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Distraction
TEACH 1.6-13 Have you ever had a health care professional suggest that
you focus on a pleasant image (“Think of a warm, comfortable
Enrichment environment”) or perform some task (“Count backward by 3s”) ?
Drawing attention away from the painful stimulation is an
Tell students that some researchers effective way to activate brain pathways that inhibit pain and
believe that hypnosis can be effective increase pain tolerance ( Edwards et al., 2009 ). For patients
in relieving pain. Others believe that who have experienced burns and are receiving excruciat-
ing wound care, an even more effective distraction is escap-
hypnosis is just an elaborate way to ing into virtual reality. As shown by fMRI scans, playing in a
distract people from obvious stimuli. computer-generated 3-D world reduces the brain’s pain-
Regardless of the method, diverting related activity ( Hoffman, 2004 ). Being “fully immersed in a
virtual environment [is] like a ‘brain hack,’” said one doctor
one’s attention from pain can be help- Ellis Rosen/Cartoon Stock who uses virtual reality to treat pain. “You can’t be engaged in
ful in alleviating its effects. anything else” ( Brody, 2019 ).

TEACH 1.6-14
®
AP Science Practice Check Your Understanding
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Not for redistribution.
Enrichment
Examine the Concept Apply the Concept
Students might be familiar with the ▶ Explain the gate-control theory of pain. ▶ Explain some ways to control pain. Which methods of pain

traditional “tongue map” showing how ▶ Explain the differences among the biological, psychological, control do you usually turn to when you need them? Has

learning about ways to control pain given you some new ideas
different regions of the tongue detect and social-cultural influences on pain. about other strategies to try?
different tastes; however, it is not Answers to the Examine the Concept questions can be found in Appendix C at the end of the book.

accurate. In the late 1800s, a German
doctoral student studied the tongue’s
sensitivity to different tastes, which Taste
he plotted on a graph. The graph of

1.6-14 In what ways are our senses of taste and smell similar, and how do they , and how do they
his data was done “impressionisti- 1.6-14 In what ways ar e our senses of taste and smell similar
differ?
cally,” meaning he didn’t rely on his differ?
actual data to create the graph. For Like touch, gustation — our sense of taste — involves several basic sensations. Taste’s sen-

more than 75 years, scholars took his sations were once thought to be sweet, sour, salty, and bitter, with all others stemming from
mixtures of these four ( McBurney & Gent, 1979 ). Then, as investigators searched for special-
graph at face value, perpetuating the ized nerve fibers for taste, they encountered a receptor for a fifth taste sensation — the savory,
meaty taste of umami, best experienced as the flavor enhancer monosodium glutamate (MSG).
myth of the tongue map. Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
Other researchers then identified a sixth sensation: oleogustus, or the unique taste of fat.

Tastes exist for more than our pleasure (see Table 1.6-2 ). Pleasureful tastes attracted

our ancestors to energy- or protein-rich foods that enabled their survival. Aversive tastes
TEACH 1.6-14 deterred them from new foods that might be toxic. We see the inheritance of this biolog-
ical wisdom in today’s 2- to 6-year-olds, who are typically fussy eaters, especially when
Enrichment offered new meats or bitter-tasting vegetables, such as spinach and brussels sprouts
( Cooke et al., 2003 ). Meat and plant toxins were both potentially dangerous sources
Tell students that, in one study of of food poisoning for our ancestors, especially children. Given repeated small tastes
infants, sweet substances elicited of disliked but safe new foods, however, most children begin to accept them ( Wardle
sucking and, in some cases, smiling. gustation our sense of taste. et al., 2003 ). We come to like what we eat. Compared with breast-fed babies, German
babies bottle-fed vanilla-flavored milk grew up to be adults with a striking preference
Sour tastes produced “lip pursing
and wrinkling of the nose,” and bitter
tastes prompted “opening of the 148 Unit 1 Biological Bases of Behavior
mouth with the upper lip elevated and
protrusion of the tongue.” These reac-
tions make good evolutionary sense, 03_myersAPpsychology4e_28116_ch01_002_163.indd 148 15/12/23 9:26 AM
because bitter or sour plants are often
toxic, whereas the sweeter ones tend
to be nutritious.
Information from Roach, M. (n.d.). Accounting for
tastes. Health. legacy.culinate.com/content/5930
/index.html

148 Unit 1 Biological Bases of Behavior

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