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GREs > Biological [Sensation And Perception] (Psychology Subject) > Flashcards

Biological [Sensation And Perception] (Psychology Subject) Flashcards

1
Q

Sensation and perception

A

*sensation is the feeling that results from physical stimulation, perception is the way we organize or experience the sensation

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2
Q

Reception

A

*takes place when receptors for a particular sense detect a stimulus

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3
Q

Receptive field

A

*the distinct region of sensory space that can produce a response when stimulated
- found on the body surface and in muscles, joints, eyes, and internal organs

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4
Q

Sensory transduction

A

*the process in which physical sensation is changed into electrical messages that the brain can understand
- is at the heart of the senses
- signal —> collection —> transduction —> processing —> action

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5
Q

Neural pathways

A

*path in which electrical information travels to the brain, where the information is understood

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6
Q

Nativist theory

A

*asserts that perception and cognition are largely innate and genetically based
- humans are born with all their perceptual capacities, though some abilities are not present at birth and develops through maturity

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7
Q

Empiricist theory

A

*perception is basically learned and develops as the individual adapts to their environment

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8
Q

Structuralist theory

A

*perception is the sum total of sensory input: one can understand the mind by understanding its basic components
- bottom-up processing—starts with sensory data and works upward to brain’s integration of that data

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9
Q

Gestalt psychology

A

*people tend to see the world in terms of organized wholes rather than constituent parts
- top-down processing—starts with higher-level cognitive processes and works downward to sensory information

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10
Q

Absolute threshold

A

*minimum amount of a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time

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11
Q

Differential threshold

A

*minimum difference that must occur between two stimuli, in order for them to be perceived as having different intensities
- also known as just noticeable difference (JND)
- E. H. Weber

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12
Q

Terminal threshold

A

*upper limit above which the stimuli can no longer be perceived
- i.e., lowest pitch sound that a human can hear is absolute threshold, the highest pitch is the terminal threshold

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13
Q

Psychophysics

A

*the study of the quantitative relations between psychological sensations and physical stimuli
- Gustav Fechner’s “Elements of Psychophysics”

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14
Q

Weber’s law

A

*a stimulus needs to be increased by a constant fraction of its original value in order to be perceived as noticeably different
- applies to all senses but only to a limited range of intensities
- K (the constant fraction) = Δ I (increase in intensity needed for jnd) / I (original intensity)

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15
Q

Fechner’s law

A

*the strength of a stimulus must be significantly increased to produce a slight difference in sensation
- S (sensation strength) = k log R (a logarithm of the original intensity)

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16
Q

J. A. Swet’s Theory of Signal Detection (TSD)

A

*subjects detect stimuli not only because they can but also because they want to
- factors in motivation
- explains why subjects respond inconsistently; partly motivated by rewards and costs in detection (response bias)

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17
Q

False alarm

A

*you detect a stimulus that is not there

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18
Q

Hit

A

*correctly sensing a stimulus

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19
Q

Miss

A

*failing to detect a present stimulus

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20
Q

Correct rejection

A

*rightly stating that no stimulus exists

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21
Q

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves

A

*graphical representations of a subject’s sensitivity to a stimulus

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22
Q

Light

A

*composed of photons and waves measured by brightness and wavelengths

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23
Q

Hue

A

*the dominant wavelength of light
- also known as color

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24
Q

Brightness

A

*the physical intensity

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25
Q

Cornea

A

*the clear protective coating on the outside of the eye

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26
Q

Lens

A

*located behind the cornea

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27
Q

Ciliary muscles

A

*Allows lens to bend (accommodate) in order to focus an image of the outside world onto the retina

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28
Q

Retina

A

*receives light images from the lens
- located on the back of the eye
- composed of about 132 million photoreceptor cells and of other cell layers that process information

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29
Q

Receptor cells

A

*responsible for sensory transduction (converting image into an electrical message the brain can understand)
— occurs through chemical alteration of photopigments
- rods and cones

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30
Q

Rods

A

*sensitive to dim light and used for night vision
- concentrated along sides of the retina, important for peripheral vision

