1. Introduction to Perception

Question 1

what is perception?

Answer 1

it can be defined in 2 ways

sensory processes like receptor activation and neural firing

mental activity that mediates between sensation and awareness, interpreting what our senses are telling us

Question 2

Sensation

Answer 2

the process of encoding energy or chemicals in the environment in terms of neural signals

a basic experience elicited by a simple stimulus

more concerned with your own physical experience

ex: the warm of skin, this is egocentric as what is warm can vary from person to person

Question 3

Perception

Answer 3

the organization and interpretation of neural signals, making them meaningful

more complex conscious experiences produced by integrating sensations

more concerned with identifying stimuli

ex: when you see the stove is red, and producing heat that you can fee;, you know that its 30 cm away from you can can burn you

Question 4

what are some reasons to study perception

Answer 4

1. understanding basic research
   -determine how underlying mechanisms function
   -it is the first step in understanding cognition
   -to know why orange juice tastes bad after brushing your teeth
2. to solve practical problems
   -develop solutions for disabled people, like braille, glasses
   -to produce substitutes for the world, like stereos and VR
   -to produce substitutes for the observer. like robotic vision in the mars rover

Question 5

Underdetermination

Answer 5

the central problem in perception

the world is 3D, the image on our retina is 2D, yet we think of the world in 3D

hypothetically we don’t have enough info to translate our 2D perception into 3D

Question 6

Distal Stimulus

Answer 6

the object in the real world

the stimulus itself

an apple on the table, a finger poking your arm, basil sniffing my leg

Question 7

Proximal Stimulus

Answer 7

the pattern of energy or chemicals impinging on our receptors

what we sense

the pattern of photos on our retina, kinetic energy on our skin, sound energy hitting the eardrum

Question 8

structuralism

Answer 8

analyze the conscious processes into basic “elements”; specify how the elements become connected

breaking complex things into smaller components

the issue with this school of thought is that perception is holistic, not elemental, you can separate all the chemicals in a lemon that our brain knows is a lemon

Question 9

Edward Titchner

Answer 9

structuralist

relied on introspection, the analysis of one’s own conscious experience because you can’t study anyone else’s

Question 10

Wilhelm Wundt

Answer 10

had the first psych lab in 1879, the university of Leipzig

Question 11

Gestalt Psychology

Answer 11

gestalt means “form/configuration”

opposed to structuralism, decomposition to elementary components loses information

a holistic approach that emphasized consciousness

specify the relationship among stimuli, the whole is different than the sum of its parts, has emergent properties

founded by Max Wertheimer

Question 12

Constructivism

Answer 12

perceiving is an active process, affected by our knowledge and experience

we must interpret ambiguous information provided by the environment

the goal is to determine how existing knowledge influences perception

Question 13

Ecological Approach

Answer 13

we should study perception in natural settings

the idea that enough mental information is available in the environment to make mental processes unnecessary
bc absolutely zero processing occurs when you open ur eyes, 100% real no cap

bottom up view of processing

Question 14

JJ Gibson

Answer 14

followed the ecological approach

proposed that information was directly picked up from the environment

Question 15

Information-Processing Approach

Answer 15

describes the flow of incoming sensory information via hypothesized internal processes

information is analyzed to decode and interpret it

does not differentiate between sensation, perception, and cognition

highly influential in cognitive psych

Question 16

Computational approach (CA)

Answer 16

assumes the mind is an information processor that receives, stores, retrieves, transforms, and transmits information

Has 3 levels of analysis
1. computational theory
2. representation and algorithm
3. hardware implimentation

Question 17

computational theory (CA)

Answer 17

level 1 of CA

what is the system doing?
ex: what does it mean to see? to taste?
how can you study something if you don’t know what it is

Question 18

representation and algorithm (CA)

Answer 18

level 2 of CA

what is a percept? how is it being processed?

do the eyes function like cameras? Is there an “inner screen” in our heads? (No)

our eyes process a lot of information before anything is sent to the brain

Question 19

hardware implementation (CA)

Answer 19

what physical “machinery” does this?

what neural circuits allow us to see?

