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Intro Psychology > chapter 4 > Flashcards

chapter 4 Flashcards

1
Q

sensation

A

the process of detecting external events with sensory receptors producing electrical impulses that travel to the brain and represent our internal or external experiences. (physical process)

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2
Q

perception

A

act of attending to, organizing, and interpreting sensory experience (psychological process)

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3
Q

transduction

A

when specialized receptors transform the physical energy of the outside world into neural impulses

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4
Q

neural impulses involved in transduction

A

travel into the brain and influence the activity of different brain structures

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5
Q

organizing perception involves

A

organizing the different vibrations of the eardrum in a way that allows you to recognize them as a voice and linking together the stimulation of groups of receptions in the eye into visual experience

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6
Q

sensory adaptation

A

reduction of activity in sensory receptors with repeated exposure to a stimulus

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7
Q

vision stimuli and type of receptor

A

light waves.

light-sensitive structures are the back of the eye.

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8
Q

hearing stimuli and type of receptor

A

sound waves.

hair cells that respond to pressure changes in the ear.

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9
Q

touch stimuli and type of receptor

A

pressure, stretching, warming, cooling, or piercing of the skin surface.
different types of nerve endings that respond to pressure, temperature changes, and pain.

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10
Q

taste stimuli and type of receptor

A

chemicals on the tongue and in the mouth.

cells lining the taste buds of the tongue.

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11
Q

smell stimuli and type of receptor

A

chemicals contacting mucus lined membranes of the nose.

nerve endings that respond selectively to different compounds.

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12
Q

from stimulus to perception

A

stimulus (light, sound, smell, etc) - sensory receptors (eyes, ears, nose, etc) - transduction - neural impulses - perception (visual, auditory, olfactory areas)

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13
Q

all of our senses

A

use the same mechanism for transmitting information in the brain: the action potential

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14
Q

doctrine of specific nerve energies

A

different senses are separated in the brain

- proposed in 1826 by Johannes Müller

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15
Q

the orienting response

A

describes how we quickly shift our attention to stimuli that signal a change in our sensory world

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16
Q

sensory adaptation provides

A

the benefit of allowing us to adjust to our surroundings and shift our focus to other events that may be important

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17
Q

drawback to sensory adaptation

A

we get used to listening to loud music in our earbuds, which can eventually damage the auditory system. we also stop noticing how polluted and loud city life can be.

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18
Q

psychophysics

A

the field of study that explores how physical energy such as light and sound and their intensity relate to psychological experience.

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19
Q

thresholds

A

amount of stimulus or amount of change need to be detected

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20
Q

absolute threshold

A

minimum stimulation needed to detect the presence of a particular stimulus 50% of the time

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21
Q

difference threshold

A

the smallest difference between stimuli that can be reliably detected at least 50% of the time

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22
Q

weber’s law

A

states that the just noticeable difference between two stimuli changes as a proportion of those stimuli

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23
Q

signal detection theory

A

states that whether a stimulus is perceived depends on both the sensory experience and that judgment made by the subject

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24
Q

signal detection theory is designed

A

to deal with response biase

- emphasizes process of making a judgment about the presence or absence of a stimuli