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31
Q

Cones

A

*concentrated in the center of the retina (area called the fovea)
- sensitive to color and daylight vision
- sees better than rods because there are fewer cones per ganglion cell than rods per ganglion cell

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32
Q

Fovea

A

*the area of the retina with the greatest visual acuity (best at seeing fine details)

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33
Q

Horizontal, bipolar, and amacrine cells

A

*after light passes through receptors, travels through cells till information heads to the ganglion cells, which make up the optic nerves

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34
Q

How eyes connect to the cerebral cortex

A
  • through a visual pathway
    — consists of one optic nerve connecting each eye to the brain
    — along pathway is an optic chias in which half of the fibers from the optic nerve of each eye cross over and join the optic nerve from the other eye; pathways are 50% crossed
  • a stimulus in the left visual field is processed in the right side of the brain, and vice versa
  • after optic chiasm, info travels through the striate cortex to the visual association areas of the cortex
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35
Q

Opponent-color or opponent-process

A

*theory for color vision; suggests that two types of color-sensitive cells exist: cones that respond to blue-yellow colors and cones that respond to red-green
- when one color of the pair on a cone is stimulated, the other is inhibited
- Ewald Hering
- seems to be at work in the lateral geniculate body

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36
Q

Trichromatic theory (component theory)

A

*there are three types of receptors in the retina: cones that respond to red, blue, or green
- Thomas Young and Herman von Helmholtz
- seems to be at work in the retina

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37
Q

Lateral inhibition

A

*allows the eye to see contrast and prevents repetitive information from being sent to the brain
- once one receptor cell is stimulated, the others nearby are inhibited

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38
Q

David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel

A
  • discovered that cells in the visual cortex are so complex and specialized that they respond only to certain types of stimuli
  • I.e., some cells responsive only to vertical lines, some respond only to right angles, etc
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39
Q

Visual field

A

*refers to the entire span that can be perceived or detected by the eye at any given moment

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40
Q

Figure and ground relationship

A

*refers to the relationship between the meaningful part of a picture (the figure) and the background (the ground)

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41
Q

Depth perception

A

*has monocular and binocular cues

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42
Q

Binocular disparity

A
  • our eyes view objects from two slightly different angles, which allows us to create a three-dimensional picture
  • the most important depth cue
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43
Q

Apparent size

A

*gives us clues about how far away an object is if we know about how big the object should be

44
Q

Interposition

A

*shows which objects are closer

45
Q

Linear perspective

A

*gained by features we are familiar with, such as two seemingly parallel lines that converge with distance

46
Q

Texture gradient

A

*the way we see texture or fine detail differently from different distances
- the closer the object, the more coarse and distinct the features appear
- more distant objects appear finer and smoother in texture

47
Q

Motion parallax

A

*the way movement is perceived through the displacement of objects over time, and the way this motion takes place at seemingly different paces for nearby or faraway objects

48
Q

Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk

A

*developed the visual cliff apparatus to study whether depth perception is innate

49
Q

Afterimages (McCollough effect)

A

*perceived because of fatigued receptors
- explains dark afterimage after staring at a white light

50
Q

Dark adaptation

A

*the result of regeneration of retinal pigment

51
Q

mental set

A

*framework for assessing a problem and identifying solutions based on our experience: we tend to try what has worked in the past

52
Q

Pragnanz

A

*overarching Gestalt idea that experience will be organized as meaningful, symmetrical, and simple whenever possible

53
Q

Closure (Gestalt)

A

*tendency to complete incomplete figures

54
Q

Proximity (Gestalt)

A

*tendency to group together items that are near each other

55
Q

Continuation or good continuation (Gestalt)

A

*tendency to create a whole or detailed figures based on our expectations rather than what is seen

56
Q

Similarity (Gestalt)

A

*tendency to group together items that are alike

57
Q

Symmetry (Gestalt)

A

*tendency to group together items that are alike

58
Q

Constancy (Gestalt)

