AP Psychology
SENSATION
Chapter 4 (Bernstein), pages 106-149
Introducing
Your Senses
•
You have been told you have to give up one
of your senses.
1.
which one would you choose NOT to have?
2.
Why would you choose this sense and not one of the
others?
3.
Describe the physiological processes/physical
structures that would be affected by your lack of this
sense.
Introducing
Your Senses
1.
VISUAL DOMINANCE: we are very reliant on our sense of vision and
“give priority” to information that comes through that sense.
2.
INTERACTION OF TASTE AND SMELL: by giving up smell, you are
also giving up much of the flavor of food. In addition, you will no
longer be able to use smell to detect danger (e.g., smelling smoke).
3.
INCREASED SENSITIVITY: if you lose one sense, the other senses
do NOT become more sensitive (e.g., you cannot develop more rods
and cones). Rather you do attend more to the other sensory cues and
would notice things that you might not otherwise.
Introducing
Your Senses
Physiological Processes/
Physical Structures
1.
VISION--lack of rods or cones or damage to the cornea, lens, retina, the optic nerve, the occipital lobe
or thalamus
2.
HEARING--damage to the tympanic membrane, the mealleus, incus, or stapes (conduction deafness),
the basilar membrane, the auditory nerve (nerve deafness), or the temporal lobe or thalamus
3.
SMELL--damage to olfactory neurons or the olfactory bulb
4.
TASTE--damage to the taste buds or papillae and the thalamus
5.
TOUCH--difficulty surviving; wouldn’t be able to swallow or feel pain (which is important!). There could
be damage to the skin’s sensory neurons, the spinal cord, and the thalamus
6.
KINESTHESIA--damage to receptors in the muscles and joints that send information to the spinal cord
and the thalamus
7.
VESTIBULAR--no sense of balance or the positions of one’s head in space; could have damage to
the vestibular sacs in the inner ear or cerebellum; if problem exists with the vestibular-ocular reflexes
produced by the eye muscles, there could be damage to the vestibular sense
WHAT ARE OUR
SENSES?
1.
A SENSE is as system that translates information from outside the nervous system
into neural activity.
2.
Messages from the senses...SENSATIONS
3.
Sensation v. Perception (the process of giving meaning to sensation, Ch. 5)
•
difficult to distinguish because interpretation of sensations begins in sense organs
and continues into the brain
4.
Some General Info
•
stream of info from different senses can interact (e.g., ____________________ )
•
experience can change the sensations we receive (e.g., ____________________ )
•
“reality” differs from person to person (e.g., ____________________ )
5.
Our senses gather information about the world by detecting various forms of ENERGY
(e.g., light, heat, sound, physical pressure).
6.
Humans depend primarily on VISION, HEARING, and the SKIN SENSES.
SENSORY
SYSTEMS
•Steps
in Sensation
1.ACCESSORY
STRUCTURES modify/change environmental energy before “detected”
by the sensory system itself (ex. the outer ear is an accessory structure that collects
sound).
2.TRANSDUCTION converts environmental energy into neural activity (much like
translating English into another language).
•SENSORY RECEPTORS
specialized cells that detect energy forms
•Sensory receptors respond best to changes in environmental energy
•ADAPTATION is a process in which responsiveness to an unchanging stimulus
decreases over time.
3.Sensory
4.for
nerves carry output from receptors to CNS (spinal cord and brain)
all senses except smell, info goes first to thalamus which relays it to appropriate
sensory area of the cerebral cortex for complex processing
SENSORY
SYSTEMS
• The Problem of Coding
• CODING is the translation of a stimulus’ physical
properties into a pattern of neural activity that specifically
identifies those properties
• DOCTRINE OF SPECIFIC NERVE ENERGIES
states that stimulation of a particular sensory nerve
provides codes for that one sense, no matter how the
stimulation takes place (ex. gently pressing eyeball
produces optic nerve activity and little spots of light)
•
In other words... We have sensory systems which allow
us to take in information from the outside world and make
“sense” of it in our inside world (the brain).
•
SOUND is a repetitive fluctuation in the pressure of a medium,
HEARING
such as air.
•
Vibrations of an object produce the fluctuations in pressure that
create sound.
•
A wave is a repetitive variation in pressure that spreads out in three
dimensions.
•
Physical Characteristics of Sound
•
Sound is represented graphically by waveforms (2-D) which have
three characteristics:
•
AMPLITUDE or intensity is the difference in air pressure from
baseline to peak
•
WAVELENGTH is the distance from one peak to the next
•
FREQUENCY is the number of complete waveforms, or cycles that
pass by a given point in space every second. One cycle per second
is 1 hertz (Hz).
