Chapter 4 Flashcards
Vision: Eye Audition: Ear Taste: Tongue Touch: Body Olfactory: Nose
Five senses
Receiving (sensing) physical signals
Sensation
Receptors that convert physical energy to electrical signals
Transduction
Part of the eye containing transparent cells that bends light to go to the retina
Cornea
Circular hole through which light enters the eye. Pupils dilate when we try to process complex info.
Pupil
Changes curvature to keep image in focus. Bends light and is completely transparent, allowing light to pass through
Lens
Responsible for converting light into neural activity
Retina
Central portion of the retina and is responsible for acuity, sharpness of vision
Fovea
Nerve that travels from the retina to the brain. Contains axons of ganglion cells
Optic Nerve
Parts of the visual field we cant see because of the absence of rods and cones
Blind spots
Photoreceptor cells in the retina allowing us to see low levels of light. Long and narrow allowing us to see basic shapes and forms. Located in receptor cells in retina. Sensitive to movement and vision in dim light
Rods
Photoreceptor cells in the retina allowing us to see in color. Less numerous than rods. Used in daylight vision and not as sensitive to light. Good for spatial vision
Cones
Lowest level of a stimulus needed for the nervous system to detect a change 50% of the time.
Absolute threshold
The smallest change in the intensity of a stimulus that we can detect. i.e. when you can start hearing music on iPod
Just Noticeable Difference(JND)
There is a constant proportional relationship between the JND and original stimulus
Weber’s Law
Theory regarding how stimuli are detected under different condition
Signal Detection Theory
Time in dark before rods regain max light sensitivity
Dark Adaptation
The ability to attend to many senses at the same time
Parallel Processing
Conceptually driven processing influenced by beliefs and expectancies. Starts with
association cortex to visual cortex
Top-Down Processing
A whole is constructed by many parts. Starts with primary visual cortex to association
cortex
Bottom-Up Processing
Process of selecting one sensory channel and ignoring others. Biases and personalities
contribute to false alarms or misses, response bias or observer bias. A liberal response bias would produce many
false alarms
Selective Attention
Failure to detect stimuli that are in plain sight when our attention is focused elsewhere
Intention Blindness
Sets formed when expectations influence perceptions
Perceptual Set
The brains interpretation of raw sensory inputs
Perception
A figure can produce multiple illusions. Brain tries to figure out what the image is exactly.
Bi-Stable Figures
Idea that color vision is based on our sensitivity to 3 primary colors. Coincides with theory
regarding 3 kinds of cones, each maximally sensitive to different wavelengths of light
Trichromatic Theory
Theory that we perceive colors in terms of 3 pairs of opponent colors; red & green,
blue & yellow, or black & white. After images arise from the visual cortexs processing of information from our rods and cones
Bi-Stable Figures
The process by which we perceive stimuli consistently across varied conditions. Several forms: Size, shape, and color
Perceptual Constancy
Rules governing how we perceive objects as wholes within their overall context. Provide roadmap for how we make sense of our perceptual worlds
Gestalt Principles
Stimuli that enable us to judge depth using only one eye
Monocular Depth Cues
Stimuli that enables us to judge depth using both eyes
Binocular Depth Cues
When the moon looks like its closer to the Earth, when it really is all in the current position in the
moon
Moon Illusion
Room is shaped oddly like picture
Ames Room
The processing of sensory information that occurs below the level of conscious
Subliminal Perception
Sub-threshold influences over our votes, product choices and life decisions. i.e. weight loss books
Subliminal Persuasion
