Chapter 4: Sensation and Perception and Chapter 5: States of Consciousness Flashcards
transduction
-signals from sensory organs are transformed into neural impulses
sensory habituation
-perception of sensations is decreased as we become more accustomed to them
selective inattention
-individual fails to recognize a stimulus that is directly in plain sight
selective attention
-an individual fails to notice one stimulus due to concentration on another stimulus
vision
- light enters the cornea (protective covering) to the pupil which opens (dilates) with the help of the iris
- the lens helps focus the light by changing shape through accommodation
- as it passes the lens, the image gets flipped upside down and inverted where it is projected onto the retina, activating neurons and causing transduction
- then enters the photoreceptors (rods: black and white vision, and cones: color vision)
- fovea: highest concentration of cones
- light then goes to bipolar cells and then ganglion cells where it is sent to the optic nerve to the thalamus to the visual cortex
light
- visible light depends on brightness, wavelength
- longest to shortest wavelength: ROY G BIV
- longest to shortest wavelength: radio, infrared, visible, UV, x-ray, gamma rays
blind spot
- no rods or cones due to the optic nerve leaving the blind spot
- spot where nerves cross each other is the optic chiasm
feature detectors
Hubel and Wiesel discovered that different groups of neurons in the visual cortex respond to different visual images
theories of color vision
- trichromatic theory: 3 types of cones that detect red, blue, and green light
- opponent-process theory: R-G, Y-B, B-W (one sensor is stimulated, the other is inhibited from firing)
hearing
- sound waves are vibrations in the air
- amplitude: height of wave that determines loudness
- frequency: determines pitch
outer ear
- pinna: collects sound waves
- travel down auditory canal where reaches the
- eardrum: thin tympanic membrane that vibrates as the sound waves hit
middle ear
-ossicles: hammer, anvil, stirrup (3 bones attached to the eardrum that translate vibration to oval window)
inner ear
- oval window: connects the middle ear to the inner ear, fluid moves when oval window vibrates
- cochlea: membrane attached to the oval window, is a spiral-shaped organ that transmits sound into signals that can be sent to the brain
- semi-circular ducts: filled with fluid; attached to cochlea and nerves; send information on balance and head position to the brain
- basilar membrane: divides cochlea in half, lined with hair cells (when fluid moves, the hair cells do too, causing transduction)
place theory
- hair cells in cochlea respond to different frequencies of sound based on where they are located in the cochlea
- sense pitch because the hair cells move in different places in the cochlea (determines higher pitches)
frequency theory
-lower tones are recognized by rate at which cells fire
conduction deafness
- can’t properly conduct sound to the cochlea
- easier to treat
Nerve (sensoneurial) deafness
-hair cells in cochlea are damaged, usually by loud noise
touch
-nerve endings respond to temperature or pressure changes
gate control theory
- when high priority message is sent, the gates swing open, and vice versa
- when scratch an itch, the low priority message causes the pain gates to close (don’t feel pain)
- endorphins swing the gate shut
four universal flavors
sweet, salty, bitter, unami
olfactory bulb
gathers messages from the olfactory receptor cells and send info to the brain
limbic system
-amygdala, hippocampus
vestibular sense
- tells our brain how our body is orientated
- when body is off balance, the sensors (hair-cells) in the semi-circular canals move, activating neurons
kinesthesia
-receptors in our muscles and joints send info to our brain about our limbs allowing for the understanding of our orientation of body
absolute threshold
-smallest amount of stimulus we can detect
difference threshold
-smallest amount of change for us to notice the difference from the original intensity of the stimulus
psychophysics
-study of the interaction between sensation and perception
subliminal stimuli
-stimuli below the absolute threshold
Weber’s Law
-difference between stimulus must vary by a percentage
signal detection theory
-investigates the distractions and interference we experience while perceiving the world
response criteria (receiver operating characteristics)
-how motivated we are to detect specific stimuli
false positive
-perceive a stimulus that isn’t there
false negative
-not perceiving a stimulus that is there
perceptual set
-tendency to perceive something in a specific way
schema
-organized pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information and the relationships among them
perceptual laws
- law of constancy
- law of proximity
- law of similarity
- law of closure
constancy
- size constancy
- shape constancy
- brightness (color) constancy
stroboscopic effect
-images presented at a fast pace will appear to move
phi phenomenon
-series of light turned on and off will be perceived as one line
autokinetic effect
-stare at a bright light for a long time, it will appear to move
interposition
-monocular cue that states that objects that block the view of other objects must be closer
relative size
-monocular cue that states closer objects are larger
texture gradient
-monocular cue that states that closer objects have more texture
retinal disparity
-binocular cue that states that each eye sees objects at a different angle
convergence
-binocular cue: as an object moves closer to our face, our eyes must move closer to stay focused
priming
-implicit memory effect in which exposure to a stimulus influences response to a later stimulus.
mere exposure effect
prefer stimuli we have seen before, even if we don’t remember seeing it
nonconscious
-body processes that we are usually never aware of
preconscious
-information about the environment that you are not currently thinking about
subconscious
-information that we are not consciously aware of but we know must exist (mere exposure effect and priming)
unconscious
-some events and feelings are unacceptable to our conscious, but may still affect behavior
circadian rhythm
-metabolic and thought process pattern
sleep cycle
- 90 minute typical pattern of sleep
beta waves
-waves of an alert, wakeful person
alpha waves
-waves of a drowsy state
delta waves
-slow, large waves of NREM-3 and NREM-4 (deep sleep is when body regulates chemical and hormone supply)
hypnagogic sensation
-NREM-1 hallucination (sensory experience without a sensory stimulus)
sleep spindles
-NREM-2 sudden bursts of brain-wave activity
REM sleep
- paradoxical sleep because brain waves are active as if we were awake
- dreams
- as we age, amount of REM decreases, as we get stressed, it increases
narcolepsy
-periods of intense sleepiness at inappropriate times
sleep apnea
-person will stop breathing for a short time during the night (body will wake up slightly gasping for air, preventing deep sleep)
manifest content
-actual content of our dreams
latent content
-unconscious meaning of latent content
activation-synthesis theory
-dreams are biological phenomena for our body to explain the interpretations of physical experiences during REM
information-processing theory
-stress will increase the intensity of dreams during the night, as we integrate info processed during the day into our memories
posthypnotic amnesia
-people report forgetting events while hypnotized
posthypnotic suggestion
-suggestion that hypnotized person should act in a certain way after the person is brought out of hypnosis
Role Theory
-hypnosis is because some people have more hypnotic suggestibility (not an alternate state of consciousness)
state theory
-hypnosis is altered state of consciousness
-dissociation theory
-hypnosis causes us to divide our consciousness voluntarily
blood-brain barrier
-protects brain from harmful chemicals by surrounding the brain’s blood vessels with a wall
antagonists
-mimic neurotransmitters by binding to receptors and blocking the normal neurotransmitters
agonists
-fit the receptor for the normal neurotransmitter and function as if it was the normal neurotransmitter
reverse tolerance
-second dose maybe smaller, but provide even greater effects than the first dose (hallucinogen)
opiates
- powerful painkillers and mood elevators due to the agonistic behavior modeling endorphins
- some of the most physically addictive drugs