•
Frequency and wavelength are related; the longer the wavelength,
the lower the frequency (and vice versa)
•
Most sounds are mixtures of many frequencies and amplitudes, but
HEARING
•
Psychological Dimensions of Sound
•
Physical characteristics of sound waves produce the psychological
dimensions of sound.
•
LOUDNESS determined by amplitude of the sound wave; waves
with greater amplitude produce sensations of louder sounds.
•
Loudness is described in units called decibels, dB. Zero dB is the
minmal detectable sound for normal hearing.
•
PITCH is how “low” or “high” a tone sounds. High frequency waves
are senses as high-pitched sounds.
•
Humans can hear sounds from about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
•
TIMBRE is sound’s quality. Consists of complex wave patterns that
enables you to differentiate sounds.
PARTS OF THE
EAR
•
Outer Ear...
CHANNELS the sound (pinna, auditory canal, tympanic
membrane/eardrum)
•
Middle Ear...
AMPLIFIES the sound (hammer/malleus, anvil/incus, stirrup/stapes)
•
Inner Ear...
TRANSDUCES the sound (cochlea, basilar membrane, hair
cells/cilia, auditory nerve)
HEARING
•
Focusing the Sound: THE HUMAN EAR
YOUR TASKS
•
GROUP 1 Describe the roles of the cochlea, basilar
membrane, hair cells, and auditory nerve in the
process of AUDITORY TRANSDUCTION. Include a
description of the types of deafness.
•
GROUP 2 Describe how information is relayed to the
primary auditory cortex and how the cortex codes
the frequency and location of sounds.
•
GROUP 3 Describe the process of coding auditory
information. Discuss the relationship between
PLACE THEORY and FREQUENCY-MATCHING
THEORY (VOLLEY THEORY) on frequency coding.
PLACE THEORY v. FREQUENCY-MATCHING THEORY
Place Theory
pitch is signaled/identified according
to the locations of vibrations along
the basilar membrane
pitch determined by the places where
the membrane vibrates and activates
hair cells of the organ of Corti
certain frequencies are too low to
cause vibrations along the basilar
membrane (explained by frequencymatching theory)
Frequency-Matching Theory
a neuron responds (or fires) to
frequencies up to 500 Hz
used to explain how we hear deep, low
frequencies
pitch of sound determined by neuron
(or group of neurons) firing patterns
neurons have a maximum firing
frequency which falls within the range
of frequencies we can hear; volley
theory attempts to explain this by
stating groups of neurons cooperate to
code these higher-frequency sounds
(still higher frequencies explained by
place theory)
TEST YOUR MAD SKILLS!
VISION
•
LIGHT
• a form of energy known as electromagnetic radiation
• most invisible to the human eye
•
VISIBLE LIGHT
•
electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength from approx. 400 nanometers
(one-billionth of a meter) to about 750 nanometers
•
does not need a medium to pass through (such as air or water...or molasses)
•
has properties of both waves and particles (light rays and light waves both
correct terminology)
•
sensations of light dependent upon two physical dimensions:
•
LIGHT INTENSITY how much energy the light contains; determines
brightness
•
LIGHT WAVELENGTH determines color you sense; different wavelengths
produce sensations of different colors (ROYGBIV)
VISION
•
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VISION
•
Converting Light into Images (VISUAL
•
PHOTORECEPTORS the specialized cells in the retina that
convert light into neural activity
•
PHOTOPIGMENTS chemicals in photoreceptors that respond to
light
TRANSDUCTION)
•
light strikes photoreceptors
•
photoreceptors break apart and chemical reaction begins
•
cell’s membrane polarity changes and signal sent to the brain
•
in dim conditions photoreceptors make extra photopigment to
detect little light
•
DARK ADAPTATION the increasing ability to see in the dark over
time
(after half hour, sensitivity increases 10,000 fold)
VISION•
•
RODS & CONES
RODS and CONES the two
types of photoreceptors
in the retina that differ in shape,
composition, and
response to light
•
Approx. 120 million rods and 6-7
million cones
•
Cones provide the basis for color
vision
•
Cones use one of three varieties of
iodosin photopigments, each
sensitive to different light
wavelengths
•
Rods use the photopigment
rhodopsin, making them more
sensitive to light than cones; rods
cannot discriminate color
•
Most cones concentrated in fovea
allowing detailed vision, or ACUITY
•
Variations in density of cones in the
fovea account for differences in
visual acuity
•
Rods are located in the periphery of
the retina, not in the fovea
QuickTime™ and a
Sorenson Video 3 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
VISION
•
RODS & CONES
•
INTERACTIONS IN THE RETINA
•
•
Rods and cones connect to bipolar cells and then to ganglion cells.
