CHapter 4: Sensation & Perception Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the stimulation/absorption of energy of sense organs known as?

A

Sensation

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2
Q

What is the selection, organization and interpretation of sensory input into something meaningful?

A

Perception

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3
Q

What is the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience?

A

Psychophysics

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4
Q

Who determined that a threshold is required to know what stimuli are requires to cause a sensation?

A

Gustav Fechner

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5
Q

What is the dividing point between energy levels that do and do not have a detectable effect?

A

The threshold

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6
Q

What is known as the minimum amount of stimulation that an organism can detect for a specific type of sensory input?

A

The Absolute threshold

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7
Q

What is the real absolute threshold?

A

When the stimulus is detected 50% of the time

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8
Q

What is the smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that a specific sense can detect known as?

A

Just noticeable difference (JND)

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9
Q

As stimuli increase in magnitude, what happens to the JND?

A

The JND becomes larger

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10
Q

What is the law that the size of a JND is a constant proportion of the size of the initial stimulus?

A

Weber’s Law

> meaning that as stimuli increase in magnitude, the JND becomes larger

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11
Q

What is the law that says that the magnitude of a sensory experience is proportional to the number of JNDs that the stimulus causing the experience is above the absolute threshold?

A

Fechner’s law
> meaning that constant increments in stimulus intensity produce smaller and smaller increases in the perceived magnitude of sensation.

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12
Q

What is the theory that detection of stimuli involves decision processes as well as sensory processes, which are both then affected by other factors than stimulus intensity?

A

Signal -detection theory

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13
Q

What does signal-detection theory replace?

A

IT replaces Fechner’s sharp threshold with the concept of detectability

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14
Q

What is measured in terms of probability and depends on decision-making processes + sensory processes?

A

Detectability

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15
Q

What is the registration of sensory input without conscious awareness?

A

Subliminal perception

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16
Q

What is the gradual decline in sensitivity due to prolonged stimulation?

A

Sensory adaptation

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17
Q

What does sensory adaption allow people to do?

A

Focus on changes and not constants

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18
Q

Is there a one-to-one correspondence between sensory input and sensory experience?

A

No, people’s experience depends on physical stimuli and processing of stimulus inputs

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19
Q

What is the most important requirement for sight?

A

Light

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20
Q

What is the form of electromagnetic radiation that travels as a wave moving at the seed of light?

A

Light

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21
Q

What are the four possible outcomes of signal-detection theory?

A
  • Hits (signal there> see signal)
  • Misses (signal there> miss signal)
  • False alarms (no signal> see signal)
  • correct rejections (no signal> no see signal)
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22
Q

What does signal-detection theory depend on in terms of human requirements?

A

> The criterion set for how sure one must feel before reacting
Level of noise from all the irrelevant stimuli and neural activity they elicit

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23
Q

What are the three measures of light?

A
  • Amplitude > brightness
  • Wavelength > colour
  • Purity > saturation
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24
Q

What colours are associated with what lengths of waves?

A
  • Shorter = violet > blue
  • medium = green > yellow
  • Long = orange > red
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25
Q

What colours are associated with what lengths of waves?

A
  • Shorter = violet > blue
  • medium = green > yellow
  • Long = orange > red
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26
Q

Do people see all light?

A

No, only a small portion of light wavelengths as the eye is a filter

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27
Q

What are the main components of the eye?

A
  • Cornea (window)
  • Lens (focuses light rays> accommodation)
  • Pupil (opening that regulates amount of light with the iris)
  • Retina (neural tissue lining the back surface of the eye)
  • Cones + rods (visual receptors)
  • Optic disk (hole where nerve fibres exit eye)
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28
Q

What are the main components of the eye?

A
  • Cornea (window)
  • Lens (focuses light rays> accommodation)
  • Pupil (opening that regulates amount of light with the iris)
  • Retina (neural tissue lining the back surface of the eye)
  • Cones + rods
  • Optic disk
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29
Q

What is accommodation of the lens and how does it relate to distance?

A

When the curvature of the lens adjusts to alter visual focus
> lens curves for close-up
> lens flattens for far

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30
Q

What happens in a nearsighted eye?

A

Focus of light falls short of the retina

> the eyeball is too long

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31
Q

What happens in the farsighted eye?

A

Focus of light falls beyond the retina

> the eyeball is too short

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32
Q

What happens to the pupil in dim and bright light?

