Chapter Three

THE PHYSIOLOGICAL BASIS OF BEHAVIOR

THE THREE MECHANISMS OF BEHAVIOR

1. THE RECEIVING MECHANISM – consists of the sense organs

2. THE CONNECTING MECHANISM – consists of the nervous system
3. THE REACTING MECHANISM – consists of the muscles and the
endocrine system

THE RECEIVING MECHANISM

THE SENSE ORGANS (de Guzman, 2008; Freberg, 2010)

Sense Organs are sensitive nerve endings located in certain body parts.

Characteristics:
1. Sensitivity and Irritability – power to react to stimuli
2. Conductivity – power to conduct and transport nerve impulses
3. Specificity – attribute of reacting to particular stimuli
4. Adaptability – power to become used to a particular stimulus

Stimulus Receptor(s) Neural

Processing
Vision (Sense of Light rays Retina: Occipital
Sight) Rods – function in low light Lobe
conditions and are not sensitive to
colors (to optic nerve)
Cones – function in bright light
and are sensitive to colors (to optic
nerve)
Audition (Sense Sound Cochlea: Temporal
of Hearing) Waves Organ of Corti – hair cells which Lobe of both
act as specific receptors for the sense hemispheres
of hearing (to auditory nerve)
Vestibular Portion/
Semicircular Canals – sense of
balance or equilibrium (to auditory
nerve)
Olfaction (Sense Chemical Olfactory Cells – found in the Temporal
of Smell) substances nasal cavity; excitation leads to lobes and
in a gaseous neural impulses (to olfactory nerve) Frontal Lobes
state
Gustation Chemical Papillae – contain taste buds with Frontal lobe
(Sense of Taste) substances taste receptor cells (to facial nerve and Insular
in liquid and glossopharyngeal nerve) lobe
state
Somatosensation Pressure, Meissner’s Corpuscles – pressure Parietal lobe
(Sense of Touch) Pain, Merkel’s Disks - pressure
Temperature Pacinian Corpuscles –vibration
Ruffini endings – stretch/warmth
Krause’s corpuscle – cold
C-fibers/Free nerve endings –
pain, itch, temperature
THE CONNECTING MECHANISM

Neuron – is the basic structural unit of the nervous system.

PARTS OF THE NEURON (Freberg, 2010):

• Dendrite – the branch of a neuron that generally receives information

from other neurons.
• Cell body/Soma – main mass of a neuron, containing the nucleus and
many organelles.
• Nucleus – the substructure within a cell body that contains the cell’s
DNA.
• Axon – The branch of a neuron usually responsible for carrying signals to
other neurons.
• Axon Hillock – the cone-shaped segment of axon located at the junctions
of the axon and cell body that is specialized for the generation of action
potentials.
• Axon Terminal – the swelling at the top of an axon collateral specialized
for the release of neurotransmitter substance.
• Myelin (sheath) – the fatty insulating material covering some axons that
boosts the speed and efficiency of electrical signaling.
• Synaptic Vesicle – a small structure in the axon terminal that contains
neurotransmitters.
• Node of Ranvier (RAHN-vee-ay) – the uncovered section of axon
membrane between two adjacent segments of myelin.
FUNCTIONAL VARIATIONS IN NEURONS

• Sensory Neurons –
specialized neurons
that receive
information from
the outside such as
vision, hearing,
touch, taste, and
smell and all
depend on
specialized receptor
neurons.
• Motor Neurons –
transmit commands from the central nervous system (brain and spinal
cords) directly to muscles and glands.
• Interneurons – act as bridges between sensory and motor systems.

NERVE IMPULSE TRANSMISSION

Source: Boundless. “Nerve Impulse Transmission within a Neuron: Action

Potential.” Boundless Biology. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 03 Aug. 2015
from https://www.boundless.com/ biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-
textbook/the-nervous-system-35/how-neurons-communicate-200/nerve-impulse-
transmission-within-a-neuron-action-potential-762-11995/

Action Potential

A neuron can receive input from

other neurons via a chemical called a
neurotransmitter. If this input is strong
enough, the neuron will pass the signal to
downstream neurons. Transmission of a
signal within a neuron (in one direction
only, from dendrite to axon terminal) is
carried out by the opening and closing of
voltage-gated ion channels, which cause a
brief reversal of the resting membrane potential to create an action potential . As
an action potential travels down the axon, the polarity changes across the
membrane. Once the signal reaches the axon terminal, it stimulates other neurons.