A

*tendency of people to perceive objects in the way that they are familiar with them, regardless of changes in the actual retinal image
- size constancy—knowing that an elephant is large no matter how it might appear
- color constancy—knowing the color of an object even with tinted glasses on

59
Q

Minimum principle

A

*tendency to see what is easiest or logical to see

60
Q

Ambiguous figures

A

*can be perceived as two different things depending on how you look at them

61
Q

Figure-ground reversal patterns

A

*ambiguous figures; can be perceived as two different things depending on which part you see as the figure and which part you see as the background
- I.e., the Rubin vase

62
Q

Impossible objects

A

*objects that have been drawn and can be perceived but are geometrically impossible

63
Q

Multistability

A

*perception of an object can alternate between two or more possible interpretations
- I.e., our perception of an object flips from one “stable” interpretation to another

64
Q

Moon illusion

A

*shows how context affects perception
- moon looks larger over the horizon because the horizon contains visual cues that make the Moon appear more distant

65
Q

Phi phenomenon

A

*the tendency to perceive smooth motion
- explains why motion is inferred when there actually is none
— use of flashing lights or rapidly shown still-frame pictures, such as in the perception of cartoons (apparent motion)

66
Q

Müller-Lyer illusion

A
  • two horizontal lines of equal length appear unequal because of the orientation of the arrow marks at the end
  • inward facing arrowheads make a line appear shorter than another line of the same length with outward facing arrowheads
  • the most famous visual illusion

> ————-<
<————>

67
Q

Ponzo illusion

A

*occurs when two horizontal lines of equal length appear unequal because of two vertical lines that slant inward

68
Q

Autokinetic effect

A

*the way that a single point of light viewed in darkness will appear to shake or move due to the constant movements of our own eyes

69
Q

Purkinje shift

A

*the way that perceived color brightness changes with the level of illumination in the room
- with lower levels of illumination, extremes of the color spectrum (i.e., red) appear less bright

70
Q

Pattern recognition

A
  • explained by template matching and feature detection
  • to pick the letter O out of a page of letters, we would concentrate only on letters with rounded edges and then look for one to match a typical O
71
Q

Robert Frantz

A
  • found that infants prefer relatively complex and sensical displays
72
Q

Amplitude

A

*physical intensity of a sound wave
- determines loudness

73
Q

Frequency

A

*the pace of vibrations or sound waves per second for a particular sound
- determines pitch
- low frequency perceived as low pitch/tone, and vice versa
- measured in hertz (Hz)
— humans best hear frequencies around 1,000 Hz

74
Q

Timbre

A

*comes from the complexity of the sound wave

75
Q

Outer ear

A

*consists of the pinna and the auditory canal
- vibrations from sound move down canal to the middle ear

76
Q

Middle ear

A

*begins with the tympanic membrane (eardrum)
- behind membrane are the ossicles (three small bones), last of which is the stapes
- sound vibrations bump against the tympanic membrane, causing the ossicles to vibrate

77
Q

Inner ear

A

*responsible for hearing and balance
- begins with the oval window, which is tapped upon by the stapes
- cochlea (contains ear parts for hearing; basilar membrane, organ of corti) is then activated
— movement on the basilar membrane is called the traveling wave
- the vestibular sacs are sensitive to tilt and provide our sense of balance
- receptor cells activate nerve cells that change information into an electrical message the brain can process
— consists of the olivary nucleus, the inferior follicular, and the medial geniculate body

78
Q

Herman von Helmholtz

A
  • place-resonance theory of sound perception
    — different parts of the basilar membrane respond to different frequencies
79
Q

Sound localization

A

*the degree to which one of our ears hears a sound prior to and more intensely than the other can give information about the origin of the sound
- high-frequency sounds are localized by intensity differences; low-frequency sounds are localized by phase differences

80
Q

Dichotic presentation

A

*used in studies of auditory perception and selective attention
- subject is presented with a different verbal message in each ear; subjects asked to shadow (repeat) one of the messages to ensure that the other message is not consciously attended to

81
Q

Olfaction

A

*sense of smell
- olfactory bulb lies at the base of the brain and takes messages from hair receptors in the nostrils
- connected to memory and perception of taste