•
When amounts of light reaching any two photoreceptors differ, the
photoreceptor receiving more light inhibits the output to the brain
from the photoreceptor receiving less light, making it seem like
there is less light at that cell than there is.
•
LATERAL INHIBITION is made possible by interneurons which make
sideways connections between photoreceptors and exaggerate the
amount of light reaching them. This exaggeration allows clearer vision.
•
Each ganglion cell can relay info to the brain only about its own
RECEPTIVE FIELD, the part of the retina and the corresponding part of
the visual world to which that cell responds
•
These receptive fields create complex combinations that give us
optimum detection of light variations such as edges and small spots of
light or dark. By enhancing the sensation of important features, the
retina gives us an “improved” version of the visual world.
•
The OPTIC DISK is located where the optic nerve leaves the eye. It
contains no rods or cones and creates a BLIND SPOT or void in the
visual field. This is unnoticed because the other eye compensates for it.
Axons of the the ganglion cells form the optic nerve which extends
out of the eye and into the brain.
“The Island of the Colorblind”
from the BBC series
THE MIND TRAVELER
with Dr. Oliver Sacks
Click HERE to begin program.
REPRES
ENTATI
ONS
VISION•
•
Once the
optic nerve
leaves each
eyeball, the
bundle of
fibers meet at
the OPTIC
CHIASM in
the brain.
Here they
cross to the
opposite side
of the brain.
The fibers
from the
inside half of
each eye
cross over.
The outside
half of each
eye do not.
This brings
all visual info
from the left
half of the
visual world
to the right
hemisphere
of the brain
•
VISION
•
VISU
AL
PATH
WAY
S&
REP
RESE
NTAT
IONS
From the optic chiasm,
info is sent to the region
of the thalamus called
the LATERAL
GENICULATE
NUCLEUS (LGN) where
neurons then relay the
visual input to the
PRIMARY VISUAL
CORTEX for complex
processing.
•
FEATURE DETECTORS specialized neurons in the LGN that respond to
different aspects of an image such as size, shape, and angle
•
PARALLEL PROCESSING refers to how the brain processes multiple sources
of info at once. It’s still debated as to where all this processing takes place and
may involve several regions of the brain, not just the visual cortex.
VISION
•
SEEING COLOR
•
PERCEPTION OF COLOR
•
How we perceive color depends on three characteristics of light
waves: HUE, SATURATION, and BRIGHTNESS.
•
HUE refers to the color people psychologically experience. It is
determined by wavelength. Short wavelengths produce bluish
colors. Long wavelength produce reddish colors. Medium
wavelengths produce orange, green, yellow colors.
•
SATURATION refers to color purity. Purity depends on the
complexity of light wave. (ex. red comprised of a single wave;
pink comprised of a combination of red and white light)
•
BRIGHTNESS refers to the intensity of the light wave as
determined by the amplitude, or height, of a wave (tall wave/great
amplitude would be a very bright color; low wave/low amplitude
would be a dull color)
•
SEEING
COLOR
•
COLOR MIXING
•
Colors are based on the
dominant wavelength
present. How colors are
mixed determines which
color people perceive.
•
SUBTRACTIVE COLOR
MIXING
VISION
•
occurs by mixing different
paint colors
•
like other physical objects,
paints reflect certain
wavelengths and absorb all
others
•
combining all paint colors will
result in black
•
ADDITIVE COLOR MIXING
•
the effects of the
wavelengths from each light
are added together
•
mixing two lights of equal
intensity results in a color
midpoint on a line between
the two starting colors on a
color wheel
•
VISION
TRICHROMATI
C THEORY OF
COLOR
VISION
(YoungHelmholz
Theory)
•
the eye has three types of
receptors, each sensitive to
a specific wavelength
•
blue-sensitive cone
short wavelengths
•
green-sensitive cone
medium wavelengths
•
red-sensitive cone
wavelengths
•
colors other than blue,
green, and red triggers
combination of cones which
produces other colors (ex.