Formation of an action potential

The formation of an action potential can be divided into five steps.

1. A stimulus from a sensory cell or another neuron causes the target cell to
depolarize toward the threshold potential. Remember that at rest, more K+
ions are in the intracellular environment, and more Na+ ions are in the
extracellular environment.
2. If the threshold of excitation is reached, all Na+ channels open and the
membrane undergoes depolarization, making the intracellular
environment more positively charged by letting Na+ ions inside.
3. At the peak action potential, K+ channels open and K+ begins to leave the
cell. At the same time, Na+ channels close. This is the process of
repolarization.
4. The membrane undergoes hyperpolarization as K+ ions continue to leave
the cell, making the intracellular environment more negative than in the
resting state. The hyperpolarized membrane is in a refractory period and
cannot fire.
5. The K+ channels close and the Na+/K+ transporters restore the resting
potential.

Myelin and Propagation of the Action Potential

For an action potential to communicate information to another neuron, it

must travel along the axon and reach the axon terminals, where it can initiate
neurotransmitter release to the next neuron in a gap between them called the
synapse. The speed of conduction of an action potential along an axon is
influenced by both the diameter of the axon and the axon's resistance to current
leak. Myelin acts as an insulator that prevents current from leaving the axon,
increasing the speed of action potential conduction. Diseases like multiple
sclerosis cause degeneration of the myelin, which slows action potential
conduction because axon areas are no longer insulated so the current leaks.
 A node of Ranvier is a natural gap in the myelin sheath along the axon.
These unmyelinated spaces are about one micrometer long and contain voltage
gated Na+ and K+ channels. The flow of ions through these channels, particularly
the Na+ channels, regenerates the action potential over and over again along the
axon. Action potential "jumps" from one node to the next through saltatory
conduction. If nodes of Ranvier were not present along an axon, the action
potential would propagate very slowly; Na+ and K+ channels would have to
continuously regenerate action potentials at every point along the axon. Nodes
of Ranvier also save energy for the neuron since the channels only need to be
present at the nodes and not along the entire axon.
THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM – consists of the brain and spinal cord

STRUCTURES IN THE BRAIN (de Guzman, 2008)

Brainstem
• Where motor signals from the brain pass through before reaching the
spinal cord
• Where sensory signals from the spinal cord pass through before reaching
the brain
3 parts of the brainstem:
• Medulla (myencephalon) – lowest part of the brainstem concerned with
the regulation of breathing and vital bodily functions such as the beating
of the heart and blood circulation
• Pons (metencephalon) – structure that lies above the medulla;
sleep/waking cycles
• Midbrain (mesencephalon) – visual and auditory reflexes, motor control,
and pain
• Interbrain (diencephalon) – contains thalamus and hypothalamus
o Thalamus – last relay center for all incoming sensory impulses
except olfaction
o Hypothalamus – eating, drinking, emotional, sexual responses, stress
responses

Limbic system – group of structures that surround the thalamus which consists
of the hypothalamus and the:
• Hippocampus – plays a crucial role in memory
• Amygdala – control of emotions, appetitive, sexual, and aggressive
behavior
Cerebellum – concerned with the coordination of somatic motor activities, or
voluntary movements, the regulation of muscle tone, and mechanisms that
influence and maintain equilibrium.

Cerebrum - Outer layer consists of gray matter (unmyelinated fibers) called the
cerebral cortex, and the inner layer consists of white matter (myelinated fibers)
Corpus callosum – large band of commissural fibers (nerve fibers) that go to the
opposite side of the brain and spinal cord and join the two cerebral hemispheres
Gyri (gyrus) – numerous folds in the cerebral hemispheres
Sulci (sulcus) or fissures – canals or grooves in between the gyri
Fissure of Rolando – separates frontal lobe from parietal lobe
Sylvian fissure – separates temporal lobe from lateral cerebral fissure

Lobes of the brain, the cortical areas, and their functions:

Frontal lobe – location of the primary motor area which controls voluntary
movement in a contralateral manner (left side controls the right side of the body,
and vice versa).
Temporal lobe – location of the primary auditory area in charge of hearing and
processing of auditory stimuli.
Parietal lobe – contains the primary somatosensory area which processes
sensory signals such as touch, pressure, pain, thermal sense, and sense of body
movements (kinesthesia).
Occipital lobe – contains the primary visual area which receives visual signals
from the thalamus and processes visual sensations.
Association area – areas of cerebral hemispheres not concerned with primary
sensory and motor processes and occupy a larger part of the brain; in charge of
meaningful interpretation of sensory experiences.

PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM – consists of the autonomic nervous

system and the somatic nervous system.

Autonomic Nervous System – is concerned with the involuntary activities of the

organism and consists of the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions, which
function antagonistically (de Guzman, 2008).

• The sympathetic division is considered as the “fight-or-flight” system

and activates under stressful situations.
• The parasympathetic division is considered as the “rest-and-digest”
system and takes over when the stressful situation has passed.

The next figure shows the influence of the antagonistic nature of the
sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system to the different parts of the body
(see next page).
Somatic Nervous System – consists of the cranial nerves and spinal nerves and
innervate peripheral structures such as the skin and muscles and the visceral
organs (de Guzman, 2008).
THE REACTING MECHANISM

MUSCLES (http://www.innerbody.com/image/musfov.html#full-description)

• The muscular system is responsible for the movement of the human body.
• Attached to the bones of the skeletal system are about 700 named muscles
that make up roughly half of a person’s body weight.
• Muscle tissue is also found inside of the heart, digestive organs, and blood
vessels where muscles serve to move substances throughout the body.
Muscle Types
• Visceral (Smooth) Muscle -
found inside of organs like the
stomach, intestines, and blood
vessels. Because visceral muscle
is controlled by the unconscious
part of the brain, it is known as
involuntary muscle—it cannot
be directly controlled by the
conscious mind.
• Cardiac Muscle - found only in
the heart, cardiac muscle is
responsible for pumping blood
throughout the body. Cardiac muscle tissue cannot be controlled
consciously, also making it an involuntary muscle.
• Skeletal Muscle - is the only voluntary muscle tissue in the human body.
Every physical action that a person consciously performs (e.g. speaking,
walking, or writing) requires skeletal muscle. The function of skeletal
muscle is to contract to move parts of the body closer to the bone that the
muscle is attached to. Most skeletal muscles are attached to two bones
across a joint, so the muscle serves to move parts of those bones closer to
each other.

Function of Muscle Tissue

• Movement
• Maintenance of posture and body position
• Movement of substances inside the body
• Generation of body heat
ENDOCRINE SYSTEM

The endocrine system controls the way the body functions. It is composed of
glands and organs which produce different hormones that travel to all parts of the
body to maintain tissues and organs.

Some areas governed by the endocrine system:

• Reproduction
• Responses to stress and injury
• Growth and sexual development
• Body energy levels
• Internal balance of body systems
• Bone and muscle strength
The Glands of the Endocrine System

1. Hypothalamus - part of the brain that controls hormone production by

releasing different chemicals to the pituitary gland.
2. Pituitary gland – likely the most important gland in the body, it is crucial to
growth, mental development and reproduction; influences or controls the rest
of the endocrine system.
3. Pineal gland - connects the endocrine system with the nervous system;
produces several important hormones, including melatonin, important to
sleep/wake cycles and sexual development.
4. Thyroid gland – located in the front of the neck, it releases hormones that
control metabolism and govern the way the body uses energy.
5. Parathyroid gland - located behind the thyroid gland; essential for proper
bone development.
6. Thymus - crucial to normal immune function in childhood; once a child
reaches puberty, its tissue is replaced by fat
7. Adrenal glands - influence the way the body uses energy, they also release a
hormone called adrenaline when the individual is under stress.
8. Pancreas - releases insulin to metabolize sugar; problems with the pancreas
can lead to diabetes.
9. Ovaries - produce estrogen and progesterone in women, and also release egg
cells.
10. Testes - produce the hormone testosterone; in men, testosterone maintains
sperm production and bone mass.
 PERCEPTION

When we are aware of the stimuli around us without appreciating them,

what we see and hear can be just sounds and colors without meaning at all. Life
would seem dull and uninteresting. Thus, it is crucial that we learn to recognize,
to read, and to give importance. These are just some of the useful things that
perception allows us to do.