82
Q

Gustation

A

*act of tasting
- sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami
- saliva mixes with food so flavor can flow easily into the tongue’s taste receptors (taste buds, papillae)

83
Q

Somatosenses

A

*gives info about the physical body apart from the major sensory organs
- provides sensory data concerning touch, heat, pain, pressure, balance, vibration, orientation, and muscle movement

84
Q

Cutaneous/tactual

A

*relating to touch
- human skin senses touch, pain, cold, and warmth

85
Q

Free nerve endings

A

*detects pain and temperature changes

86
Q

Meissner’s corpuscles

A

*receptors in skin that detect touch or contact

87
Q

Pacinian corpuscles

A

*touch receptors that respond quickly to displacements of skin

88
Q

Two-point threshold

A

*distance between two points at which the individual recognizes they are being touched by two objects rather than one
- size of threshold determined by the density and layout of nerves in the skin

89
Q

Physiological zero

A

*the temperature that is sensed as neither warm nor cold

90
Q

Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall’s Gate Control Theory of Pain

A

*looks at pain as a process rather than a simple sensation governed in one center of the brain
- pain perception is related to the interaction of small and large nerve fibers that run to and from the spine
- pain may or may not be perceived depending on different factors, like cognition

91
Q

Phantom limb pain

A

*occurs when amputees feel sensations of pain in limbs that have been amputated and no longer exists

92
Q

Endorphins

A

*neuromodulators that kick in to reduce or eliminate the perception of pain

93
Q

Orienting reflex

A

*the tendency to turn toward an object that has touched you

94
Q

Vestibular sense

A

*allows us to orient ourselves in space and maintain balance
- main components found in the inner ear in the vestibular labyrinth

95
Q

Vestibular labyrinth

A

*a series of interconnected structures continuous with the cochlea
- contains three tubes called semicircular canals, which detect head motion and help to maintain equilibrium

96
Q

Kinesthetic sense

A

*involves awareness of the body’s movement
- deals with bodily movement
- behavioral component; allows us to learn complex physical actions like performing a dance routine

97
Q

Spindles

A

*tiny receptors in the muscles throughout the body
- provides “muscle memory”; allowing us to sense how our limbs are moving in space without visual confirmation

98
Q

Proprioception

A

*refers to the cognitive awareness of where our bodies are in space at any given time
- deals with sensing one’s own bodily position in space

99
Q

Selective attention

A

*the process of tuning in to something specific while ignoring all other stimuli in the background

100
Q

Spotlight model

A

*humans focus on one particular task while all other tasks remain in the background until the spotlight focuses on a different task
- William James; attention has a focus (primary area attended to), fringe (the periphery) , and a margin (the limit)

101
Q

Donald Broadbent’s filter model of attention

A

*any information not attended to is filtered out and decays
- explains why we’re not constantly bombarded with sensory inputs
- sensory input goes from our sensory stores through a selective filter, which blocks unattended messages
- only information attended to makes it into our working memory
- attended message—>sensory store—>selective filter—>higher-level processing—>working memory

102
Q

Anne Treisman’s attenuation model of attention

A
  • cocktail party effect; a person involved in a conversation can detect their name or something equally salient from across a crowded room
  • sensory input flows into sensory stores and through an attenuating filter, turning the volume down or up on the information
  • rather than decaying, unattended information goes through higher level processing and into working memory, so it’s available on this other channel if need be
103
Q

Divided attention (multitasking)

A

*occurs when a person’s attention is split among multiple tasks
- when people multitask, they’re more likely to make mistakes and/or move more slowly through their task because of enormous cognitive load (amount of mental effort involved)
- addressed by resource model of attention (humans have a limited amount of attention at any given time)

104
Q

Simulations

A

*use perceptual cues to make artificial situations seem real

105
Q

Subliminal perception

A

*the perceiving of a stimulus that one is not consciously aware of
- I.e., the unattended message in dichotic presentation or visual information that is briefly presented

106
Q

Osmoreceptors

A

*deals with thirst

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