Question 20

neurophysiological approach

Answer 20

based on reductionism: the understanding of behaviour via studying the underlying biological processes

the idea that things are easier to understand after dividing them

more important for sensation than perception

Question 21

Doctrine of specific nerve energies

Answer 21

Muller 1837

percept depends on which nerve has been activated, leak seeing light when the optic nerve is activated

different sensory nerves go to differ brain regions

Question 22

Perception and evolution

Answer 22

what are the evolutionary advantages of a particular sense

Question 23

perception and coding/representation

Answer 23

how is a stimulus encoded into our sensory neurons and represented in the brain

Question 24

Modularity and perception

Answer 24

how are different aspects of a stimulus analyzed

Question 25

integration and perception

Answer 25

how are these different aspects recombined to form a whole percept?

Question 26

processing and perception

Answer 26

how do top-down/existing knowledge structures and bottom-up/incoming sensory data processes interact?

Question 27

subjectivity and perception

Answer 27

how well does our perceptual experience represent objective reality?

Question 28

action

Answer 28

any motor activity

Question 29

aftereffect

Answer 29

a sensory experience that occurs after prolonged experience of visual motion in one particular direction

Question 30

angnosia

Answer 30

a neurological condition characterized by the inability to recognize or interpret sensory stimuli despite having intact sensory functions. For instance, someone with visual agnosia may see an object but cannot identify it. Agnosia is typically associated with brain damage or dysfunction.

Question 31

amusia

Answer 31

a condition in which brain damage interferes with the perception of music but does not interfere with other aspects of auditory processing

Question 32

direct perception/gibsonian approach

Answer 32

a condition in which brain damage interferes with the perception of music but does not interfere with other aspects of auditory processing another name for the ecological approach

Question 33

doctrine of specific nerve energies

Answer 33

the argument that it is the specific neurons activated that determine the particular type of experience

Question 34

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI):

Answer 34

a neuroimaging technique that generates an image of the brain on the basis of the blood levels in different areas of the brain, which correlate with activity levels in those regions

Question 35

microelectrode

Answer 35

a device so small that it can penetrate a single neuron in the mammalian central nervous system without destroying the cell

Question 36

neural response

Answer 36

the signal produced by receptor cells that can then be sent to the brain

Question 37

neuroimaging

Answer 37

technologies that allow us to map living intact brains as they engage in ongoing tasks

Question 38

neuropsychology

Answer 38

the study of the relation of brain damage to changes in behavior

Question 39

Phenomemology

Answer 39

our subjective experience of perception

Question 40

prosopagnosia

Answer 40

face agnosia, resulting in a deficit in perceiving faces`

Question 41

psychophysics

Answer 41

the study of the relation between physical stimuli and perception events

Question 42

receptors

Answer 42

specialized sensory neurons that convert physical stimuli into neural responses

Question 43

sensation

Answer 43

the registration of physical stimuli on sensory receptors

Question 44

stimulus

Answer 44

an element of the world around us that impinges on our sensory systems

Question 45

transduction

Answer 45

the process of converting a physical stimulus into an electrochemical signal

Question 46

unconscious inference

Answer 46

perception is not adequately determined by sensory information, so an inference or educated guess is part of the process; this inference is not the result of active problem solving but rather of a nonconscious cognitive process

Question 47

Weber's Law

Answer 47

a just-noticeable difference between two stimuli is related to the magnitude or strength of the stimuli

Question 48

Discuss why understanding sensation and perception is important.

Answer 48

The study of sensation and perception sheds light on the basic nature of what it is to be human. Sensation is the registration of physical stimuli on sensory receptors, and perception is the process of creating conscious perceptual experience from sensory input. Our sense of touch is composed of multiple systems designed to sense different features of the environment. Heat, coldness, pain, itchiness, and soft touch are all implemented by separable sensory systems

Question 49

Describe how transduction transforms a physical signal into a neural signal.

Answer 49

Sensory systems transduce physical signals into neural responses, which are sent to the brain for processing. The brain processes the signals, determines their meaning, and decides on appropriate actions. Perception also produces a characteristic phenomenology, which is the purely subjective experience we get when perceiving the world.

Question 50

Illustrate the history of the study of sensation and perception.

Answer 50

ancient Egyptians, aristotle, Germans physiologists and psycho physics, gestalt psychology, ecological approach/direct perception, informational processing, the computational approach

Question 51

Understand the impact of neuroscience on our understanding of sensation and perception.

