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PSY 100 > ch 5 - sensation and perception > Flashcards

ch 5 - sensation and perception Flashcards

1
Q

sensation

A
  • detection of external stimuli
  • responses to those stimuli
  • transmission of those responses
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2
Q

perception

A
  • the processing, organization, and interpretation of sensory signals in the brain
  • results in an internal representation + your own conscious experience
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3
Q

transduction

A
  • translation of incoming sensory info into neural signals
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4
Q

absolute threshold

A
  • minimum intensity of stimulation that must occur before you experience a sensation
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5
Q

difference threshold

A
  • the just noticeable difference between two stimuli
  • minimum amt of change required to detect a difference 50% of the time
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6
Q

olfactory epithelium

A
  • a thin layer of tissue w/ smell receptors
  • transmit info to the olfactory bulb (brain center for smell)
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7
Q

orbitofrontal cortex

A
  • receives info from taste, smell, and visual systems
  • flavour perception
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8
Q

mechanoreceptors

A
  • sensory cells in your skin and other parts of your body that detect physical changes like pressure, vibration, or stretch
  • convert these physical signals into electrical signals that your brain can understand
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9
Q

myelinated (“a” delta) fibres

A
  • deal w/ sharp + immediate pain (protection)
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10
Q

lightly or non-myelinated (“c) fibres

A
  • deal with dull + steady pain (restoration)
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11
Q

gate control theory of pain

A
  • for pain to be experienced, pain receptors must be activated
  • the neural gate in the spinal cord must allow the signals through to the brain
  • suggests that input from touch fibres competes with input from pain receptors, possibly preventing pain messages from reaching the brain
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12
Q

what happens if the neural gate is open?

A
  • pain is experienced
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13
Q

what happened if the neural gate is closed?

A
  • pain is reduced or prevented
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14
Q

accomodation

A
  • muscles change the shape of the eye’s lens
  • e.g, flattening for distant objects and thickening for close ones
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15
Q

photoreceptors

A
  • convert energy from light particles (photons) into a chemical reaction
  • produces an electrical signal
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16
Q

rods

A
  • retinal cells that respond to low levels of light
  • result in black and white perception
  • located along edges of retina
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17
Q

cones

A
  • retinal cells that respond to higher levels of light
  • result in colour perception
  • located in the fovea
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18
Q

how does visual transmission work?

A
  • rods and cones
  • bipolar, amacrine, horizontal cells
  • ganglion cells/optic nerve
  • thalamus
  • primary visual cortex
  • dorsal or ventral stream
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19
Q

s cones

A
  • short wavelengths
  • blues
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20
Q

m cones

A
  • medium wavelengths
  • greens
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21
Q

l cones

A
  • long wavelengths
  • reds
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22
Q

trichromatic theory

A
  • the perception of colour is determined by the ratio of activity among s, m, and l cones
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23
Q

opponent-process theory

A
  • there are three opposing colour pairs and if one colour in the pair is stimulated the other is inhibited
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24
Q

what are the colour pairs in the opponent-process theory?

A
  • red/green
  • yellow/blue
  • white/black
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25
Q

motion sensitive neurons

A
  • fatigue of certain motion sensitive neurons leads to motion after effects
  • some of the neurons responsible for detecting movement in a particular direction get worn out or “tired” after being activated for a while
  • so you can get tricked into seeing motions that aren’t actually happening
  • buddha/waterfall effect
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26
Q

dorsal “where” stream / parietal pathway

A
  • spatial perception
  • where an object is and its spatial relation to other things
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27
Q

ventral “what” stream / temporal pathway

A
  • perception and recognition of objects
28
Q

figure-ground relationship

A
  • whatever is not the focus of visual field is automatically assigned as background
29
Q

illusory contours

A
  • we perceive contours even when they don’t exist
  • but something in the stimulus suggests that they’re there
30
Q

proximity

A
  • the closer two figures are, the more likely we are to group them together and see them as being part of the same object
31
Q

similarity

A
  • we group figures according to how closely they resemble each other
32
Q

continuation

A
  • we interpret intersecting lines as continuous instead of changing direction radically
33
Q

closure

A
  • we tend to complete figures w/ gaps
34
Q

retinal disparity

A

-important cue of depth perception, caused by the distance between the eyes, which provides each eye with a slightly different image
- brain uses the disparity between these two retinal images to compute
distances