A

Dim > dilates to allow more light in (less sharp)

Bright > constricts to allow less light in ( more sharp)

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33
Q

What are the constant eye movements called where the eye is scanning the environment and making brief fixations at various parts of stimuli?

A

Saccades

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34
Q

What is the piece of the central nervous system that is located in the eye?

A

Retina

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35
Q

What is the blind spot of the eye?

A

The optic disk

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36
Q

What are the two types of receptors and what are their specialties?

A

Cones: > daylight and colour vision
> better acuity
> concentrated in centre of retina

Rods: > night and peripheral vision
> more sensitive to dim light
> density greatest just outside of fovea and decrease toward periphery
> far outnumber cones

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37
Q

What is the tiny spot in the centre of the retina that contains only cones and has the greatest visual acuity?

A

Fovea

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38
Q

Why do people look slightly above or below an object in dim light?

A

To move it to the rod-dominated area which don’t need as much light to create a clear image

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39
Q

What is the process in which the eyes becomes more sensitive to light in low illumination?

A

Dark adaptation

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40
Q

What is the process in which the eyes becomes less sensitive to light in high illumination?

A

Light adaptation

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41
Q

Once an images reaches the cones what is the order of signals to the brain?

A

Cones/rods> bipolar cells > ganglia > optic nerve

  • complex info processing
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42
Q

What is the retinal area that affects the firing of that cell when stimulated?

A

The receptive field

> rod and cone receptors funnel signals to a particular visual cell

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43
Q

What is the shape of the receptive field?

A

centre-surround, where light falling in the centre (increase in firing) has the opposite effect (decrease of firing) of light falling in the surrounding area

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44
Q

What happens when receptive fields are stimulated?

A

The retinal cells send signals to both the brain and laterally toward neighbouring visual cells
> interactive effects on each other

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45
Q

What is the effect called when neural activity in a cell opposes activity in surrounding cells?

A

Lateral antagonism > opposing effects of the inner vs outer centre-surround receptive field

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46
Q

What does lateral antagonism enable the visual system to do?

A

Compute the relative amount of light at a point instead of reacting to absolute light levels
> discerning of contrast

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47
Q

Where in the eye are receptive fields smaller?

A

Fovea

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48
Q

What is the point called at which the optic nerves from the inside half of each eye cross over and then project to the opposite side of the brain?

A

Optic chiasm

> ensures signals from both eyes go to both hemispheres of the brain

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49
Q

Which side of the brain do axons from the left half of each retina go?

A

To the left side

> vice versa for the right

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50
Q

After the nerves cross at the optic chiasm, where do they go?

A

2 pathways:

1st (main) - optic chiasm > thalamus > synapse in the lateral geniculate nucleus > occipital lobe (primary visual cortex)

2nd- optic chiasm> superior colliculus (midbrain) > thalamus > occipital lobe
(coordination of visual with other sensory input)

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51
Q

How is the main visual pathway organized?

A

Into 2 specialized pathways:

  • Magnocellular channel > brightness
  • Parvocellular channel > colour
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52
Q

What is parallel processing?

A

The simultaneous extraction of different information from the same input

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53
Q

What are individual visual cells most responsive to?

A

More complicated stimuli such as lines and edges

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54
Q

Who identified that simple and complex cells in the visual cortex respond to different stimuli?

A

Hubel and Wiesel

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55
Q

What do simple and complex visual cells respond to best respectively?

A

Simple cells- angled line in particular spot of the receptive field
Complex cells- angled line in any position in receptive field or movement

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56
Q

What is the key takeaway of Hubel and Wiesel’s work?

A

That cells in the visual cortex are highly specialized > feature detectors

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57
Q

What are the neurons that respond to very specific features of more complex visual stimuli?

A

Feature detectors

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58
Q

After processing in the primary visual cortex, where does visual input go?

A

To other cortical areas via 2 streams: dorsal and ventral

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59
Q

What do the dorsal and ventral streams process respectively?

A

Dorsal: where objects are + ACTION
Ventral: what objects are + PERCEPTION

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60
Q

What happens to neurons as they travel through visual system?

A

They get fussier and more specialized > faces

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61
Q

What is the inability to recognize objects?

A

Visual agnosia

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62
Q

What is the inability to recognize familiar faces?

