Chapter 5: Sensation and Perception Flashcards
Specialized cells that convert (sensory transduction) specific stimuli into neural impulses.
Sensory receptor cells
Sensory system that controls smell
Olfactory
Sensory system that controls touch, heat, and pain.
Somatosensory
Sensory system that controls taste.
Gustatory
Sensory system that controls hearing
Auditory
Sensory system that controls sight.
Visual
The act of using our sensory systems to detect environmental stimuli.
Sensation
The transformation of physical energy into electrical signals.
Transduction
The study of physical stimuli on sensory perceptions and mental states.
Psychophysics
The smallest amount of stimulus that one can detect.
Absolute threshold.
Technique used to determine the ability to separate true signals from background noise.
Signal detection analysis.
True ability to detect the presence or absence of a signal.
Sensitivity
Behavioral response to respond “yes”.
Response bias.
The minimal difference or change between 2 stimuli necessary for the detection of a difference between the 2.
Difference threshold or just noticeable difference.
Just noticeable difference is constant proportion of original intensity.
Weber’s law.
The conscious recognition and identification of a sensory stimulus.
Perception
Occurs when we sense basic features of stimuli and then integrate them. Happens from the outside-in. Sensory information from the environment drives the process of understanding. It is unconscious and hard to resist.
Bottom-Up processing.
Occurs when previous experience and expectations are first used to recognize stimuli. Happens from the inside-out. Knowledge and expectancy drives the process of understanding. It is conscious and takes effort.
Top-Down processing.
A process whereby repeated stimulation of a sensory cell leads to a reduced response.
Ex. The tag on your shirt was bothering you this morning, but you do not
Smell is particularly adaptive
Sensory adaptation
Failure to notice something obvious because you were focused on something else.
Gorilla basketball video.
Simons and Chabris (1999)
Inattentional blindness
Humans audible range of sound
20-20000Hz
Frequency is associated with the sounds…..
Pitch
High frequency= high pitched
Low frequency = low pitched
Loudness is associated with the sounds….
Amplitude
Higher amplitude = louder
Lower amplitude= quieter
Threshold for pain
(Sounds Waves)
130db
A sounds purity. Is affected by frequency, amplitude, and timing.
Timbre
Electromagnetic radiation produces light which is made up of particles called…
Photons
The transparent covering over the eye that focuses light.
Cornea.
Frequency is associated with a sound’s….
Pitch.
High frequency = high pitched
Low frequency= low pitched
Humans’ audible range of sound is…
20-20000Hz
Loudness is associated with a sound’s…
Amplitude.
Higher amplitude = louder
Lower amplitude = quieter
Threshold for pain is
(Sounds Waves)
130dB
A sounds purity. Is affected by frequency, amplitude, and timing.
Timbre
Electromagnetic radiation produces light which is made up of particles called….
Photons.
Different wavelengths appear to us as….
Different colours.
Vision: Anatomy
The transparent covering over the eye that focuses light.
Cornea
Vision: Anatomy
The opening in the eye in which light passes through.
Pupil.
Varies based on light levels and arousal.
Dialted= bigger
Constricted= smaller
Vision: Anatomy
The coloured portion of the eye, a muscle that controls pupil size.
Iris.
Vision: Anatomy
Curved, transparent and provides additional focus.
- Attached to muscles
- Focus on light from far objects
Lens
Accomodation: change in curvature of lens to focus light on retina, specifically the fovea.
Vision: Anatomy
Indentation in the back of the eye containing photoreceptors.
Fovea
Vision: Anatomy
The light sensitive lining of the eye; a sheet of nerve cells containing receptors for vision.
Retina
The Retina/Fovea contains all receptor cells (rods and cones)
Vision: Anatomy
Photoreceptor cells used for central and colour vision.
The fovea is all of this
Cones
Light detecting cells, acute detail, and spatial resolution.
Vision: Anatomy
Photoreceptor cells used for periphery and night vision.
There are many more of these than their counterpart.
Rods.
- More rods than cones
- More responsive to dark and light
True or False: Cones and rods project to interneurons, which communicate with ganglion cells in the retina.
True
True or False: Ganglion cells send visual input to the brain via the optic nerve
The optic nerve carries visual information to the brain.
True
Is vision still susceptible to sensory adaptation?
Yes.
Ex. When you first walk into a dark room and cannot see but your eyes adapt.
Vision: Anatomy
The point where the optic nerve from each eye met. An X shaped structure.
