Chapter 4: Sensations and Perceptions

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

the activation of receptors in the various sense organs

Sense organs:
- Eyes
- Ears
- Nose
- Skin
- Taste buds

Question 2

Sensory Receptors

Answer 2

specialized forms of neurons which send messages to the CNS when stimulated

Question 3

Absolute Threshold

Answer 3

the smallest amount of energy needed for a person to consciously detect a stimulus 50% of the time it is present

Question 4

Subliminal Stimuli

Answer 4

stimuli that are below the levels of conscious awareness

- Just strong enough to activate sensory receptors but not strong enough for people to be aware of them

Question 5

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 5

the tendency of sensory receptor cells to become less responsive to a stimulus that is unchanging

Question 6

Theories of Color: Trichromatic Theory:

Answer 6

there are 3 main colors; Red, Green and Blue which all combine to create different colors we see

Question 7

Theories of Color: Opponent Process Theory:

Answer 7

proposes four primary colors with cones arranged in pairs: red and green, blue and yellow and black and white

Question 8

Retina

Answer 8

the inner membrane of eye that receives information about light using rods and cones

Question 9

Rods

Answer 9

visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible for black and white visions, night vision and peripheral vision

Question 10

Cones

Answer 10

visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible for color vision and sharpness of vision and daylight vision.

Question 11

Types of Color Blindness

Answer 11

• Monochrome colorblindness: either has no cones or has cones that are not working at all
• Red green colorblindness: either the red or the green cones are not working

Question 12

5 Basic Tastes

Answer 12

• Sweet
  
  • Salty
  • Sour
  • Bitter
    Brothy

Question 13

Taste Buds:

Answer 13

taste receptors cells in the mouth responsible for sense of taste

Question 14

Gustation

Answer 14

the sense of taste

Question 15

Olfaction(olfactory sense)

Answer 15

sense of smell

Question 16

olfactory Bulbs

Answer 16

area of the brain located above the sinus cavity and below the frontal lobes which receive information from the olfactory receptor cells

Question 17

Somesthetic Senses

Answer 17

the body’s senses consisting of the skin sense, kinesthetic sense and the vestibular sense

• e.g. Skin: the sensations of touch, pressure, temperature and pain

Question 18

Vestibular Sense

Answer 18

also known as the movement, gravity or balance sense which helps us move smoothy

Question 19

Gate Control Theory

Answer 19

states that all pain signals must pass through a “gate” located in the spinal cord

Question 20

Perception

Answer 20

the method by which sensations experienced at any given moment are interpreted and organized into some meaningful fashion

Question 21

Size Constancy

Answer 21

the tendency to interpret an object as always being the same actual size regardless of its distance

Question 22

Shape Constancy

Answer 22

the tendency to interpret the shape of an object as being constant even when its shape changes on the retina

Question 23

Gestalts Princples

Answer 23

• Figure Ground
• reversable figures
• similarity
• proximity
• closure
• continuity
• contiguity

Question 24

Gestalts Principles:

Figure Ground

Answer 24

the tendency to perceive objects, or figures, as existing on a background

Question 25

Reversable figures

Answer 25

visual illusions in which the figure and ground can be reversed

• 3d square which can be seen two ways

Question 26

Gestalts Principles:

Similarity

Answer 26

the tendency to perceive things that look similar to each other as being part of the same group

Question 27

Gestalts Principles:

Proximity

Answer 27

The tendency to perceive objects that are close to each other as part of the same grouping

Question 28

Gestalts Principles:

Closure

Answer 28

the tendency to complete figures that are incomplete

Question 29

Gestalts Principles:

Continuity

Answer 29

the tendency to perceive things as simply as possible with a continuous pattern rather than with a complex broken up pattern.

Question 30

Gestalts Principles:

Contiguity

Answer 30

the tendency to perceive two things that happen close together in time as being related

Question 31

Depth Perception

Answer 31

he ability to see the world in 3D by telling how far away objects are based on what we see

Clues are either Binocular (3d) or Monocular(2d)

Question 32

Binocular Clues: Convergence:

Answer 32

when our eyes rotate to focus on an object, the greater the convergence for closer objects and the less the convergence for further objects

Question 33

Monocular clues: Linear Perspective:

Answer 33

the tendency for parallel lines to converge on each other

Question 34

Monocular Clues: Relative size

Answer 34

when two objects are similar size but placed at different distances, the closer is viewed as larger

Question 35

Monocular Clues: Texture Gradient

Answer 35

as distance increases, texture becomes denser and details less distinct

Question 36

Monocular Clues: Interposition(overlap)

Answer 36

objects that obscure or overlap other objects are perceived as closer

Question 37

Monocular Clues: Aerial Perspective:

Answer 37

Distant objects appear hazy and blurred due to interfering atmospherically dust compared to closer objects

Question 38

Monocular Clues: light and shadow

Answer 38

brighter objects are seen as closer than darker and shadowy subjects

Question 39

Monocular Clues: relative height:

Answer 39

objects that are higher in our field of vision appear to be further away

Question 40

Factors influencing Perception: Top Down Processing

Answer 40

the use of preexisting knowledge to organize individual features into a unified whole

Question 41

Factors Influencing Perception: Bottom up Processing

Answer 41

the analysis of the smaller features to build up to a complete perception

- More likely to use for things we have not seen before