A

Prosopagnosia

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63
Q

What are the typical methods applied to vision research?

A
  • fMRI
  • ESB
  • observation of brain damaged patients
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64
Q

What happens to neurons as they travel through visual system?

A

They get fussier and more specialized > faces

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65
Q

What demonstrates how people see colour (hue, brightness & saturation)?

A

Colour solid

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66
Q

What is the inability to recognize familiar faces?

A

Prosopagnosia

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67
Q

What are the theories of colour vision?

A
  • Trichromatic theory by Young and Helmholtz

- Opponent process theory by Hering

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68
Q

What is colour?

A

A psychological interpretation of the mixture of wavelengths (light)

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69
Q

What are the two types of colour mixingand which parallels how humans see colour?

A
  • Subtractive colour mixing: removal of light leaving less light than was originally there (paint, cellophane)
  • Additive colour mixing: putting more light in the mixture than exists in any one light itself

> additive colour mixing closest to human perception

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70
Q

What is the theory that the human eye has 3 types of receptors with differing sensitivities of different light wavelengths and what evidence supports this?

A

Tichromatic theory

> light of any colour can be matched with additive mixing of three primary colours
explains the three deficiencies among dichromats

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71
Q

What is the theory that colour perception depends on receptors that make antagonistic responses to 3 pairs of colours and what is the evidence to support this?

A

Opponent process theory

> explains complimentary afterimages
resolves the need for four names to describe colours
explains grapheme-colour synesthesia (coloured letters)

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72
Q

What is colour blindness and what are dichromats?

A
  • variety of deficiencies in the ability to distinguish among colours
  • most colour blind people are dichromats who have only two colour channels and are insensitive to either red, green or blue
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73
Q

What are the three pairs of colours in the opponent process theory of colour?

A
  • red + green
  • blue + yellow
  • white + black
74
Q

What are complimentary colours?

A

Opposite colours that when additively mixed produce grey

75
Q

What is theory is correct re colour vision, why and who figured this out?

A
  • Both theories correct
  • eye has 3 types of cones that correspond to different wavelengths
  • the visual system has cells that respond in opposite ways to red vs green and yellow vs blue
  • George Wald, nobel prize
76
Q

In what order does perception of colour occur?

A

In stages:

  • Stage 1> cones behave as per trichromatic
  • Stage processing> cells in retina, LGN and cortex follow opponent process
77
Q

What are the origins of colour effects on behaviour?

A

1- learned associations based on colours being paired with certain repeat experiences
2- colours have adaptive significance for survival or reproduction via evolution

78
Q

What is the significance of the reversible figure?

A

the same visual input can result in different perceptions

79
Q

What does perception involve and how can it be manipulated?

A

Perception involves interpretation which can be manipulated by influencing people’s expectations

80
Q

What is the effect called where people view black and coloured gratings (alternating bw opposing colour) and then perceive the complimentary colour in the after image?

A

The McCullough effect

81
Q

What is the effect called where people view black and coloured gratings and then perceive the complimentary colour in the after image?

A

The McCullough effect

82
Q

What is known as the failure to see fully visible objects or events in a visual display?

A

Inattentional blindness

> particularly when unexpected

83
Q

What is known as the failure to see fully visible objects or events in a visual display?

A

Inattentional blindness

84
Q

What increases inattentional blindness?

A

When people work on tasks that require a lot of attention or create a heavy perceptual load

85
Q

What is the process of detecting specific elements in visual input and assembling them into a more complex form and what does it assume?

A

Feature analysis

> assumes bottom-up approach

86
Q

What is the final step in both bottom-up and top-down processing?

A

Recognizing the stimulus

87
Q

What gave rise to the idea of top-down processing?

A

That feature analysis could not explain all in form perception
> form processing
> subjective contours: perception of contours when none exist

88
Q

What is required first in top-down processing?

A

A perceptual hypothesis about the nature of the stimulus as a whole

89
Q

What is the illusion of movement created by presenting visual stimuli in rapid succession?

A

Phi phenomenon

> movies

90
Q

What is the illusion of movement created by presenting visual stimuli in rapid succession?

A

Phi phenomenon

91
Q

What was the purpose of the Gestalt Principles?

A

To describe how the visual system organizes a scene into discrete forms

92
Q

What are the 6 Gestalt principles?

