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PSY100 > Chapter 4 > Flashcards

Chapter 4 Flashcards

1
Q

Sensation?

A

is receiving stimulus energies and converting it to neural energies such as electrochemical or action potential -> nervous system and brain

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2
Q

Perception? Give an example

A

perception is interpreting the sensory info so that it makes sense such as recognizing the flying silver object is a plane.

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3
Q

What’s the difference between bottom-up and top-down processing? Give an example to both.

A

Bottom-up processing is when sensory receptors receive info from the environment and send it to the brain for interpretation. Top-down starts with cognitive processes and applied that to the world. Listening to a sound and interpreting it as music V.S. humming the melody in your head and creating a perceptual experience in your ear.

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4
Q

What are sensation and perception referred to as? Why?

A

Unified-Information-Processing System. For example, only when we consider what the ear hears and what the brain interprets do we understand sound perception.

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5
Q

Do sensory receptors have different pathways? If so, why?

A

sensory receptors are selective and have different neural pathways in order to distinguish, for example, sight from sound.

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6
Q

Name 3 classes of sensory reception

A

Photoreception: detection of light, perceived as sight.
Mechanoreception: Pressure, vibration & movement perceived as touch, hearing and equilibrium
Chemoreception: chemical stimuli, perceived as smell and taste.

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7
Q

What is synaesthesia. What is mirror-touch synaesthesia?

A

When once sense induces an experience in another sense. Seeing music or tasing a color.
When people feel what they see other people feel.

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8
Q

Explain phantom limb pain and why it happens

A

Phantom limb pain occurs when an amputee feels pain in their lost limb. This happens because the receptors in the limb are gone but the areas in nervous system that receive the information are still there.

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9
Q

What is the pathway of sensory signals. Which senses get processed by what part?

A

The pathway to most sensory signals is through the thalamus to the cerebral cortex.
Occipital lobe: processes visual information
Temporal lobes: process hearing
Parietal lobes: process pain, touch, temperature

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10
Q

What does ESP stand for and what does it mean?

A

ESP stands for extrasensory perception. It’s our “sixth sense”, which is detecting information without concrete sensory input. (Spidy Senses)

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11
Q

Absolute Threshold?

A

minimum amount of stimulus a person can detect without any NOISE. It is set to be 50% detection. Noise is any distracting stimulus (not only sound)

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12
Q

Difference Threshold?

A

minimum amount of change required to tell apart one stimulus from another 50% of the time

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13
Q

Weber’s Law (MEMORIZE NUMBERS)

A

States that 2 stimuli differ by a constant proportion to tell the difference. So if 20 + 1 candles makes a difference, you have to add 6 candles to 120 in order to notice the difference of light.

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14
Q

Subliminal Perception. Give an example

A

detection of information without being consciously aware of receiving it. In a study, people who where subliminally flashed the words “dry” and “thirst” drank more water.

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15
Q

What is signal detection theory and its 2 parts? MEMORIZE IMAGE

A

It is an approach to perception that takes in the stakes involved in each outcome. Made up of 1. Information gathering and 2. Criterion: (the standards used to make the decision (stakes involved).

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16
Q

Perceiving stimuli consists of 2 factors. Name them.

A

Attention: focusing awareness on a specific thing.
Perceptual set: A readiness to perceive something in a certain way (deck of cards, look for hearts, you only look at the red cards cause you know heart in red.)

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17
Q

Selective attention?

A

Focusing on one thing and ignoring others. (cocktail party effect)

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18
Q

What is the Stroop effect?

A

Named after John Ridley Stroop. Its when highly practiced stimuli are perceived automatically that it is hard to ignore. An example is reading a (color name) can make it hard to state the [name of the color it is printed in].

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19
Q

Novel stimuli?

A

New, unusual stimuli that often attracts out attention.

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20
Q

Emotional stimuli?

A

the concept that emotionally loaded stimuli (the word “torture”) captures out attention well.

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21
Q

what is Emotionally-induced blindness? Give an example.

A

When encountering emotional stimulus, you fail to recognize other stimuli presented. (driving, ambulance rushes, you forget to look at car infront of you)

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22
Q

Inattentional blindness?

A

Failure to detect unexpected events when our attention is engaged by a task. (Gorilla selective attention test)

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23
Q

What is sensory adaptation? Give an example.

A

Change in responsiveness of sensory systems based on the level of stimuli in the environment.
Getting into freezing water then getting used to it.

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24
Q

What is light and its components?

