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PSYCH 1101 > Chapter 4 > Flashcards

Chapter 4 Flashcards

1
Q

Sensation

A

simple stimulation of a sense organ; the basic registration of light, sound, pressure, odor, or taste as parts of your body interact with the physical world

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2
Q

Perception

A

the organization, identification, and interpretation of a sensation in order to form a mental representation

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3
Q

Transduction

A

what takes place when many sensors in the body convert physical signals from the environment into encoded neural signals sent to the CNS

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4
Q

Psychophysics

A

methods that measure the strength of a stimulus and the observer’s sensitivity to that stimulus

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5
Q

Absolute threshold

A

the minimal intensity needed to just barely detect a stimulus in 50% of the trials

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6
Q

just noticeable difference (JND)

A

the minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected; not a fixed quantity

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7
Q

Weber’s law

A

the just noticeable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion despite variations in intensity

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8
Q

Signal detection theory

A

the response to a stimulus depends both on a person’s sensitivity to the stimulus in the presence of noise and on a person’s response criterion

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9
Q

Perceptual sensitivity

A

how effectively the perceptual system represents sensory events

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10
Q

Sensory adaptation

A

sensitivity to prolonged stimulation tends to decline over time as an organism adapts to current conditions

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11
Q

Visual activity

A

the ability to see fine detail

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12
Q

Visible light

A

the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can see

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13
Q

3 properties of light waves

A
  1. length of a light wave determines its hue, or what humans perceive as color
  2. intensity/amplitude of light wave determines what we perceive as the brightness of light
  3. purity is the number of distinct wavelengths that make up the light; corresponds to what humans perceive as saturation or richness of colors
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14
Q

Retina

A

light-sensitive tissue lining the back of the eyeball

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15
Q

Cornea

A

clear, smooth outer tissue of eye where light passes first , bending the light wave and sending it through the pupil

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16
Q

Pupil

A

hold in the colored part of the eye

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17
Q

Iris

A

colored part of the eye which is a translucent muscle that controls the size of the pupil and the amount of light that can enter the eye

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18
Q

Accommodation

A

the process by which the eye maintains a clear image of the retina

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19
Q

Cones

A

photoreceptors that detect color, operate under normal daylight conditions, and allow us to focus on fine detail

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20
Q

Rods

A

photoreceptors that become active under low-light conditions for night vision; more sensitive than cones; provide no info about color and sense only shades of gray

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21
Q

Fovea

A

an area of the retina where vision is the clearest and there are no rods at all; absence of rods decreases the sharpness of vision in reduced light

