. When you become sick, one of the main symptoms is a stuffy nose. How would this affect your sense of smell?
- The blockage of the nasal canal from mucus would either greatly decrease, or eliminate completely the sense of smell. The outside smell would not be able to reach the olfactory receptors inside the nose.
2. When you burn your tongue, sometimes immediately after you lose the sense of taste, or the tongue feels numb. Why is this?
- This sensation is because on the tongue the thousands of tastebuds have been injured. The injury causes for the temporary (or permanent) loss of feeling on the tongue. This includes the sense of taste.
- The rods permit us to see at lower light intensities because more of them take in the light from the outside source. This means that the intensity of the light coming into each rod is much lower due to the distribution. When the eyes focus on something, the image is on the fovea which is most highly concentrated with cones, which produce the sharpest images.
2. As we age , the tissues of the eardrum thicken and become less flexible. How do these changes partially explain why sensitivity to high frequency sounds is usually lost as we grow older?
-The high frequency sounds are much more unlikely to get through the ear drum because they are generally weaker frequencies. this inflexibility also attests to the fact that older people generally have a harder time hearing normal sounds in general.
3. When you stop moving, there is a time lag before the fluid in the semicircular canals stops swirling. how does this time lag account for the sensation of dizziness after you have been twirling around for a while?
-This dizziness is caused by the motion of the fluid in the semicircular canals after the body has stopped moving. The sensory receptors throughout the body tell the brain that the body is not in motion, yet the fluid in the ears is telling the brain that it is. The contradiction is shown through dizziness.
MY STOP & THINK QUESTIONS
1. When you become sick, one of the main symptoms is a stuffy nose. How would this affect your sense of smell?
- The blockage of the nasal canal from mucus would either greatly decrease, or eliminate completely the sense of smell. The outside smell would not be able to reach the olfactory receptors inside the nose.
2. When you burn your tongue, sometimes immediately after you lose the sense of taste, or the tongue feels numb. Why is this?
- This sensation is because on the tongue the thousands of tastebuds have been injured. The injury causes for the temporary (or permanent) loss of feeling on the tongue. This includes the sense of taste.