purple results from triggering
blue and red-sensitive cones
at the same time)
•
COLOR BLINDNESS can
be explained by the
trichromatic theory
•
people with who are born
long
•
VISION
•
OPPONENTPROCESS
THEORY OF
COLOR VISION
(Ewald Hering)
•
the color-sensitive
components of the eye are
grouped into three pairs:
red-green, blue-yellow, and
black-white
•
each element signals one
color or the other but never
both
•
this theory explains
AFTERIMAGES when an
image is perceived even
though the stimulus has been
removed (ex. staring at a
yellow dot then looking away
and seeing a blue dot...the
afterimage)
•
according to Hering, different
colors are produced through
combinations of the pairs
being activated at the same
time (ex. purple results from
VISION
•
SYNESTHESIA
•
involves more unusual mixing of senses that improve
the experience of a sensation
•
“feeling” color or sounds as touches; “tasting”
shapes; sensing colors when hearing certain sounds
•
possibly from connections between neighboring
sensory areas of the brain
VISION EXPERIMENTS
Neuroscience for Kids: VISION
EXPERIMENTS
Neuroscience for Kids: COLOR VISION
THE CHEMICAL
SENSES:
SMELL &
•
OLFACTION (click HERE before continuing)
•
•
•
Olfaction (or Smell) detects chemicals that are airborne, or volatile
•
olfactory receptors on dendrites of specialized neurons in the moist lining of the nose
(mucous membrane)
•
odor molecules bind to receptors causing depolarization of dendrites’ membrane and
causes changes in the firing rates of neurons
•
a single odor molecule can cause a change in the membrane potential of an olfactory
neuron but normal odor detection requires about 50 molecules
•
•
olfactory neurons live only about 2 months and are repeatedly replaced
•
•
IMPORTANCE TO RESEARCH
•
how smells are coded in combinations of receptors may help researches develop
“electronic noses” that may have an application in national security and medical
diagnosis
TASTE
accessory structures include nose, mouth, and upper part of throat
odor molecules reach receptors through nose or through opening in the palate at back
of mouth
humans have approx. 1,000 different olfactory receptors (1-2% of genes) allowing us to
discriminate tens of thousands of different odors
understanding how olfactory neurons generate may someday be helpful in treating
brain damage
BACK
THE CHEMICAL
SENSES:
SMELL &
TASTE
•
More on OLFACTION
•
•
the only sense that bypasses the thalamus
•
olfactory bulb’s connection to the amygdala may account for relationship between
smell and emotional experiences (losing the sense of smell sometimes indicates
brain diseases that disrupt memory and emotion)
•
mechanism of olfaction similar across species but not sensitivity (humans have
approx. 9 million olfactory neurons; dogs have about 225 million)
•
no agreement on basic smells
•
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
olfactory axons extend directly into the brain to the olfactory bulb and then sent
to various brain regions for further processing
THE CHEMICAL
SENSES:
SMELL &
TASTE
•
PHEROMONES
•
Dogs and many other species have an accessory olfactory system that detects
these chemicals that when released by one animal and detected by another can
shape the second animal’s behavior and/or physiology
•
in mammals, pheromones can be nonvolatile chemicals that animals lick and
pass into an olfactory organ called the vomeronasal organ
•
role of pheromones in humans less clear
•
the human vomeronasal organ is capable of responding to certain hormonal substances and can
influence certain hormonal secretions
•
not everyone has a vomeronasal organ
•
odorants that cannot be consciously detected have been shown to influence mood and can alter
parts of the brain that not directly involved in olfaction
•
a possible human gene for pheromone receptors has been found
•
pheromones capable of producing physiological changes in humans related to reproduction but no
solid evidence for a human (or even a primate) sexual attractant pheromone
•
associations between certain odors and emotional experiences that enhance sexual attraction is
LEARNED
•
individual mammals, including humans, have distinct “odor type” determined by immune cells and
other inherited physiological factors
THE CHEMICAL
SENSES:
SMELL &
TASTE
•
GUSTATION
•
Gustation (or Taste) is the chemical sense system in the mouth
•
receptors for taste are in taste buds grouped together as papillae in mouth and throat
•
humans have about 10,000 taste buds (mostly on tongue, also on roof of mouth and back
of throat)
•
human taste system detects only a few elementary sensations (sweet, sour, bitter,
salty)
•
research has identified two other tastes
•
umami enhances other tastes and is produced by monosodium glutamate (MSG) and
certain other proteins
•
astringent produced by tannins such as those found in teas
•
different tastes transduced into neural activity in different ways
•
sweetness and bitterness signaled when chemicals fit into specific receptor sites
•