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22
Q

Blind spot

A

a location in the visual field that produces no sensation on the retina

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23
Q

Color-opponent system

A

pairs of visual neurons that work in opposition

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24
Q

area V1

A

the part of the occipital lobe that contains the primary visual cortex

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25
What are the 2 functionally distinct pathways that project from the occipital cortex to visual areas in other parts of the brain?
1. the ventral stream: travels across occipital lobe into lower levels of the temporal lobes and includes brain areas that represent an object's shape and identity 2. the dorsal stream: travels up from the occipital lobe to the parietal lobes, connecting with brain areas that identify the location and motion of an object
26
Visual form agnosia
the inability to recognize objects by sight; can guide actions by sight
27
Binding problem
how features are linked together so that we see unified objects in our visual world rather than free-floating or miscombined features
28
Illusory conjunction
a perceptual mistake where features from multiple objects are incorrectly combined
29
Feature-integration theory
the idea that focused attention is not required to detect the individual features that comprise a stimulus, but is required to bind those individual features together
30
Perceptual constancy
a perceptual principle stating that even as aspects of sensory signals change, perception remains consistent; perceptual grouping (simplicity, closure, continuity, similarity, proximity, common fate) govern how the features and regions of things fit together
31
Template
a mental representation that can be directly compared to a viewed shape in the retinal image (image-based object recognition)
32
Parts-based object recognition
theories that propose instead that the brain deconstructs viewed objects into a collection of parts
33
Monocular depth cues
aspects of a scene that yield information about depth when viewed with only 1 eye
34
Binocular disparity
the difference in the retinal images of the two eyes that provides info about depth
35
Apparent motion
the perception of movement as a result of alternating signals appearing in rapid succession in different locations
36
Change blindness
when people fail to detect changes to the visual details of a scene
37
Inattentional blindness
a failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention
38
Pitch
how high or low a sound is
39
Loudness
a sound's intensity
40
Timbre
a listener's experience of sound quality or resonance
41
Frequency corresponds to our perception of _____.
pitch
42
Amplitude corresponds to our perception of _______.
loudness
43
Complexity corresponds to our perception of ______.
timbre
44
Cochlea
a fluid-filled tube that is the organ of auditory transduction
45
Basilar membrane
a structure in the inner ear that undulates when vibrations from the ossicles reach the cochlear fluid
46
Hair cells
specialized auditory receptor neurons embedded in the basilar membrane; release neurotransmitter molecules, initiating a neural signal in the auditory nerve that travels to the brain
47
area A1
a portion of the temporal lobe that contains the primary auditory cortex; for most of us, auditory areas in L hemisphere analyze sounds related to language and those in R hemisphere specialize in rhythmic sounds and music
48
Place code
the process by which different frequencies stimulate neural signals at specific places along the basilar membrane, from which the brain determines pitch; used for high frequencies
49
Temporal code
the cochlea registers low frequencies via the firing rate of action potentials entering the auditory nerve
50
How does conductive hearing loss arise?
because the eardrum or ossicles are damaged to the point that they cannot conduct sound waves effectively to the cochlea
51
Sensorineural hearing loss
caused by damage to the cochlea, hair cells, or the auditory nerve (happens to almost all of us as we age)
52
Haptic perception
active exploration of the environment by touching and grasping object with our hands
53
Referred pain
feeling of pain when sensory info form internal and external areas converges on the same nerve cells in the spinal cord
54
Gate-control theory of pain
a theory of pain perception based on the idea that signals arriving from pain receptors in the body can be stopped, or gated, by interneurons in the spinal cord via feedback from two directions; bottoms-up control is when senses feed information, top-down control explains how brain influences the experience of touch and pain
55
Experience of pain depends on 2 distinct pathways. What are they?
1. Sends signals to the somatosensory cortex to indicate the location/type of pain. 2. Sends signals to the emotional centers of the brain that result in unpleasant feelings
56
What are balance and acceleration influenced by?
Depend primarily on the vestibular system but are influenced by vision
57
Vestibular system
the 3 fluid-filled semicircular canals and adjacent organs located next to the cochlea in each inner ear; influences maintaining balance
58
Smell is directly connected to what part of the brain?
Forebrain
59
Olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs)
Receptor cells that initiate the sense of smell; when odorant molecules bind to these cells, they send action potentials to the olfactory nerve
60
Olfactory bulb
a brain structure located above the nasal cavity beneath the frontal lobes; ORNs converge at the glomerulus within the olfactory bulb
61
Why can smell have immediate and powerful effects on us?
the olfactory bulb sends signals to parts of the brain that control drives, emotions, and memories
62
How is smell involved in social behavior?
pheromones
63
Pheromones
biochemical odorants emitted by other members of its species that can affect an animal's behavior or physiology
64
taste buds
the organ of taste transduction
65
What do sensations of taste depend on?
taste buds
66
Taste experiences depend on _____.
cognitive influences
67
Sensation involves ________, whereas perception involves _______. a. organization, coordination b. stimulation, interpretation c. identification, translation d. comprehension, information
b. stimulation, interpretation
68
What process converts physical signals form the environment into neural signals by sensory neurons into the CNS? a. representation b. identification c. propagation d. transduction
d. transduction
69
The smallest intensity needed to just barely detect a stimulus is called a. proportional magnitude b. absolute threshold c. just notable difference d. Weber's law
b. absolute threshold
70
The world of light outside the body is linked tot he world of vision inside the CNS by the a. cornea b. lens c. retina d. optic nerve
c. retina
71
Light striking the retina, causing a specific pattern of response in the 3 cone types, leads to our ability to see a. motion b. colors c. depth d. shadows
b. colors
72
In which part of the brain is the primary visual cortex, where encoded info is systematically mapped into a representation of the visual scene? a. the thalamus b. the lateral geniculate nucleus c. the fovea d. area V1
d. area V1
73
Our ability to visually combine details so that we perceive unified objects is explained by a. feature-integration theory b. illusory conjunction c. synesthesia d. ventral and dorsal streaming
a. feature-integration theory
74
The idea that specialized brain areas represent particular classes of objects is a. the modular view b. attentional processing c. distributed representation d. neuron response
a. the modular view
75
The principle of _____ holds that even as sensory signals change, perception remains consistent. a. apparent motion b. signal detection c. perceptual constancy d. closure
c. perceptual constancy
76
Image-based and parts-based theories both involve the problem of a. motion detection b. object identification c. separating figure from ground d. judging proximity
b. object identification
77
What kind of cues are relative size and linear perspective? a. motion-based b. binocular c. monocular d. template
c. monocular
78
What does the frequency of a sound wave determine? a. pitch b. loudness c. sound quality d. timbre
a. pitch
79
The placement of our ears on opposite sides of the head is crucial to our ability to a. localize sound sources b. determine pitch c. judge intensity d. recognize complexity
a. localize sound sources
80
The location and type of pain we experience is indicated by signals sent to a. the amygdala b. the spinal cord c. pain receptors d. the somatosensory cortex
d. the somatosensory cortex
81
What best explains why smells can have immediate and powerful effects? a. the involvement in smell of brain centers for emotions and memories b. the vast number of olfactory receptor neurons we have c. our ability to detect odors from pheromones d. the fact that different odorant molecules produce varied patterns of activity
a. the involvement in smell of brain centers for emotions and memories

PSYCH 1101 (12 decks)

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