Optic chiasm
Vision: Anatomy
A cluster of neurons in the thalamus
The thalamus is the senosry relay center.
Lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)
Visual information is processed in…
Parallel pathways.
-What pathway
-Where/How pathway
Vision: Anatomy
Pathway: Occipital to Temporal
What pathway
Vision: Anatomy
Pathway: Occipital to Parietal.
Where/How pathway.
Caused by damage to the temporal region that houses the “What” pathway. Cannot recognize objects visually.
Visual agnosia
Prosopagnosia is specific to not recognizing faces.
Vision: Colour Perception
Theory that suggests we have 3 different receptors for colour, each responding to different wavelengths of light. (blue, red, green.)
-Not likely as we can see many more than 3 colours.
Trichromatic theory.
Vision: Colour Perception
Theory that suggests colour pairs work to inhibit one another.
Green-red; blue-yellow; and black-white cannot be mixed
-One dyad is excited and the other is inhibited
Opponent process theory
Vision: Colour Perception
The continuation of sensation once stimuli is removed.
Afterimage.
Vision: Depth Perception
Perception of spatial relations in 3-D space.
Front, behind, below, above, beside.
Depth perception
Vision: Depth Perception
Cues that rely on both eyes.
Binocular cues
Vision: Depth Perception
Cues that rely on one eye.
Monocular cues
- Position, Relative Size, Linear perspective, Light and shadow, Interpositon, Aerial perspective.
Hearing
Theory: different frequencies are converted into different rates of action potentials. High frequency sounds produce more rapid firing (phase lock)
Temporal Theory
Hearing
Theory: different frequencies activate different regions of the basilar membrane. The brain equates the place activity occurred on the basilar membrane with a particular frequency (place coding).
Place Theory.
Sound Localization
Sound’s source relative to body position
Monaural
(one eared)
Sound Localization
Relies on a horizontal axis by delivering different patterns of vibration between the ear drums in each ear.
Binaural
(two eared)
Hearing Loss
Being born without hearing.
Congenital deafness
Hearing Loss
Problem delivering sound to cochlea.
-Failure of vibration from eardrum or ossicles
-Wax buildup, infection, ear drum damage, or water
-Temporary or permanent
-Treated with hearing aid
Conductive hearing loss.
Hearing Loss
Transmission failure from cochlea to brain.
(Most common hearing loss)
-Aging, trauma, infection/disease, medication, noise exposure
Sensorineural hearing loss
Hearing Loss
The degeneration of inner ear structures
Meniere’s disease
The Chemical Senses
What are the 5 taste receptors?
(possible 6th one)
- Sweet
- Sour
- Bitter
- Salt
- Umami- taste of glutamate (MSG)
- Fatty?
The Chemical Senses: Taste
What we call ‘taste’ is actually flavour, and it is a combination of….
Taste and smell
The Chemical Senses: Taste
Bumps that cover the surface of the tongue.
Papillae
The Chemical Senses: Taste
Clusters of sensory receptor cells (in the papillae) that bind the food molecules that dissolve in our saliva and turn this information into a neural impulse. (transduction)
Taste bud
- Each one contains 60-100 sensory receptor cells for taste
- Life cycle = 10-14 days
The Chemical Senses: Smell
Airborne chemicals that are detected as odours.
Odorants
The Chemical Senses: Smell
The receptor cells bind odorant molecules into a neural impulse (transduction) and send that impulse to the brain.
Olfactory receptor neurons
The Chemical Senses
Which is the only sense that does not go through the thalamus?
Smell
The Chemical Senses: Smell
Chemical messages- often used to signal
Pheromones
The Chemical Senses
inability to taste
Ageusia
dysgeusia (phantom averse) is most common
The Chemical Senses
Inability to smell, can still taste but not ‘flavours’
Anosmia
Pain Perception
type of Pain signalling tissue damage
Inflammatory pain
Pain Perception
type of pain that sends exaggerated signal of damage to neurons in PNS or CNS
Neuropathic pain
Treatment includes: relaxation, analgesic meds, deep brain stimulation
The ability to maintain balance and body posture. Located in the semicircular canals of our inner ears. The movement of fluid in these canals tells us if we are standing up or swaying from side to side.
Vestibular
Perception of body position.
Interacts with information in the vestibular system
Proprioception
Perception of body movement in space
Interacts with information in the vestibular system.
Kinaesthesia