A

> Figure and ground: reversible object and background
Proximity: things close belong together
Closure: people group elements to complete picture
Similarity: grouping of stimuli that are similar
Simplicity: Praganz/’good form’, simplest way and most general principle
Continuity: tendency to follow in whatever direction being led

93
Q

What is the stimuli that lie in the distance, outside of the body?

A

Distal stimuli

94
Q

What are the stimulus energies that impinge directly on sensory receptors (light falling on the retinas) and are distorted 2D versions of the actual?

A

Proximal stimuli

95
Q

What is the inference about which distal stimuli could be responsible for the proximal stimuli sensed?

A

Perceptual hypothesis
> the bridge bw distal and proximal stimuli
> guided by context

96
Q

What type of perception involves interpretation of visual cues that indicate how near or far away objects are?

A

Depth perception

97
Q

What are the two types of cues for judging distance?

A

Binocular cues and Monocular cues

98
Q

What is the cue based on the differing views of the two eyes and what are its two sub-cues?

A

Binocular cues
> retinal disparity: each eye sees slightly diff view
> convergence: objects are closer when one can sense the eyes converging toward each other

99
Q

What is the cue based on the image in either eye alone and what are its two sub-cues?

A

Monocular cues
> Motion parallax: closer objects appear to move faster than farther objects when person is moving
> Pictorial depth cue: depth cues that can be given in a flat picture- 6 sub-cues!!!

100
Q

What is the cue based on the image in either eye alone and what are its two sub-cues?

A

Monocular cues

> Motion parallax: closer objects appear to move faster than farther objects when person is moving

101
Q

How does people’s motivation impact depth perception?

A

Desirable objects appear closer

102
Q

What is the tendency to experience a stable perception in the face of continually changing sensory input?

A

Perceptual constancy

103
Q

What are apparently inexplicable discrepancies between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality?

A

Optical illusion

104
Q

What is the Muller-Lyer illusion and what does it illustrate?

A
  • Two vertical lines with regular and reverse arrows that make the centre lines appear different lengths
  • Misperception of depth and the nature of visual representations underlying perception, motor control and planning.
105
Q

What are the Pnzo illusion and Ames room?

A

Ponzo: A-frame with two lines in the middle, top looks longer
Ames: room constructed with angles that make a person appear way smaller than other person of same size, depending on placement in the room

106
Q

What are objects that can be represented in 2D pictures but that cannot exist in 3D space?

A

Impossible figures

107
Q

What is the moon illusion?

A

When the full moon appears to be up to 50% smaller overhead than near the horizon
> due to size constancy effects with misperception of distance

108
Q

What 2 functions does vision serve and what condition revealed them?

A

1- creates an internal representation or model of the external world > perception (ventral)
2- process control of actions that are directed at perceived objects > action (dorsal)

-agnosia in a brain damaged woman and her ability to draw objects from memory that she could not visually recognize

109
Q

What are waves that are vibrations of molecules that must travel through some physical medium (air)?

A

Sound waves

110
Q

How are sound waves characterized?

A
  • Amplitude > loudness
  • Frequency (wavelengths) > pitch
  • Purity > timbre
111
Q

What are waves that are vibrations of molecules that must travel through some physical medium (air)?

A

Sound waves

112
Q

What is the human’s range of sound?

What are animal ranges?

A

20Hz: 20,000Hz

  • pigeons < 10Hz
  • bats + porpoises < 20,000 Hz
113
Q

What are the units used to measure frequency?

A

Hz
OR
cps = cycles per second

114
Q

What are the units to measure amplitude?

A

decibels (dB)

115
Q

What frequency is the human ear most sensitive to?

A

2,000Hz

116
Q

Perceived loudness depends on what?

A

Interaction of amplitude + frequency

117
Q

How does each section of the ear conduct sound?

A
  • External ear > vibration of air molecules
  • Middle ear > vibration of movable bones
  • Inner ear > waves in a fluid
118
Q

What are the components of the external ear?

A
  • Pinna >
  • auditory canal >
  • eardrum: taught membrane that vibrates in response to sound waves
119
Q

What are the components of the middle ear and what do they do?

A
3 ossicles that amplify air pressure:
- Hammer
- Anvil
- Stirrup
> convert large movements w little force into smaller movements with greater force
120
Q

What are the components of the inner ear?