35
Q

monocular depth cues

A
  • include occlusion, relative size, familiar size, linear perspective, texture gradient, and position relative to horizon
  • tricks your brain uses to judge depth and distance when you only have input from one eye
36
Q

muller-lyer illusion

A
  • perceiving two lines as different lengths when in reality they’re the same
37
Q

ponzo illusion

A
  • perceiving two lines as diff lengths when one is closer while the other is further but they’re the same
38
Q

motion cues

A
  • Objects that are farther away seem to move more
    slowly than objects that are closer
39
Q

bottom-up processing

A
  • Processing starts with the raw sensory data from the environment, and your brain builds up the perception step by step
  • Ex: Like assembling a puzzle without knowing what the final picture is supposed to look like—you rely on the pieces themselves
40
Q

top-down processing

A
  • your expectations inform your perceptions
  • Your brain uses prior knowledge, expectations, or experience to interpret sensory information
  • ex: reading messy handwriting but still understanding it because you know what words to expect in the sentence
41
Q

Psychophysics

A
  • study of relationships between the physical qualities of stimuli and the subjective responses they produce
42
Q

signal detection theory

A
  • how we’re able to decide if we can detect and sense faint, uncertain stimuli
43
Q

sensory adaptation

A
  • when your brain gets used to a constant stimulus and stops noticing it over time
  • ex: you stop noticing the smell of a perfume after being around the smell for a while
44
Q

audition

A
  • the sense of hearing
45
Q

agnosia

A
  • being unable to recognize objects
46
Q

propagnosia

A
  • being unable to recognize faces
47
Q

binocular cue

A
  • a type of depth perception cue that requires both eyes to work together to judge depth and/or distance
48
Q

cochlea

A
  • the structure in the inner ear that contains auditory receptors
49
Q

cornea

A
  • clear surface at the front of the eye
  • begins the process of directing light to the retina
50
Q

depth perception

A
  • The ability to use the two-dimensional image projected on the retina to perceive three dimensions
51
Q

fovea

A
  • An area of the retina that is specialized for highly detailed vision
52
Q

somatosensory homonculus

A
  • a map along the cerebral cortex of where each part of the body is processed
53
Q

noci receptors

A
  • a sensory ending that detects actual or potential tissue damage
54
Q

gustation

A
  • sense of taste
55
Q

gestalt principles

A
  • help explain how we perceive objects in our environment
56
Q

iris

A
  • brightly coloured circular muscle surrounding the pupil
57
Q

lens

A
  • clear structure behind pupil that bends light toward the retina
58
Q

monocular cue

A
  • depth cue that requires the use of only one eye
59
Q

motion parallax

A
  • closer objects appear to move faster than further objects
60
Q

olfactory bulb

A
  • one of the two structures below the frontal lobes of the brain that receive input from the olfactory receptors in the nose
61
Q

olfactory nerve

A
  • a nerve carrying olfactory information from the olfactory receptors to the olfactory bulbs
62
Q

optic nerve

A
  • the nerve exiting the retina of the eye
63
Q

pupil

A
  • opening formed by the iris
64
Q

retina

A
  • layer of visual processing cells in the back of the eye
65
Q

vestibular system

A
  • system in inner ear that provides info about body position and movement
66
Q

synesthesia

A
  • “Together sensation”
  • Different sensory sensations intermingling together
  • Cross wiring within the brain
67
Q

contralateral organization

A
  • hemispheres of the brain control the “opposite” sides of the body
  • Right hemisphere controls left side, left hemisphere controls right side

PSY 100 (7 decks)

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