sour and salty act through direct effects on the ion channels in membranes of taste cells
•
salty also enhances taste of food by suppressing bitterness
•
“supertasters”--about 25% of population has thousands of taste buds whereas
“nontasters” have only hundreds
THE CHEMICAL
SENSES:
SMELL &
TASTE
•
SMELL, TASTE, and FLAVOR
•
smell and taste act as two components of one system...FLAVOR
•
most of what makes food taste good comes from odors detected by the olfactory
system
•
ANOSMIA is inability to distinguish smells and also interrupts ability to determine
flavor even when the gustation system is in working order
•
olfactory and gustatory pathways converge in the ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX
where neurons also respond to the sight and texture of food
•
responses of neurons in this “flavor cortex” also influenced by hunger and satiety
(fullness)
•
tastes and odor prompt strong emotional responses
•
reactions to bitter and sweet flavors appear to be inborn
•
few other innate flavor preferences as most are LEARNED
•
taste and flavor perception as well as motivation to consume certain flavors is
affected by nutritional needs (ex. desire for salty drink or food after exercise)
•
flavor also affected by texture and temperature
THE SOMATIC SENSES
•
•
•
also known as the body senses or somatosensory systems
located throughout the body rather than in specific, localized organs
include the following:
1. skin
senses of touch, temperature, and pain
2. kinesthesia--the
sense that tells the brain where the parts of the body are with
respect to each other
3. vestibular
system/proprioceptive senses--tells the brain about the position and
movement of the head
THE SOMATIC SENSES
•TOUCH
AND TEMPERATURE
•Stimulus
and Receptors for Touch
•energy detected by the sense of touch is physical pressure on tissue (usually skin)
•skin covers approx. 2 yards of surface and weights more than 20 lbs
•hairs on skin bend and deform the skin just beneath them
•nerve endings in the skin act as receptors that transduce pressure into neural activity are in, or just below,
the skin
•exact process of transduction in the skin is still unknown
•humans not just passive responders; touch is an active sense used to get specific information
•high density of touch receptors in fingertips
•some blind people can read 200 words of Braille per minute
THE SOMATIC SENSES
•TOUCH
AND TEMPERATURE
•Adaptation
of Touch Receptors
•constant input leads to adaptation resulting in reduced response to constant stimulation
•somatosensory system responds best to change in touch
•neurons fire rapidly when stimulus first sensed
•then most neurons slowly return to baseline while only a few fire giving a sense of a constant stimulation
•Coding
and Representation of Touch Information
•sense of touch codes info about two aspects of an object in contact with the skin
•INTENSITY of stimulus (weight or heaviness) coded by both the firing rate of and number of neurons
stimulated
•LOCATION coded by the location of neurons responding to touch; input from left side of body goes to
right side of brain, and vice versa
THE SOMATIC SENSES
•TOUCH
AND TEMPERATURE
•Temperature
•touch and temperature seem to be separate senses; difference not always clear
•some sensory neurons of skin respond to change in temperature but not to simple contact
•“warm fibers” increase firing rate when temperature is between 95-115 degrees F
•temperatures above 115 cause pain and stimulate different fibers
•“cold fibers” respond to broad range of cool temperatures
•many fibers responding to temperature also respond to touch causing sensations of temperature
and touch/pressure to interact
•warm and cold objects can “feel” up to 250% heavier than body-temperature objects
•touching an object made up of alternating warm and cold spots gives sensation of intense heat
•people having frostbite feel burning sensation
THE SOMATIC SENSES
•
PAIN AS AN INFORMATION SENSE
•
pain receptors are free nerve endings that
extend from spinal cord to skin and muscles
(no dendrites)
•
when stimulated, these sensory neurons
cause the release of various neurotransmitters
including substance P, a neurotransmitter that
activates a “gate” in the spinal cord that either
lets pain impulses travel to the brain or blocks
their progress (Gate-Control Theory of
Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall)
•
input from other skin senses (touch,
temperature) may “take over” pathways that
pain impulses would have used (ex. rubbing
area around a wound; cold/hot pack on a
injury)
•
two types of nerve fibers carry pain signals to
spinal cord where they are sent to the
thalamus and then relayed to somatosensory
cortex, frontal lobe, and limbic system (for
emotional elements of pain)
•
A-delta fibers carry sharp pain and are
myelinated to carry inputs quickly
•
C fibers carry chronic, dull aches and burning
sensations
•
•
each signals different brain areas
different pain neurons cause release of
different neurotransmitters (allowing for the
THE SOMATIC SENSES
•