Perception is the process by which the brain interprets sensory information,

turning it into meaningful representations of the external world. Through
perception, the brain attempts to make sense of the mass of sensory stimuli that
impinge on our sensory organs. Perception gives answers to such questions as:
What do I see – a tomato? Is the sound I hear a church bell or a doorbell? Does
the face belong to someone I know?

How do we organize sensations into meaningful perceptions? Our brain

creates our perceptions by using preexisting knowledge such as the principles of
perceptual grouping and perceptual constancies to help us make sense out of
sensations.

Perception is the primary process by which we obtain knowledge about the

world we live in. It involves taking in of information, through the activity of our
sense organs responding to external stimulation (sensation). Psychologists would
describe perception as information – processing since it is a cognitive activity
involving complex mechanisms in the brain and is influenced by higher mental
processes, such as memories, motivations, and expectations.

stimulation → transduction → sensation → perception

The Process of Perception

For stimulation, to become meaningful perception, it must undergo several

transformations. First, physical stimulation (light waves from the butterfly) is
transduced by the eye, where information about the wavelength and intensity of
the light is coded into neural signals. Second, the neural messages travel to the
sensory cortex of the brain, where they become sensations of color, brightness,
form and movement. Finally, the process of perception interprets these sensations
by making connections with memories, emotions, and motives in other parts of
the brain. Similar processes operate on the information taken in by the other
senses.

FUNCTIONS OF PERCEPTION

1. Guessing what is out there.

Because our brain relies so much on what we know and have
experienced, we can usually get away with economizing in our sensory
processing ad making educated guesses about what sensory information is
telling us.

2. Helping us focus on particular inputs.

It is the process of selecting one sensory channel and ignoring or
minimizing others. It allows us to select one channel and turn off the others
or at least turn down their volume.
An attention related phenomenon called the cocktail party effect
refers to our ability to pick out an important message, like our name, in a
conversation that does not involve us.

3. Putting the pieces together.

It refers to how our brain takes multiple pieces of information and
combines them to represent something concrete like an apple. An apple
looks red and round, feels smooth, tastes sweet and tart and smells, well,
like an apple. . Any one of its characteristics in isolation is not an apple or
even a part of an apple (that would be an apple slice). How does our brain
pull off biding? We do not know for sure, but one suggestion is that
coordinated activity in fast-frequency oscillations across multiple cortical
 areas provides the timing signal that does the trick. Other part of the brain
can recognize signals from disparate specialized processing regions as
belonging together as part of a single perceptual object or scene, because
the signals from these regions are oscillating in synchrony. When that
synchrony is lost the percept dissolves (Engel & Singer, 2001).

ATTRIBUTES OF PERCEPTION

Two individuals would have different interpretations of one and the same
stimulus. This may be explained by the following attributes of perceptions.

a) Perception is limited to sensory discrimination. An individual must be

able to discriminate among stimuli in his environment considering the
following:
a. Condition of the organism. There are certain biological and
psychological conditions that critically affect behavioral responses and
stimulus discrimination. Illness, fatigue, intoxication, trauma, acute
sleep deprivation, severe food or water deprivation decease and increase
work performance. Drugs like morphine, heroin and caffeine affect
stimulation, discrimination and behavior. Congenital disorders or
traumatic brain injury may also affect ability to learn.
b. Properties of stimulus. The visual stimuli which affect its discrimination
are size, proximity and illumination, whereas the properties of the
auditory stimuli affecting one’s behavior are pitch, loudness, and
timbre.

b) Perception is selective and subjective. A person is bombarded with

multiple sensory stimuli and because it is impossible to attend to them all,
a person responds to meaningful stimuli and minimizes or ignores others.
External and internal factors affect the individual’s process of responding
to the world.
 a. External factors:
• Intensity and size: the stimulus is that most intense is noticed
first.
• Contrast: a change in the usual stimulation to which we have
already adapted catches our attention.
• Repetition: what has been repeated catches our attention
• Movement: attention is caught by something moving.

