Chapter 4 - Sensation and Perception Flashcards
Sensation
mind’s window to the outside world
Perception
how the brain gives meaning to sensory information
Sensation begins with
specialized receptor cells located in our sense organs
Sense organs
eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, and internal body tissues
Process called perception
the brain selects, organizes, and interprets the coded neural messages into meaningful patterns
appropriate stimulus
light, mechanical pressure, chemical molecules
action potentials
neural impulses
Bottom-Up processing
information processing beginning “at the bottom,” with raw sensory data that are sent “up” to the brain for higher level analysis; data-driven processing that moves from the parts to the whole
Top-Down processing
information processing starting “at the top,” with higher-level cognitive processes (such as, expectations and knowledge), and then working down; conceptually driven processing that moves from the whole to the parts
Parietal Lobe
Somatosensory cortex
Occipital Lobe
Primary vision area
Temporal Lobe
Primary audition (hearing) area
Frontal Lobe
Primary olfactory (smell) area
Temporal, Somatosensory, Frontal lobes meet
Primary gustation (taste) area (buried in folds)
Motor Cortex
between somatosensory and frontal lobes
absolute threshold
smallest amount of a stimulus that an observer can reliably detect
difference threshold
just noticeable difference (JND); minimal difference needed to notice a stimulus change
sensory adaptation
sensory system’s reduced responsiveness to unchanging stimuli
Gate-Control Theory
Theory that pain sensations are processed and altered by mechanisms within the spinal cord
The key functions of sensation and perception are, respectively,
detection and interpretation
If a researcher were testing to determine the dimmest light a person could perceive, the researcher would be measuring the
absolute threshold
Experiments on subliminal perception have______. (a) supported the existence of the phenomenon; (b) shown that subliminal perception occurs only among children and some adolescents; (c) shown that subliminal messages affect only people who are highly suggestible; (d) failed to support the phenomenon
a) supported the existence of the phenomenon
Why can’t you smell your own perfume or aftershave after a few minutes?
your sensory receptors for smell adapt and send fewer messages to your brain
The _____ theory of pain helps explain why it sometimes helps to rub or massage an injured thumb. (a) sensory adaptation; (b) gate-control; (c) just noticeable difference; (d) Lamaze
b) gate-control
Describe the normal pat of light waves through the eye.
after light waves enter onto the retina, the eye’s light-sensitive back surface. Special receptor cells in the retina, the rods and cones, then convert light energy into neural signals that send messages to the brain via the auditory nerve.
Which theory of color vision best explains the negative color afterimage?
(a) trichromatic theory
(b) opponent-process theory
(c) both of these theories
(d) neither of these theories
b) opponent-process theory
Explain how the modern dual-process theory explains color vision.
color is processed in a trichromatic fashion in the retina, and in an opponent-process fashion in the brain
Describe the path of sound waves through the ear.
The outer ear (pinna, auditory canal, eardrum) funnels sound waves to the middle ear. Bones in the middle ear (hammer, anvil, stirrup) amplify and send along the eardrum’s vibrations to the cochlea’s oval window, which is part of the inner ear. Vibrations from the oval window cause ripples in the fluid, which, in turn, cause bending of the hair cells in the cochlea’s basilar membrane.
Explain how place theory differs from frequency theory.
place theory explains pitch perception according to the place where the cochlea’s basilar membrane is most stimulated; frequency theory says pitch perception occurs when nerve impulses sent to the brain match the frequency of the sound wave.
Repeated exposure to loud noise may cause _____ deafness.
nerve
Human and nonhuman animals may be affected by chemical scents found in natural body odors, which are called _____.
pheromones
The skin sense include ____. (a) pressure; (b) pain; (c) warmth and cold; (d) all of these
d) all of these
The weightlessness experienced by space travelers from zero gravity has its greatest effect on the _____ senses. (a) visceral; (b) reticular; (c) somesthetic; (d) vestibular
d) vestibular
Receptors located int he muscles, joints, and tendons of the body provide _____ information to maintain bodily posture, orientation, and movement.
kinesthetic
Explain how illusions differ from delusions and hallucinations.
Illusions are false or misleading perceptions of the physical world produced by actual physical distortions. Delusions are false beliefs. Hallucinations are imaginary sensory perceptions that occur without an external stimulus.
Specialized cells in the brain called ____ respond only to certain types of sensory information.
feature detectors
Explain why “horizontal cats” can jump only onto horizontal surfaces.
“Horizontal cats” reared in a horizontal world fail to develop potential feature detectors for vertical lines or objects
You write a reminder of an appointment on a Post-it and stick it on the door, where you see it every day. A month later, you forget your appointment because of your brain’s tendency to ignore constant stimuli. This is known as _____. (a) sensory adaptation; (b) selective perception; (c) habituation; (d) selective attention.
c) habituation
The principle of ____ is at work when, as your brother walks away from you, you don’t perceive him to be shrinking.
size constancy
The visual cliff is an apparatus designed to study ____ in young children and animals. (a) color discrimination; (b) shape constancy; (c) depth perception; (d) monocular vision
c) depth perception
Since Jolly Roger, the pirate, lost one eye in a fight, he can no longer use ____ as a cue for the perception of depth and distance.
binocular cues.
George Stratton was able to cope with an upside-down world thanks to _____.
perceptual adaptation
When we tend to “see what we expect to see, this would be an example of ____.
perceptual set
The supposed ability to read other people’s minds is called ____, perceiving objects or events that are inaccessible to the normal senses is known as ____, predicting the future is called ___, and moving or affecting objects without touching them is known as _____.
telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokineses
A major criticism of studies that indicate the existence of ESP is that they _____.
usually cannot be replicated