A

Light in an EM wave. Wavelengths is distance from one peak to another (400-700nm for visible light). Amplitude determines brightness. Purity (whether its the same kind of a mix of waves) determines saturation, or richness of color.

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25
Q

Sclera and its role?

A

White outer part of the eyes. Maintains shape and protects from injury

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26
Q

Iris and its role?

A

Colored part of the eye. Contains muscles that control the size of the pupil (hence how much light gets in)

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27
Q

Pupil?

A

The opening in the center of the eye, appears black

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28
Q

Cornea and lens? Their roles?

A

Cornea is a clear membrane in front of the eye.
Lens is a transparent, disk-like structure filled with gel.
They are responsible for bringing the image into focus by bending light.

29
Q

Retina and its role?

A

Its a light-sensitive surface which takes EM energy and converts it into neural impulses. Has 126 million receptors.

30
Q

Rods?

A

Sensitive to light but not very useful for color vision. 120 million in humans

31
Q

Cones?

A

Used for color vision. 6 million in humans

32
Q

Fovea?

A

Area in the retina where vision is at its best. It only contains cones

33
Q

How does sight work (pathway)?

A

Rods and cones convert light into electrochemical impulse. The signal goes to bipolar cells, which goes to ganglion cells.
The axons of the ganglion cells make up the optic nerve, which carries the visual information to the brain.

34
Q

Where is the blind spot?

A

Its the place on the retina where the optic nerve leaves.

35
Q

Optic Chiasm?

A

Point in the brain where the optic fibers divide, half of them cross over the midline of the brain.

36
Q

where is the visual cortex located

A

In the occipital lobe (brain area involved in vision)

37
Q

What are Feature Detectors?

A

neurons in the brain’s visual system that respond to features of stimulus, such as edges or movement.

38
Q

What does kittens losing their ability to perceive certain patterns when deprived of them early on suggest?

A

It suggests that there is a critical period in visual development that requires stimulation in order for the brain to delegate its resources to that task.

39
Q

What is Parallel Processing and why is it useful?

A

Is the simultaneous distribution of information across different pathways. It is useful because we detect all the characteristics of an object at once instead of slowly having to analyze things in linear order (shape->color->moving?)

40
Q

Binding

A

is the bringing together of information so it makes sense

41
Q

What is the Trichromatic theory and who was it proposed by?

A

States that there are 3 types of cone receptors that are sensitive to different, but overlapping ranges of wavelengths. Proposed by Thomas Young, extended by Hermann von Helmholtz.

42
Q

What was Edwald Hering’s view on Trichromatic theory?
What did he propose?

A

He was skeptical, since he saw that some colors cannot exists together (greenish blue but not reddish green). He also said that it does not explain after images, since it involves seeing a pair of colors. So he proposed that there are 4 types of color receptor cones.
Opponent processing theory: cells in visual system responds to red-green and blue-yellow colors.

43
Q

Figure-ground Relationship?

A

The principle by which we organize the perceptual field into stimuli that stands out (figure) and those that are left over (ground).

44
Q

What is Gestalt (german for “form) psychology interested in
What are the the principles of gestalt?

A

It’s interest in how people naturally organize their perceptions according to certain patterns.
Closure: we fill in spaces in disconnected figures
Proximity: we see objects near each other as a unit.
Similarity: similar objects tend to be seen as a unit

45
Q

What are the 2 cues used in Depth Perception?

A

Binocular and Monocular cues.

46
Q

Binocular cues?

A

Depth cues that depend on the combination of images from left and right eye. Uses Disparity and Convergence.
Disparity: The combination of 2 images and their disparity gives us 3D info
Convergence: Muscle movements that converge our eyes tell us about how far away the object is (close obj = converge)

47
Q

Monocular Cues?

A

Features of the visual world that tell us info about depth.
1) Familiar size. 2) Height in field of view. 3) Linear perspective and relative size: things that appear smaller are seen as further away. 4) Overlap. 5) Shading. 6) Texture gradient: texture is finer the further away it is.

48
Q

How do humans perceive motion?

A

We have neurons that are specialized to detect motion. Our body cells tell us whether we are moving or some object is.
The environment is rich in cues that tell us abt movement.

49
Q

Apparent movement? Give an example

A

When we perceive stationary objects as moving. An example could be lights in a straight line flashing in order away from us, which looks like its moving away.

50
Q

What is perceptual constancy and its parts?

A

It is the recognition that objects are do not change even if the sensory input tells you otherwise.
Size constancy: recognition that object size stays the same.
Shape constancy: shape is same although orientation is dif.
Color constancy: same color, but different lighting on it.