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25
signal detection theory requires us to examine
two processes: a sensory process and a decision process
26
sensory process
reflects observers sensitivity to the strength of the stimulus
27
decision process
reflects observers response bias
28
priming
previous exposure to a stimulus can influence that individuals later responses either to the same stimulus or to one that is related to it
29
gestalt psychology
an approach to perception that emphasizes that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” (understood only when viewed as organized, structured wholes, and not when broken down)
30
one basic gestalt principle is that
objects or “figures” in our environment tend to stand out against a background - referred to as the figure-ground principle
31
there are two different stimuli involved in perception
proximal stimulus and distal stimulus
32
proximal stimulus
the optical image on the retina (anything close to you)
33
distal stimulus
the physical object in the world (distant things)
34
illusions occur when
perceptual systems deceive you into experiencing a stimulus pattern in a manner that is demonstrably incorrect
35
gestalt laws of grouping
``` similarity continuity proximity closure figure-ground ```
36
divided attention
paying attention to more than one stimulus at the same time
37
selective attention
focusing on one particular event or task to the exclusion of others
38
inattentional blindness
a failure to notice clearly visible events or objects because attention is directed elsewhere
39
wavelength
distance from peak of one wave to peak of next
40
amplitude
vertical distance from peak to trough
41
hue
dimension of colour determined by wavelength of light
42
intensity
amount of energy in wave determined by amplitude (brightness)
43
saturation
variety of wavelengths from the same point (colourfulness)
44
the primary function of the eye
is to gather light and change it into an action potential
45
differences in wavelength corresponds to
different colours on the electromagnetic spectrum
46
long wavelengths correspond to
our perception of reddish colours
47
short wavelengths correspond to
our perception of bluish colours
48
low amplitude waves are seen as
dim colours
49
high amplitude waves are seen as
bright colours
50
sclera
the white, outer surface of the eye
51
cornea
the clear layer that covers the front portion of the eye and contributes to the eyes ability to focus and bends incoming light
52
light enters the eye through
the cornea and passes through an opening called the pupil
53
pupil
opening in the centre of the iris that regulates the amount of light that enters by changing sizes - dilates (expands) to allow more light in - constricts (shrinks) to allow less light in
54
the changes in the pupils sizes are performed by the
iris
55
iris
coloured area which is a round muscle that adjusts the side of the pupil
56
lens
a clear structure that focuses light rays onto the retina
57
retina
lines the inner surface of the back of the eye and consists of specialized receptors that absorb light and send signals related to the properties of light to the brain
58
information from the photoreceptors at the back of the retina is transmitted to
the ganglion cells closer to the front of the retina. the ganglion cells gather up information from the photoreceptors. the activity of all the ganglion cells is then sent out of the eye through the optic nerve
59
optic nerve
a dense bundle of fibres that connect to the brain and transmits impulses to the visual centre of the brain
60
fovea
the part of the retina where light rays are most sharply focused, the central region of the retina
61
accommodation
change in shape of lens to focus near objects
62
there are two general types of photoreceptors
rods and cones | - each responds to different characteristics of light
63
rods
are photoreceptors that occupy peripheral regions of the retina; they are highly sensitive under low light levels - particularly responsive to black and grey
64
cones
are photoreceptors that are sensitive to the different wavelengths of light that we perceive as colour - cones tend to be clustered around the fovea
65
dark adaptation
the process by which the rods and cones become increasingly sensitive to light under low levels of illumination
66
blind spot
point at which optic nerve leaves eye, creating “blind spot” because if no receptor cells there
67
trichromatic theory (or young-helmholtz theory)
vision is determined by three different cone types that are sensitive to short, medium, and long wavelengths of light. - suggests there are three types of colour receptors: red, green, blue. all other colours are combinations of the three
68
opponent-process theory of colour perception
we perceive colour in terms of opposing pairs: red to green, yellow to blue and white to black
69
optic chiasm
the point at which the optic nerves cross at the midline of the brain
70
left half of vision = | right half of vision =
left half of vision = right hemisphere of brain | right half of vision = left hemisphere of brain
71
fibres from the optic nerve first connect with
the thalamus | - the brains “sensory relay station”
72
the thalamus is made up of over
20 different nuclei with specialized functions
73
the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)
is specialized for processing visual information
74
fibres from the LGN nucleus send messages
to the visual cortex, located in the occipital lobe, where the processes of visual perception begin
75
neurone in visual cortex respond to specific features
shake angle / orientation (feature detection cells) movement
76
the ventral stream
extends from the visual cortex to the lower part of the temporal lobe
77
the dorsal stream
expands from the visual cortex to the parietal lobe
78
dorsal stream of vision could be referred to as
the “what” and “where” pathway. the dorsal stream locates an object in space and allows you to interact with it - involved with visually guided movement
79
perceptual constancy
the ability to perceive objects as having constant shape, size, and colour despite changes in perspective
80
shape constancy
we judge the angle of the object relative to our position
81
size constancy
is based on judgments of how close an object is relative to ones position as well as to the positions of other objects
82
colour constancy
allows us to recognize an objects colour under varying levels of illumination
83
binocular depth cues
distance cues that are based on the differing perspective of both eyes (require use of two eyes)
84
convergence
occurs when the eye muscles contract so that both eyes focus on a single object
85
retinal disparity (binocular disparity)
the difference in relative position of an object seen by both eyes which provides information to the brain about depth
86
monocular cues
depth cues that we can perceive with only one eye

Intro Psychology (6 decks)

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