A
  • Oval window: sound entry, vibrated by ossicles

- Cochlea: fluid filled coiled tunnel that contains auditory receptors > neural tissue

121
Q

How is neural tissue organized in the cochlea?

A

It sits on the basilar membrane that divides the cochlea into upper and lower chambers

122
Q

What holds the auditory receptors and runs the length of the spiralled cochlea?

A

The basilar membrane

123
Q

How many hair cells (auditory receptors) are in the cochlea?

A

About 25,000

124
Q

How are auditory signals sent to the brain?

A
  • Waves of fluid in the inner ear stimulate the hair cells >
  • Hair cells convert into neural impulses sent to thalamus >
  • Thalamus sends signals to auditory cortex which has specialized cells (similar to feature detectors)
125
Q

What are the theories of hearing try to explain?

A

How sounds waves are translated into perception of frequency, pitch and timbre

126
Q

What are the two theories of pitch perception?

A
  • Place theory: perception corresponds to vibration of different places along basilar membrane (Helmholtz)
  • Frequency theory: corresponds to frequency at which the entire basilar membrane vibrates (membrane matches Hz)
127
Q

Which theory of pitch perception is valid?

A

Both
- place theory correct but hairs are not independent> they vibrate together as per frequency theory
> wave peaks at a particular place depending on Hz

128
Q

What is the term for localizing the source of a sound in space and what contributes to it?

A
  • Auditory localization

- The ears being set apart

129
Q

What are the 2 cues for auditory localization?

A
  • Intensity (loudness) > shadow of head

- Timing of sound arrival to each ear

130
Q

What is the connection of the brain to music?

A
  • Brains of musicians are identifiable and larger in in motor, auditory and visuospatial areas of cerebellum
  • mood modulation
  • stimulate brain plasticity
  • facilitate sensitivity to emotions via speech parsody
131
Q

What is the effect when something is so easy that not further manipulation will affect performance?

A

Ceiling effect

132
Q

What are the chemical senses?

A

Gustatory + Olfactory

133
Q

What are the physical stimuli for the gustatory system?

A

Chemicals that are soluble

134
Q

How are the gustatory receptors organized?

A

In clusters of taste cells found in the taste buds that line the trenches around tiny bumps on the tongue

135
Q

What is the effect when something is so easy that not further manipulation will affect performance?

A

Ceiling effect

136
Q

What are the primary tastes?

A
  • Sweet
  • Sour
  • Bitter
  • Salty
  • Umami: savoury taste of glutamate
137
Q

What are the physical stimuli for the gustatory system?

A

Chemicals that are soluble

138
Q

How are the gustatory receptors organized?

A

In clusters of taste cells found in the taste buds that line the trenches around tiny bumps on the tongue

139
Q

What is the pathway for gustatory messages to the brain?

A

Taste cells > thalamus> insular cortex in frontal lobe for initial cortical processing

140
Q

How long to taste cells live and how do they move around?

A
  • live about 10 days

- they are born at edge of taste bud> migrate in> die at the centre

141
Q

What are super-tasters?

A

People who have specialized taste receptors that are not found in non-tasters
> more sensitive to bitter and sweet
> 25% of population
> more women than men

142
Q

Why might more women being super-tasters be an evolutionary trait?

A
  • women more involved in feeding children
  • more sensitive to high-calorific foods
  • helps avoid toxic substances
143
Q

Are taste preference learned or innate?

A
  • Basic preferences are innate for newborns

- most are learned by social processes

144
Q

What are non-tasters?

A
  • people who have an insensitivity to PTC or PROP + have 1/4 of the taste buds per cm2 compared to super-tasters
    > 25% of population
145
Q

What are super-tasters?

A

People who have specialized taste receptors that are not found in non-tasters
> more sensitive to bitter and sweet
> 25% of population

146
Q

What is flavour a combination of?

A

Taste + smell + tactile sensation of food

147
Q

How are olfactory messages sent to the brain?

A
  • Axons synapse w cells in the olfactory bulb > areas in the cortex
  • DOES NOT GO THROUGH THALAMUS
148
Q

What are the olfactory receptor cells?

A

Olfactory cilia> hairlike structures located in the upper nasal passages

149
Q

What do specific odours trigger?

A

Responses in different combinations of receptors

150
Q

How many types of olfactory receptors are there and how many genes are in the sets that affect their operation?