b. Internal factors. Psychological factors include motivation (hungry

people will notice billboards advertising big juicy burgers), expectations
( one tends to spot someone you intend to meet even in a crowded mall
), emotion (sexual and other taboo words take longer to read),
experience (as far back as 1947, Bruner and Goodman found that
children from poorer homes overestimated the sizes of coins, and they
suggest this is partly due to the children’s unfamiliarity with money),
culture (Turnbull in 1961 related to the story of Bambuti pygmy who
lived in the rain forest; the first time he saw buffaloes grazing in an open
field, he thought they were insects), and individual differences ( if you
are a field-dependent type, you are more likely to be distracted by
irrelevant features when perceiving objects, unlike a field- independent
person).

c) Perception is constant. Appearance of objects is approximately the same

in spite of the large changes in the stimuli received by our sense organs. In
general, perceptual constancies make the tasks of localization (determining
where the things are) and recognition easier.

Common perceptual constancies:

• Size constancy. Any object’s size remains

relatively constant no matter how it is far from
us
• Lightness constancy. An object appears equally
light regardless of the light source illuminating it.

• Color constancy. An object looks roughly the

same color regardless of the light source
illuminating it.

• Shape constancy. The perceived shape of an

object remains constant even when the object
moves.

• Location constancy. Objects retain their

position even as we move about.
 d) Perception has organizing tendencies. According to Gestalt
psychologists, (a group of influential German psychologists among them
are Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler), our brain
actively builds up “whole patterns” or gestalts by combining the parts that
seem most likely to correspond to the relevant aspects of the object of the
real world (i.e. a painting is made up of daubs of paint, but the total
impression is a coherent picture).

The Law of Pragnanz constructed by Koffka (1930) states that “of several
geometrically possible organizations, what will be perceived is the best, simplest,
and most stable shape.” Under this law, the principles of organizations that govern
the way people make sense of the world into meaningful wholes were proposed.
These principles include:

a. Figure and ground. A figure is simply a

pattern or image that grabs our attention.
Psychologists, sometimes, call this a Gestalt.
Everything else becomes ground, the
backdrop against which we perceive the
figure. A melody becomes a figure heard
against a background of complex harmonies,
and a spicy chunk of pepperoni becomes the
figure against the ground of cheese, sauce, and bread that makes up a pizza.
Visually, a figure could be a bright flashing sign or a word on the
background of a page. And in the ambiguous faces/vases seen in the picture
on the right, figure and ground reverse when the faces and vase alternately
pop out as figure.

b. Grouping. Certain figural elements seem to be perceived together rather

than isolated or independent units. What is important is the interaction of
the elements.
Gestalt laws of grouping

• Similarity. Objects similar to each other tend to be seen as part of the same
pattern. We group things together that have a similar look (or sound,or feel,
and so on). So in figure 4.8 you see that the shaded O and the O form
distinct columns, rather than rows, because of similarity. Likewise, when
you watch a football game, you use the colors of the uniforms to group the
players into two teams because of similarity even when they are mixed
together during a play. You can also hear the law of similarity echoed in
the old proverb “Birds of a feather flock together, “which is an assumption
we make about perceptual grouping. Any such tendency to perceive things
as belonging together because they share common features reflects the law
of similarity.

• Proximity. Objects near each other tend to be seen as a unit. The proximity
principle says that we tend to group things together that are near each other.
On the level of social perception, your parents were invoking the law of
proximity when they cautioned you, “You’re known by the company you
keep.”

• Continuity. Objects arranged in either a straight line or a smooth curve also

tend to be seen as a unit. We can see the Gestalt law of continuity in Figure,
where the straight line appears as a single, continuous line, even though the
curved line repeatedly cuts through it. In general, the law of continuity says
that we prefer smoothly connected and continuous figures to disjointed
ones. Continuity also operates in the realm of social perception, where we
commonly make the assumption of continuity in the personality of an
individual whom we haven’t seen for some time. So despite interruptions
in our contact with that person, we will expect to
 find continuity – to find him or her to be essentially the same person we
knew earlier.

