Chapter 4: Sensation and Perception Flashcards
Sensation
simple stimulation of a sense organ
Perception
organization, identification, and interpretation of a sensation in order to form a mental representation.
Transduction
Turning sensations/ perceptions into neural signals to send to the central nervous system.
Sensory adaptation
the process whereby sensitivity to prolonged stimulation tends to decline over time as an organism adapts to current conditions
Psychophysics
Methods that systematically relate the physical characteristics of a stimulus to an observer’s perception
absolute threshold
the minimal intensity needed to just barely detect a stimulus in 50% of trials.
Sensitivity
how responsive we are to faint stimuli
Acuity
how well we ca distinguish two very similar stimuli
Just noticeable difference
minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected
Weber’s law
there’s a constant proportion between the change in a stimulus no matter it’s intensity.
Signal detection theory
a way of analyzing data from psychophysics experiments that measures an individual’s perceptual sensitivity while also taking noise, expectations, motivations, and goals into account.
Light waves
1. Difference between peaks
2. Height between peaks and dips
3. purity
Light waves
1. Length- hue/ color
2. Brightness
3. saturation or richness of color
- Cornea
- Pupil
- Iris
- lens
- retina
- Bipolar cells
- Retinal ganglion cells
- Optic nerve
- Area V1 in the brain
- Ventral (what) and dorsal (where) stream
- Bends light and sends it through the pupil
- hole in the color part of the eye
- muscle that controls the size of the people
- bends light and focuses it on the retina
- tissue lining the back of the eyeball
- electrical signals from from rods and cones
- organizes signals and sends them to the brain
Accommodation
Who the eye maintains a clear image on the retina.
Nearsightedness- FRONT of retina
Farsightedness- BEHIND retina
what makes up the retina?
Which do we have more of?
Where exactly are they?
Rods and Cones.
We have more rods in our eyes.
Everywhere but the fovea. vision is clearest and there are no rods found.
Blind spot
A location in the visual field that produces no sensations on the retina
Cone types
L-cones: sensitivity to long wavelengths
M-cones: sensitive to medium
S-cones: sensitive to short wavelengths
Damage to ventral and dorsal streams
Ventral: identification of objects by sight is impaired, touch was normal
Dorsal: ability to grasp objects by sight is impaired.
Binding problem
linking features together so we see unified objects.
Illusory conjunction
incorrectly combining features from multiple objects.
attention is necessary for binging features together
perceptual constancy
the principle that even as aspects of sensory signals change, perception remains constant.
perceptual contrast
the principle that although sensory information from two things mat be similar, we perceive them as different objects.
perceptual organization:
1. Simplicity
2. Closure
3. Continuity
4. Similarly
5. proximity
6. common fate
grouping and segregating features to create whole objects organized in meaningful ways
1. arrow, not triangle on square
2. Combining lines to form a shape
3. Squiggly lines look like an X
4. Pattern
5.close together= grouped together
6. visual images together are one objects
monocular depth cues
aspects of a scene that yield information about depth when viewed with only one eye
Binocular depth cues
difference in retinal images of the two eyes
apparent motion
perceptions of movement as a result of alternating signals appearing in rapid succession in different locations
change blindness
a failure to detect changes in visual details of a scene
inattentional blindness
a failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention
Sound waves
1. Difference between peaks/ frequency
2. Height between peaks and dips/ amplitude
3. purity/ timbre
Sound waves
1. pitch
2. loud vs soft
3. pure vs mixed
outer ear
Pinna- outer ear
auditory canal
eardrum- flap that vibrates
middle ear
ossicles (smallest bone in the body)
hammer, anvil, and stirrup
oval window
inner ear
cochlea- spiral tube that turn vibrations into neural impulses
basilar membrane- wavy hair cells that move with neural impulses
Movement of sound
1. Outer ear
2. Middle ear
3. Inner ear
4. auditory nerve
5. thamalus
6. Area A1
Sí
Place code
hair cells are used to determine the pitch
Temporal code
timing of action potentials to help auditory nerve determine the pitch
Conductive hearing loss
eardrum or ossicles are damaged. Medication or surgery can correct this
Sensorineural hearing loss
damage to the cochlea, hair cells, or auditory nerve. Genetic disorders, infections, etc.
Cochlear implant can replace function of hair cells, but can’t improve the problem.
Haptic Perception
Active exploration of the environment by touching and grasping objects with our hands.
What body parts have high acuity?
Lips and fingertips
Fast-acting A-delta fibers do what?
transmit initial sharp pain.
slow C-fibers do what?
transmit duller persistent pain
referred pain
pain on surface of the body, but is actually internal.
gate-controlled theory
signals arriving from pain receptors can be stopped by interneurons in the spinal cord
proprioception
sense of body position
Vestibular system
three fluid-filled semicircular canals and organs next to the cochlea that help us maintain balance.
Smell movement
1. Olfactory epithelium
2. olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs)
3. olfactory bulb
Smell movement
1. Situated on top of nasal cavity, contains ORNs
2. molecules into neural impulses
3. brain structure in naval cavity beneath frontal lobe
Pheromones
biochemical odorants emitted by other members of an animal’s species that can affect an animal’s behavior or physiology.
Taste receptors
Salt, Sweet, sour, bitter, umami (savory)
taste movement
1. papillae
2. taste buds
3. microvilli
4.
5.
taste movement
1. Line the tongue and contain taste buds
2. taste transduction
3. receptor cells with chemicals that react to food
4.
5.
Taste fades with age. T/F
True
Taste and smell combine to create flavor. T/F
True
