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MCAT > Behavioral Sciences Ch2 > Flashcards

Behavioral Sciences Ch2 Flashcards

Sensation and Perception

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MCAT flashcards
1
Q

Transduction

A

Taking the physical, electromagnetic, auditory, and other information from our internal and external environment and converting this information into electrical signals in the nervous system

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2
Q

Perception

A

Processing information within the CNS in order to make sense of the information’s significance

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3
Q

Sensory receptors

A

Neurons that respond to stimuli by triggering electrical signals that carry information to the central nervous system

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4
Q

Distal stimuli

A

Physical objects outside of the body

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5
Q

Proximal stimuli

A

Sensory-stimulating byproducts

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6
Q

Psychophysics

A

The field that studies the relationship between the physical nature of stimuli and the sensations and perceptions these stimuli evoke

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7
Q

Photoreceptors

A

Respond to electromagnetic waves in the visible spectrum

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8
Q

Mechanoreceptors

A

Respond to pressure or movement

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9
Q

Nociceptors

A

Respond to painful or noxious stimuli

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10
Q

Thermoreceptors

A

Respond to changes in temperature

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11
Q

Osmoreceptors

A

Respond to the osmolarity of the blood

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12
Q

Olfactory receptors

A

Respond to volatile compounds

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13
Q

Taste receptors

A

Respond to dissolve compounds

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14
Q

Sensory thresholds

A

The minimum amount of a stimulus that renders a difference in perception

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15
Q

Absolute Threshold

A

The minimum of stimulus energy that is needed to activate a sensory system
- Threshold in sensation not perception

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16
Q

Threshold of conscious perception

A

The level of intensity that a stimulus must pass in order to be consciously perceived by the brain

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17
Q

Subliminal perception

A

Information that is received by the CNS but doesn’t cross the threshold of conscious perception

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18
Q

Difference threshold

A

AKA just-noticeable difference
The minimum change in magnitude required for an observer to perceive that two different stimuli are different

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19
Q

Discrimination testing

A
  • a participant is presented with a stimulus
  • The stimulus is then varied slightly and researchers ask the participant to report whether they perceive a change
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20
Q

Weber’s Law

A

Differences in thresholds are proportional and must be computed as percentages
- Applies to loudness, pitch, brightness and weight

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21
Q

Signal detection theory

A

Studies how internal (psychological) and external (environmental) factors influence thresholds of sensation and perception

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22
Q

Noise trials

A

A trail in which the signal is presented

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23
Q

Catch trails

A

A trail in which the signal is not presented

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24
Q

A Hit

A

signal present and correctly perceives it

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25
Q

A miss

A

signal present but nit perceived

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26
Q

A false alarm

A

Signal not present but perceived

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27
Q

A correct negative

A

signal not present and not perceived

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28
Q

Blood vessels of the eye

A
  • Choroidal vessels: a complex intermingling of blood vessels between the sclera and the retina
  • Retinal Vessels
29
Q

Duplicity theory of vision

A

The retina contains two kinds of photoreceptors: those specialized for light-and-dark detection and those for color detection

30
Q

Path of synapses from rods and cons

A
  • Rods and cones synapse directly with bipolar cells, which highlight gradients between adjacent rods and cones
  • Bipolar cells synapse with ganglion cells, the axons of which group together to form the optic nerve
31
Q

Parallel processing

A

The brains ability to analyze information regarding color, form, motion, and depth simultaneously using independent pathways in the brain

32
Q

Form

A

Refers not only to the shape of an object, but also our ability to discriminate an object of interest from the background by detect its boundaries

33
Q

Parvocellular cells

A

Cells in lateral geniculate nucleus that receive information from the fovea
- Have high color spatial resolution

34
Q

Spatial resolution

A

Permits us to detect very fine detail when thoroughly examining an object

35
Q

Magnocellular cells

A

Cells well-suited for detecting motion, because they have high temporal resolution
- Receives input from the periphery of our vision , allowing more rapid detection of objects approaching us from the sides

