Chapter 5: Sensation And Perception

Question 1

Grapheme colour synesthesia?

Answer 1

Seeing colour in relation to letters/numbers

Question 2

Sensation vs perception?

Answer 2

Sensation - using sensory systems to detect stimuli
Perception - recognition of a stimulus

Question 3

Olfactory vs somatosensory vs gustatory systems

Answer 3

Smell, touch, taste

Question 4

What is sensory transduction and absolute threshold?

Answer 4

Transduction - converting sensory info into impulses
Absolute threshold - smallest stimulus we can detect

Question 5

What are difference threshold and signal detection theory?

Answer 5

Difference threshold - minimal change needed to notice

Signal detection theory - responses depend on individuals and on response criteria

Question 6

Sensory adaptation

Answer 6

Constant stimulus can desensitize us so that we only take in important info (ie wake when a baby cries but not when there’s a storm)

Question 7

Bottom- up vs Top-down processing

Answer 7

Bottom-up: raw data used to build perception
Top-down: old info used to interpret new data

Question 8

What is perceptual set?

Answer 8

Readiness to interpret in certain ways

Question 9

Where do smell impulses get sent? (3)

Answer 9

Olfactory bulb, amygdala, hippocampus

Question 10

What are papillae and tastebuds?

Answer 10

Papillae - tongue bumps, contain tastebuds

Tastebuds - taste receptor cells

Question 11

How do we taste? (4 steps)

Answer 11

Chemicals dissolve in saliva -> fall between papillae -> taste buds make impulse -> impulse goes to thalamus and cerebral cortex

Question 12

smell and taste disorders:

anosmia
ageusia
hyposmia
reflex epilepsy
migraines

Answer 12

anosmia - no smell
ageusia - no taste
hyposmia - reduced smell
reflex epilepsy - seizure from specific smell
migraines - sometimes triggered by smell

Question 13

Free nerve endings? Function? Location?

Answer 13

Near surface, not specialized, simple structure, convert physical stimulation into touch related impulses

Question 14

Location and function of Meissner’s corpuscles and Merkel’s disks

Answer 14

Corps - hairless areas (fingers, lips, palms), light touch

Discs - near surface, light-moderate touch

Question 15

Location and function of Ruffini’s organs and Pacinian corpuscles

Answer 15

Organs - deep, heavy pressure + joint movement
Pacinian - deep, vibrations and heavy pressure

Question 16

3 steps to perceiving touch

Answer 16

Sensory neurons register pressure -> spinal cord + thalamus -> info to appropriate somatosensory cortex (on opposite side of brain)

Question 17

Fast pathway vs slow burn pain

Answer 17

Fast - myelinated, sharp + localized
Slow - unmyelinated, nagging + burning pain

Question 18

Who’s the important touch guy?

Answer 18

Harry Harlow - found touch is good for development

Question 19

Pain threshold + gate control theory

Answer 19

Pain threshold - when we feel pain and how intensely

Gate control theory - prevents messages from reaching pain parts of brain

Question 20

What are endorphins and enkephalins? Where can they be found? (Natural and unnatural)

Answer 20

Painkillers in brain, found in opiates or produced through sex/exercise/intense stress

Question 21

What is familial dysautonomia?

Answer 21

Disorder where an individual can’t feel pain

Question 22

Define frequency, pitch, hertz, amplitude

Answer 22

Frequency - waves/second
Pitch - high frequency = high pitch and vice versa
Hertz (Hz) cycles/second, measurement of pitch
Amplitude - height of sound wave, determines loudness

Question 23

How do we hear? (4 steps)

Answer 23

Sound waves enter -> vibrate eardrum (tympanic membrane) -> moves ossicles and cochlear fluid -> sends impulse to brain

Question 24

What are the 3 ossicles?

Answer 24

Maleus, incus, stapes (hammer, anvil, stirrup)

Question 25

What are the hair cells/oval window? Other name for hair cells

Answer 25

Hair cells (cilia) - sensory receptors

Oval window - membrane between ossicles and inner ear

Question 26

Tonotopic map, frequency and place theories

Answer 26

Map - different parts of cortex register different frequencies

Frequency theory - high frequency = faster firing and vice versa

Place theory - vibration of basilar membrane = different frequencies. Close to oval window = higher and vice versa

Question 27

What is the cocktail party effect?

Answer 27

The ability to pick out important noise (ie a name) in a mess of noises

Question 28

How do we see? (4 steps)

Answer 28

Light enters eye -> muscles adjust lens and iris to focus -> to retina (rods and cones) -> to brain

Question 29

Hue/saturation/brightness?

Answer 29

Hue - colour

Saturation - how bright colour is

Brightness - amount of light reflected

Question 30

Trichromatic and opponent process theories? Who came up with them?

Answer 30

Trichromatic (young-helmholtz) 3 sensors for different wavelengths: yellow-red/green/blue-purple.

Opponent process (Hering): colours will inhibit each other (ie remove red and we see green)

Question 31

The brain and sight (4 steps)

Answer 31

Retina - superior colliculus -thalamus - primary visual cortex (occipital lobe)

Question 32

Where do visual impulses go if they are near the nose or temple?

Answer 32

Nose - opposite side of brain
Temple - same side

Question 33

What is visual agnosia, prosopagnosia, and hemi-neglect?

Answer 33

Visual agnosia - no objects
Prosopagnosia - no faces
Hemi-neglect: as if one side of visual field doesn’t exist/isn’t processed

Question 34

Figure ground, binocular and monocular cues

Answer 34

Figure ground - viewing one thing as object and one as background
Binocular - both eyes, 3 dimensional.
Monocular - 1 eye, 2 dimensional.

Question 35

Binocular cues:

Convergence
Binocular disparity

Answer 35

Convergence - eyes move towards each other when object gets closer
Disparity - slightly different image on each retina

Question 36

Relative height, texture gradient, relative size, linear perspective

Answer 36

Relative height - higher objects seem farther
Texture gradient - more detail up close
Relative size - smaller looks farther away
Linear perspective - lines converge in the distance

Question 37

Müller-Lyer and ponzo illusions

Answer 37

1. Two vertical lines
2. Distance illusion

Question 38

Ames room, amblyopia and strabismus

Answer 38

Ames room - that room that makes people look super different heights
Amblyopia - loss of vision in a weaker eye
Strabismus - uncoordinated eyes