Well, this is my exam for Sensation & Perception. It is definitely one of the weirder ones I've had.


1.) Imagine you are at a Rolling Stones concert, Mick Jagger swaggers on stage, picks up the
microphone and the catchy lyrics of Sympathy for the Devil travels to your ears. Please
discuss the process of first sensing the sound and then the process of perceiving sound
(ignoring the other structures involved in music perception).

2.) Imagine you are at the same Rolling Stones concert now focus your attention to the guitarist
Keith Richards (ignore the cigarette dangling from his lips), discuss the holistic, integrated process of listening and creating music.
What structures of the brain are involved in Keith’s ability to play his guitar and the auditory feedback he must integrate to
continue to play all the appropriate chords, notes and harmony?


3.) While watching Mick jump around on stage and dance to the beat of the drums, you start
thinking of your sensation and perception class and the complex vestibular process involved in
maintaining balance. You realize that it is simply amazing that this weathered and remarkably
well-aged rock star is able to leap in the air and dance with such energy without falling off the
stage. Imagine that Mick is not on medication to help him in this endeavor, what is the
vestibular process of maintaining balance?

4.) All of a sudden, in the middle of Satisfaction, Shakira saunters on stage wagging her hips
rolling her torso, crooning the words of Angie in Spanish. You beam at your 5-year old niece
and think what a great auntie you are to expose her to both music and Spanish so
young (ignore the fact it is past 9 o’clock in the evening). You begin to remember all of the
data on early second language and music exposure (these were presented in class at different
times). Discuss the evidence for early second language and music exposure on cognitive
development, spend extra time discussing the brain areas involved in language and music
perception and production.

5.) You feel a push behind you, then the entire audience lulls forward, you grab your niece and
run for the door, the man standing next to you is not so lucky; he is caught in the mob as
the horde of people rushed the stage. As it turns out, when the fans crowded the stage, the
man was knocked unconscious and trampled on the left side of his head, above the ear,
this caused a blood clot to form impacting a language relevant area. Consequently he now has
a speech aphasia. Discuss the different types of aphasias the man may have as a result of the neural
damage caused during the concert.