36
Q

Depth perception

A

Our ability to discriminate the 3D shape of our environment and judge the distance of objects within it, is largely based on discrepancies between the inputs the brain receives from our two eyes

37
Q

Binocular neurons

A

neurons responsible for comparing the inputs to each hemisphere and detecting these differences

38
Q

Feature detector cell

A

Each feature detector cell type detects a very particular individual feature of an object in the visual field

39
Q

Place theory

A

States that the location of a hair cell on the basilar membrane determines the perception of pitch when that hair cell is vibrated
- highest frequency pitches closer to the oval window
- low-frequency pitches at the apex - away from oval window

40
Q

Olfactory Chemoreceptors

A
  • Located in olfactory epithelium in the upper part of the nasal cavity
  • Bind to their respective chemoreceptors to cause a signal
  • Large number of specific chemoreceptors allows us to recognize subtle differences in similar scents
41
Q

Pheromones

A

Chemicals secreted by one animal that urge another animal to behave in a specific way

42
Q

Olfactory pathway

A
  1. Inhale into nasal cavity
  2. contact the olfactory nerves in the olfactory epithelium
  3. Send signals to the olfactory bulb
  4. relay via the olfactory tract to higher regions of the brain, including the limbic system
43
Q

What are the five basic tastes

A

Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami

44
Q

Taste

A
  • Detected by chemoreceptors, which are sensitive to dissolved compounds
  • Receptors for taste are groups of cells called taste buds, which are found in little bumps on the tongue called papillae
  • From taste buds to the brainstem, then to the taste center in the thalamus before traveling to higher-order brain regions
45
Q

Pacinian Corpuscles

A

Respond to deep pressure and vibration

46
Q

Meissner corpuscles

A

respond to light touch

47
Q

Merkel cell

A

respond to deep pressure and texture

48
Q

Ruffini endings

A

respond to stretch

49
Q

free nerve endings

A

respond to pain and temperature

50
Q

Bottom-up processing

A

Object recognition by parallel processing and feature detection

51
Q

Top-down processing

A

Driven by memories and expectations that allow the brain to recognize the whole object and then recognize the components based on these expectations

52
Q

Perceptual organization

A

The ability to create a complete picture or idea by combining top-down and bottom-up processing with all of the other sensory clues gathered from an object

53
Q

Monocular Cues

A

Only require one eye and include relative size, interposition, linear perspective, motion parallax, and other minor cues

54
Q

Relative size

A

The idea that objects appear larger the closer they are

55
Q

Interposition

A

When two objects overlap, the one in front is closer

56
Q

Linear Perspective

A

The convergence of parallel lines at a distance
- greater the convergence, the further the distance

57
Q

Motion parallax

A

the perception that objects closer to us seem to move faster when we change our field of vision

58
Q

Binocular cues

A

involve retinal disparity, which refers to the slight difference in images projected on two retinas

59
Q

Convergence

A

The brain detects the angle between the two eyes required to bring an object into focus

60
Q

Constancy

A

Our ability to perceive that certain characteristics of objects remain the same, despite changes in the environment

61
Q

Gestalt Principles

A

A set of general rules that account for the fact that the brain tends to view incomplete stimuli in organized , patterned ways

62
Q

What are the 5 main gestalt principles?

A
  • Proximity
  • Similarity
  • Good continuation
  • Subjective contours
  • Closure
63
Q

Law of proximity

A

elements close to one another tend to be perceived as a unit

64
Q

Law of similarity

A

objects that are similar tend to be grouped together

65
Q

Low of good continuation

A

elements that appear to follow in the same pathway tend to be grouped together

66
Q

Subjective contours

A

perceive contours and, therefore, shapes that are not actually present in the stimulus

67
Q

Law of closure

A

When a space is enclosed by a contour, the space tends to be perceived as a complete figure

68
Q

Law of pragnanz

A

Perceptual organization will always be as regular, simple, and symmetric
- governs gestalts principles

MCAT (13 decks)

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