Answer 51

Neuroscience also addresses issues of sensation and perception. Neuroscience research includes single-cell recording, neuropsychology, and neuroimaging. Neuroscience allows us to understand the brain mechanisms involved in sensory processes.

Question 52

the myth of the 5 senses

Answer 52

originated from aristotle. humans have more than five sensory systems, and the concept of just five senses does not encompass all ways in which we gather information from our environment.

Question 53

Eight Different Human Sensory Systems

Answer 53

Vision: Perception of light and color. Audition (Hearing): Perception of sound. Olfaction (Smell): Detection of odor molecules. Gustation (Taste): Detection of flavors. Somatosensation (Touch): Detection of pressure, temperature, pain, and texture. Proprioception: Awareness of body position and movement. Vestibular System: Balance and spatial orientation. Interoception: Awareness of internal bodily states, such as hunger, thirst, or heartbeat.

Question 54

Sensation vs. Perception

Answer 54

Difference: Sensation is the raw data received from sensory organs, while perception is the brain's interpretation of this data to create a meaningful experience.

Question 55

what is transduction and why is it important?

Answer 55

Transduction is the process by which sensory receptors convert physical stimuli (e.g., light, sound waves, or chemicals) into electrical signals that the brain can interpret. For example, in vision, light is transduced into electrical impulses by the photoreceptor cells in the retina. Importance to Perception: Without transduction, the brain would not be able to process sensory stimuli. It is the bridge between the external world and the brain’s ability to perceive it.

Question 56

Why is phenomenology difficult to address in science

Answer 56

Phenomenology is challenging to address scientifically because it involves subjective, first-person experiences that are hard to measure or verify objectively. Scientific methods typically rely on third-person observations and measurable data, making it difficult to directly study consciousness.

Question 57

Hermann von Helmholtz

Answer 57

Hermann von Helmholtz was a 19th-century German physicist and physiologist who made significant contributions to the study of sensory perception, particularly in hearing and vision. View of Color Vision: Helmholtz proposed the Trichromatic Theory of color vision, which suggests that the human eye has three types of color receptors sensitive to red, green, and blue light. According to this theory, all the colors we perceive are combinations of these three primary colors.

Question 58

Ewald Hering

Answer 58

Ewald Hering proposed the Opponent-Process Theory, which suggested that color perception is controlled by three opposing pairs: red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white. According to Hering, these pairs work in opposition, meaning when one color in the pair is stimulated, the other is inhibited.

Question 59

importance of unconscious inference in the constructivist approach

Answer 59

In the constructivist approach to perception, the brain is viewed as actively constructing our perceptual experience based on incomplete sensory information and prior experiences, using unconscious inferences to fill in the gaps.

Question 60

JND

Answer 60

just noticeable difference the minimum difference between two stimuli that a person can detect at least 50% of the time. It is a threshold for detecting changes in sensory input. Real-world Example: the difference between adding 100 grams to a 1kg weight vs 10 grams. people would be much less likely to notice the 10 grams added

Question 61

Direct Perception vs. Information-Processing View

Answer 61

The direct perception view emphasizes immediate perception without mental intermediaries, while the information-processing view sees perception as requiring cognitive operations and the manipulation of sensory data.

Question 62

Cognitive Impenetrability

Answer 62

Refers to the idea that certain perceptual processes are unaffected by higher-level cognitive processes like beliefs, desires, or expectations. For example, the perception of visual illusions remains stable even if we know that what we see is not real.

Question 63

Cognitive Penetration

Answer 63

Occurs when cognitive factors (such as knowledge or expectations) influence what and how we perceive. For example, knowing that an object is far away might alter our perception of its size.

Question 64

Cognitive Impenetrability vs. Cognitive Penetration

Answer 64

Cognitive impenetrability suggests a separation between perception and cognition, while cognitive penetration implies that perception can be influenced by cognitive factors.

Question 65

Time to Collision (TTC)

Answer 65

the time remaining before an object in motion will collide with an observer or another object, based on the object’s current velocity and distance. This is crucial in activities like driving, where estimating the TTC helps avoid collisions.

Question 66

Size-arrival effect

Answer 66

This phenomenon refers to the tendency for larger objects to be perceived as arriving sooner than smaller objects, even when they are moving at the same speed. This bias can affect judgments in situations like driving, where larger vehicles may be judged to arrive sooner than smaller ones, leading to miscalculations in time to collision.