A
  • 350 types of receptors
  • 1,000
    > highly specialized receptors
151
Q

What is the time frame for sensory adaptation to odours?

A

Fades by less than 1/2 in 4 minutes

152
Q

How many odours can humans distinguish?

A

10,000

> women can distinguish better than men

153
Q

What are the chemical messages that can be sent by one organism and received by another member of the same species?

A

Pheromones
> species specific
> synching of periods

154
Q

What are the physical stimuli for touch and what perceptions do they produce?

A
  • mechanical + thermal + chemical energy

- perceptions of tactile stimulation + warmth + cold + pain

155
Q

How many sensory receptors does skin have?

A

6 types of receptors that are specialized for different functions

156
Q

How is the sense of touch set up?

A

For tactile localization

157
Q

How are touch cells similar to visual cells?

A

They are in patches on the skin similar to receptive fields > centre-surround formation
> sensory adaptation

158
Q

How do touch messages get to the brain?

A

Touch> sensory receptors> spinal cord> brainstem (cross-over) > thalamus > somatosensory cortex
> some cells in cortex behave like feature detectors

159
Q

What are pain receptors in the skin?

A

Free nerve endings in the skin

160
Q

Pain is transmitted to the brain via which 2 pathways?

A

1) Fast path- localized pain is registered> ventrobasal nucleus in thalamus> somatosensory cortex
> via myelinated A-delta fibres in fraction of a second
2) Slow path- carries less localized long-lasting/ temperature info > midline nucleus in thalamus> somatosensory cortex
> via unmyelinated C-fibres at a 1-2 second lag

161
Q

What influences the perception of pain?

A
  • Mood
  • expectations
  • personality
  • higher mental processes
162
Q

What illustrates well the subjective nature of pain?

A

The placebo effect

163
Q

How does culture affect pain perception?

A

Mainly the willingness to tolerate pain

164
Q

What theory was used to explain how the CNS blocks peripheral incoming signals due to cognitive and emotional processes?

A

Gate-control theory

165
Q

What did the gate-control theory posit?

A

That a pattern of neural signals from the brain and peripheral receptors known as the ‘gate’ inhibits incoming pain signals
> explains how attention and expectations can shut off pain signals

166
Q

What did the McGill Pain Questionnaire generate?

A

The Neuromatrix theory that pain is a multidimensional phenomenon produced by many influences

167
Q

What is the main mechanism to replace the ‘gate’ theory?

A

The discovery of a descending neural pathway that suppresses pain
> originates in PAG (periaqueductal gray)
> activated by endorphines and triggers release of seratonin
> synapse in the spinal cord to release more endorphines
> inhibit neurons transmitting pain impulses

168
Q

What types of glia cells contribute to pain modulation?

A
  • astrocytes
  • microglia
    > role in amplifying chronic pain
169
Q

What system monitors positions of various parts of the body?

A

Kinesthetic system

170
Q

Where are the receptors for the kinesthetic system and how are messages transmitted to the brain?

A
  • receptors are in joints and muscles

- messages transmitted via the tactile stimulation pathway

171
Q

What system responds to gravity, balance and keeps awareness of the body’s location in space?

A

Vestibular system

172
Q

What is the largest part of the vestibular system?

A

Semicircular canals in the inner ear> 3 inner tubes joined at the base of the cochlea
>shifts in fluid detected by hair cells with motion of head

173
Q

What principles are applied in art?

A

Visual perception principles

174
Q

What was lacking in art pre-renaissance?

A

depth cues

175
Q

What did Picasso apply in his art?

A

Gestalt principles

176
Q

What technique did Seurat apply?

A

Additive colour mixing

177
Q

What did the surrealists apply in their art?

A

Unconcious

178
Q

What was Escher’s goal with his art?

A

Stimulate thoughts re the nature of reality and visual perception

179
Q

What is the technique of making a large request that is likely to be turned down as a way to increase the chance of agreement to a smaller request?

A

Door-in-the-face technique

180
Q

What are people easily swayed by?

A

Contract effects

> comparitors: standards used as a baseline for comparison in making judgments> manipulation of judgments

181
Q

What facilitates critical thinking?

A

Councious awareness of the way comparitors can influence and distort judgements

182
Q

How can comparitors be countered?

A

By considering camparitors that are both worse and better to balance the two extremes