chapter 4 Kant, Helmholtz, Fechner Flashcards
noumental world
the external world
objects in their pure state independent of human experience
phenomenal world
inner world
the noumental world is transformed as soon as it impacts the human mind
intuitions
space and time, immediately and automatically localized by the mind
law of specific nerve energies
C Bell
each sensory nerve in the body conveys one and only one kind of sensation; each sensory nerve produces only one sensation regardless of how it is stimulated
vitalism
j muller
all living organisms have within themselves a nonphysical “life force” that is essential for them to be alive and that is not analysable
physiological mechanism
opposite to vitalism (HH)
all physiological processes are potentially understandable in terms of ordinary physical and chemical processes
physiology
the study of normal function within living creatures
law of conservation of energy
all the kinds of forces in the universe are potentially interchangeable forms of single huge but quantitatively fixed reservoir of energy
reaction time
the measured time that elapses between the presentation of a stimulus and the performand3 of a specific response
du Bois-Reymond agrees with HH
sensations
raw elements of conscious experience, require no learning or prior experience
perceptions
meaningful interpretations of sensations
accommodation
lens is flat -> focused on distant objects
lens is bulged -> focus on nearby objects
blind spot
HH
small part on the retina where the optic nerve does not exist and therefore it contains no light-sensitive cells.
complementary colors
white producing pairs
red + blue-green
yellow+ blue-violet
primary colors
blue, green, red
can produce white as well as any other color combination
young-helmholtz trichromatic theory
individual nerves transmit sensory messages not only to a specific kind (visual, auditory0 but also of a specific quality (red, green or blue-violet)
three kinds of light sensitive receptor cells
perceptual adaptation
distorting glasses experiment
unconscious inference
visual experiences lead to unconscious adoption of certain rules that operate like the major premises in logical syllogism
color afterimages
e hering
staring at a stimulus(red) will produce the afterimage of the complementary color (green) after shifting the gaze to a neutrally colored background
visual cliff
e gibson
experiment; suggest that depth perception occurs even in the extremely young subjects who lack the sort of experience
psychophysics
fechner
the study of relationships between the objectively measured intensities of various stimuli and the subjective impression of those intensities
just noticeable difference
weber
the minimum amount of difference between two weights necessary to tell them apart
absolute threshold
the smallest intensity of a stimulus that can be perceived
fechner’s law
Perceived loudness/brightness is proportional to logarithm of the actual intensity measured with an accurate nonhuman instrument. S=klogP s- stimulus measured in jnd units p- physical intensity k - constant
power law
stevens’s law
an empirical relationship in psychophysics between an increased intensity or strength in a physical stimulus and the perceived magnitude increase in the sensation created by the stimulus.
S=kP la n
gestalt psychology
the mind organizes experiences and perceptions into organized wholes that are more than the sums of their separate parts
founders of gestalt psychology
max wertheimer
kurt koffka
wolfgang kohler
apparent movement
the perception of continuous motion that occurs when observing a succession of slightly varying images
desene animate
phi phenomenon
phi phenomenon
an irresistible and distinct impression of a single slit of light; a simplified version of motion picture
figure
the whole entity that is consciously observed
ground
the necessary backdrop against which the figure is defined
gestalt principles (7)
proximity, similarity, closure, symmetry, common fate, continuity, connectedness
holistic-organismic theory
k goldstein
the brain should be regarded as a whole, acting as a unified entity to promote the well-being or self-actualization of the entire organism
life space
k lewin
every individual resides in a unique psychological field which is the totality of his or her psychological situation at that given moment
Helmholtz
mechanism: all living organisms followed physiological processes, could all be understood in terms of principles conservation of energy first to do reaction time studies discovered blind spot, astigmatism Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory perceptual adaption
wetheimer
inspired by apparent movement - perception of continuous motion that happens in varying image
phi phenomena
real & apparent moment produce identical negative afterimages - tendency to see stationary objects as moving in direction opposite of moving object that was observed before