51
Q

What are the characteristics of sound and what to do they tell us?

A

Frequency: number of cycles.
Pitch: perceptual interpretation of sound (high pitch= high frequency)
Amplitude: measured in dB. The amount of pressure sound wave produces
Timbre: tone saturation, or quality of the sound.

52
Q

What are the 3 parts of the ear and what do they consist of?

A

Outer ear: consists of pinna and external auditory canal.
Middle ear: channels sound through eardrum -> hammer -> anvil -> stirrup -> inner ear
Inner ear: includes oval window, cochlea(fluid-filled, snail shaped) and basilar membrane. It converts sound wave into neural impulses and sense them to the brain.

53
Q

What are hair cells and tectorial membrane and how do they work together?

A

Hair cells are the ear’s sensory input. They rub against the tectorial membrane, which generates impulses that the brain interprets as sound

54
Q

What are the 2 theories of how the innear ear registers frequency of sound? Explain both.

A

Place theory: each frequency produces a vibration at a certain spot on the basilar membrane. This theory explains high but not low frequency, since low-frequency displace a large part of the basilar membrane, making it hard to pinpoint location.
Frequency theory: higher frequency cause auditory nerve to fire more often than low-frequency sounds. Uses volley-principle to explain sounds that push neuron pass firing rate

55
Q

How does localizing sound work?

A

2 ears help us localize sound. Sound reaching 1 ear before the other is more intense because it traveled less distance, and because of sound shadowing (head acting as a barrier).

56
Q

Name the 3 Cutaneous senses

A

Touch: detecting pressure against skin
Sensory fibers in skin -> spinal cord ->brain stem ->thalamus
which projects a map of the body’s surface onto the somatosensory areas of parietal lobes.
Temperature: uses thermoreceptors which respond to changes in temp on or near the skin, keeps body 98.6F
Pain: When contact is harmful, mechanical pressure becomes pain. Heat-pain, mechanical pain, etc. are all autonomically similar but differ in what type of pain.

57
Q

What is prostaglandins?

A

Pain from inflamed joints or sore, torn muscles

58
Q

What are the 2 pathways of pain?

A

Fast pathway: fibers connect with thalamus -> motor and sensory areas of cerebral cortex
Slow pathway: takes a detour through limbic system (unpleasant nagging pain)

59
Q

What are Papillae? What is umami

A

they are the round bumps above the surface of your tongue, which contain taste buds.
Umami is the recognized 5th taste associated with savory flavors and hearty meat broths

60
Q

Why is our sense of smell useful?

A

It can tell apart between fresh and rotten food. Can also notify us if something dangerous is happening like fire.

61
Q

Olfactory epithelium? What’s unique about the pathway of smell?

A

Lining of the roof of the nasal cavity which contains receptors for smell. Sensory pathways usually go through the thalamus, but smell doesn’t.
It goes from olfactory areas in temporal lobes and projects to various regions in the brain, especially limbic system.

62
Q

What does MHC stand for and does it relate to smell?

A

Major histocompatibility complex. It’s a term referring to different sets of genes that produces healthier offspring.
Female members of the species can smell males with Good MHC, which helps reproduce healthy offsprings.

63
Q

Kinesthetic Senses? What is kinesthesia?

A

They provide information about movement, posture and orientation of the body. It is not tied to a single organ, but rather embedded in muscle fibers and joints.
Kinesthesia is when you cant feel parts of your body (leg is asleep or face numb after the dentist)

64
Q

Vestibular senses? What is its pathway?

A

Provide information about balance and movement. Tells us whether our head (hence our body) is moving, titled etc.
Auditory nerve (which contains cochlear and vestibular nerve)->axons of the vestibular nerve->medulla->cerebellum

65
Q

Kinesthetic and Vestibular senses work together to produce what?

A

Proprioceptive feedback: information about the position of out limbs and body parts with relation to other body parts. (it is the reason you can touch your nose with eyes closed)

66
Q

How do the Semicircular Canals work?

A

They contain sensory receptors that detect head motion. They consist of 3 fluid-filled circular tubes. Vestibular sacs in them contain a bundle of hair cells in gel. material, which transmits info about balance and movement.

67
Q

How do you take care of your eyes?

A

by avoiding high-fat foods and not smoking. Taking Vitamin A, E, C, zinc and beta carotene.

68
Q

True or False. The choice of music you listen to effects the degree of hearing loss.

A

False, damage to hearing doesn’t depend on the music. 80+ dB for extended periods of time is what damages hearing.

PSY100 (11 decks)

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