EMOTIONAL ASPECT OF PAIN
•
all senses can have an emotional
component, most of which are learned
•
•
pain is more direct
•
necessary for our survival by allowing us to
pull or away or stop doing something that
could cause us injury
•
cognition affects our emotional response to
pain
•
understanding the nature of pain makes it
less aversive although just as intense
•
pain-reducing strategies such as distracting
thoughts also affects emotional responses to
pain
specific pathways carry an emotional
component of the painful stimulus to areas of
the hindbrain and reticular formation (in the
limbic system) as well as other areas via the
thalamus
THE SOMATIC SENSES
•
NATURAL ANALGESICS
•
the brain can close the “gate” by sending signals
back down the spinal cord resulting in analgesia, the
absence of pain sensation in the presence of a
normally painful stimulus
•
at least three chemicals released by the body during
stress play a role in the brain’s ability to block pain
signals: serotonin, endorphins, and
endocannabinoids
•
•
endorphins act as pain killers at many levels
•
are also released by the adrenal and pituitary glands
as pain-relieving hormones
•
“range of use” includes reducing labor pains during
late pregnancy to allowing severely injured athletes
and soldiers to continue to perform with no apparent
pain
•
once crisis has passed, the release of another
neurotransmitter reactivate pain sensitivity
counteracting endorphins’ analgesic effects
in the spinal cord, they block the synapses of fibers
that carry pain signals
THE SOMATIC SENSES
•
PROPRIOCEPTION &
EQUILIBRIOCEPTION
•
The proprioceptive senses and
the sense of balance provide
information about the position of the
body and what each part of the
body is doing
THE SOMATIC SENSES
•
EQUILIBRIOCEPTION
•
Vestibular Sense
•
•
often thought of as the “sense of balance”
•
two vestibular sacs and three semicircular canals in the inner ear are the
organs for this sense
•
vestibular sacs filled with fluid and contain small crystals called otoliths
that rest on hair endings
•
semicircular canals are fluid-filled and arc-shaped tubes with tiny hairs
extending into fluid
•
as head moves, otoliths shift in sacs and fluid moves in the canals
stimulating hair endings
•
neurons activated and travel with the auditory nerve, signaling
the brain about the amount and direction of head movement
•
vestibular system has neural connections to: cerebellum (coordinate body
movements), autonomic nervous system (affect digestion), eye muscles
(fix eyes on a point in space if head is moving...vestibular-ocular reflexes)
•
dizziness occurs when the fluids in the vestibular system are not level
tells brain about the position of the head in space and about its
general movements
THE SOMATIC SENSES
•
PROPRIOCEPTION
•
Kinesthesia
•
the sense that tells you where parts of your body are
with respect to each other
•
guide all our movements because the brain, with
practice, will automatically make them simple and fluid
•
primary source of kinesthetic information comes from
special receptors (proprioceptors) in joints and
muscles
•
transduced info goes to spinal cord to thalamus to
cerebellum and somatosensory cortex for smooth
coordination of movements
•
NOTE: kinesthesia often distinguished from
proprioception due to proprioception’s reliance on
balance (kinesthesia is unaffected by sense of
balance and deals only with motion)
Enhancing proprioceptive quality & adaptation:
•
The following exercises and body systems have an effect on proprioceptive awareness.
• Movement for movement's sake in any variety of movement patterns and ranges of motion with different
tensions/loads (i.e., dancing, tai chi, yoga).
• Traditional cardio, strength and flexibility conditioning.
• Balance conditioning, eyes open and closed.
• Rotational movements (not just linear and lateral).
• Visual acuity: Use vision to adjust movements when recovering balance. Instead of focusing downward, look
ahead to realign the head and neck.
• Auditory system: The inner ear registers head and body movement like a built-in level. To function properly,
the head and neck must be situated over a balanced spine.
• Rhythm: Heart beat, breathing patterns and even walking are rhythmic by nature. Have clients strive to feel
rhythm during sports and as they work out.
• Stance: Movements should be initiated from an "athletic stance" (ankles, knees and hips slightly flexed) and
an upright posture. Stance is also referred to as the clients' "base of support," or the distance created
between their feet.
• Weight transfer: Bodies are especially sensitive to weight changes that take place with stance or postural
shifts. Clients will feel weight transfer from the feet upward.
• Constant motion: Have clients get a feel for constant, dynamic movements (versus static positions) as they
try the drills mentioned in this article.
• FROM: FITNESS MANAGEMENT MAGAZINE--A PUBLICATION
• FITNESS/HEALTH/ATHLETIC CLUBS AND FACILITIES
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