• Closure. Even when a figure has a gap, we tend to perceive it as a closed,

complete figure. Closure makes one see incomplete figures as wholes by
supplying the missing segments, filling in gaps, and making inferences
about potentially hidden objects. So when you see a face peeking around a
corner, your mind automatically fills in the hidden parts of the face and
body. In general, humans have a annual tendency to perceive stimuli as
complete and balanced even when pieces are missing.

• Common fate. When objects move in the same direction, we tend to see
them as a unit. Imagine a school of fish, a gaggle of geese, or a uniformed
marching band. When visual elements (the individual fish, geese or band
members) are moving together, you perceive them as a single Gestalt.

• Simplicity. People tend to group elements that combine to forma a good

figure. This principle is somewhat vague in that it’s often difficult to spell
out what makes a figure “good” (Biederman, Hilton, & Hummer, 1991 as
cited by Weiten, 2010). Some theorists maintain that goodness is largely a
matter of simplicity, asserting that people tend to organize forms in the
simplest way possible.

MODES OF PERCEPTUAL PROCESSING: BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-

DOWN PROCESSING

Two general modes of visual processing, bottom-up processing and top-

down processing, help account for how the brain transforms such bits and pieces
of visual stimuli into meaningful patterns.

Our brain builds perceptions in similar ways. In bottom- up processing, we

start constructing at the “bottom”, with raw materials. That is, we begin with small
sensory units (features), and build upward to a complete perception. The reverse
also occurs. In top-down processing, preexisting knowledge is used to rapidly
organize features in to a meaningful whole (Goldstein, 2010). If you put together
a picture puzzle you’ve never seen before, you are relying mainly on
bottom-up processing. You must assemble small pieces until a recognizable
pattern begins to emerge. Top-down processing is like putting together a puzzle
you have solved many times: After only a few pieces are in place, your past
experience gives you the plan to rapidly fill in the final picture.

In bottom-up processing, the brain assembles specific features of shapes,

such as angles and lines, to form patterns that we can compare with stored images
we have seen before. In top-down processing, it involves perceiving patterns as
meaningful wholes – such as recognizing faces of people we know - without
needing to piece together their component parts (Nevid, 2009).

Both types of processing are illustrated in the next two pictures you will
see. The first time you see the first photo, you will probably process it bottom-
up, picking out features until it becomes recognizable. After seeing the second
picture, because of top-down processing, you should be able to recognize it
instantly.

Check out the abstract design below. If you process it “bottom-up” all you
will likely see is the multiple scales, darkened spots and lines. Such curves are
linked together based on the spatial proximity and curvature continuity. We
observe the feature curves.
 Now here’s a clear picture of a cow. Once you view this picture, it is almost
impossible to view the first picture again without seeing a cow, since you now
view it via top-down processing.

ERRORS IN PERCEPTION

Some individuals may experience the following errors of perception:

Illusions. You have experienced an illusion when you have a demonstrably

incorrect perception of a stimulus pattern, especially one that also fools others
who are observing the same stimulus.

In an illusion, length, position, motion, curvature, or direction is

consistently misjudged. For example, we have seen thousands of rooms shaped
roughly like a box, we habitually construct perception based on this assumption.
This need not be true, however an Ames room (named for the man who designed
it) is a lopsided space that appears square when viewed from a certain angle. This
illusion is achieved by carefully distorting the proportions of the wall, floor,
ceiling, and windows Because the left corner of the Ames room is farther fro a
viewer than the right, a person standing in that corner looks very small; one
standing in the nearer, shorter right corner looks very large. A person who walks
from the left to the right corner will seem to “magically” grow larger.
 The Ames Room when viewed in its viewing peephole (left) and
actualstructure when viewed from above (right)

Delusions. They are false beliefs from both perception and memory; an
individual may mistake his own identity or misinterpret the action of others,
overestimate his personal worth, importance powerfulness, or attractiveness.

Hallucinations. They are impressions of sensory vividness arising

from the inner, mental factors, they include imagining, hearing, or sensing
what is notpresent or actually occurring at the same time.

In a hallucination, people perceive objects or events that have no

external reality (Boksa, 2009). For example, if you think you see a 3 foot tall
butterfly, you can confirm you are hallucinating by trying to touch its wings.