Chapter 1 Flashcards
Sensation:
The initial steps in the perceptual process:
Physical features of the environment are converted into electrochemical signals that are sent to the brain for processing
Senses:
Physiological functions for converting particular environmental features into electrochemical signals.
((Ex: Sense of sight converts light into signals. Sense of hearing converts sound into signals)
Perception:
The later steps in the perceptual process, whereby the initial sensory signals are used to represent objects and events so they can be identified, stored in memory, and used in thought and action
Representations:
Information in the mind and brain used to identify objects and events, to store them in memory, and to support thought and action
Stimuli:
The objects and events that are perceived (distal stimuli) and the physical phenomena they produce (proximal stimuli)
Distal Stimuli:
A perceived object or event in the world
Proximal Stimulus:
A physical phenomenon evoked by a distal stimulus
Neurons:
Cells of the nervous system that produce and transmit information-carrying signals
Neural Signals:
Information-carrying electrochemical signals produced and transmitted by neurons
Sensory Receptors:
Specialized neurons that convert proximal stimuli into neural signals
Photoreceptors:
The neurons in your eye that convert light into neural signals are called photoreceptors
Mechanoreceptors
Neurons in your fingertips that convert pressure on your skin into neural signals are called mechanoreceptors
Top-Down information:
An observer’s knowledge, expectations, and goals which can affect perception
Bottom-up information:
The information contained in neural signals from receptors
Psychophysics assess perceptual experience on the basis of:
Simple behavioural responses, such as reporting whether a stimulus was detected or whether a stimulus appeared to be the same or different
What are the five traditional senses?
vision, audition, touch, smell and taste
What are the five additional senses (body senses)?
Limb and body position, pain, skin temperature, balance and body movement
Action potential:
An electrochemical signal that begins in the dendrites of a neuron and travels down the axon to the axon terminals
Membrane potential:
A difference in electrical potential across the cell membrane, due to a difference in the concentrations of positive and negative ions inside and outside the cell
Resting Potential:
The membrane potential when a neuron is at rest (about -70 mV)
Single-cell recording:
A technique used to measure the membrane potential
Ion channels:
Small pores in the cell membrane of neurons through which certain ions can flow into or out of the cell
Voltage-Gated Ion Channels:
Ion channels that open when the membrane potential changes sufficiently and ions can pass through only when the channels are open.
Refractory period:
Following an action potential, a brief period during which a new action potential cannot be initiated
Firing rate:
The rate at which a neuron produces action potentials; usually expressed in terms of action potentials (spikes) per second
Baseline firing rate:
A neuron’s low rate of spontaneous firing at fairly random intervals in the absence of any stimulus
Refractory period:
Following an action potential, a brief period during which a new action potential cannot be initiated
Synapse:
A tiny gap between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite or cell body of another neuron
Presynaptic membrane:
The membrane at the axon terminal of a neuron producing an action potential
Postsynaptic membrane:
The membrane of the dendrite or cell body of a neuron receiving an action potential
Synaptic Vesicles:
Within axon terminals, tiny sacs that contain neurotransmitter molecules
Cerebral hemispheres:
The two most important divisions of the brain: separated by the longitudinal fissure
