Chapter 5 - Sensation & Perception Flashcards
process through which we detect physical energy and code it as neural signals
sensation
part of nervous system that processes sensory info
sensory system
way a person selects, organizes, and interprets sensory info
perception
smallest amount of energy needed for a person to detect a stimulus 50 percent of the time
absolute threshold
study of relationship between physical characteristics of stimuli and the sensory experiences that accompany them
psychophysics
tells us how much sensory info is needed to hear a mouse scamper across the kitchen
predicts how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation
signal detection theory
minimus difference between two stimuli needed to detect a difference 50 percent of the time
difference threshold or just noticeable difference (jnd)
regardless of size, two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion for the difference to be noticeable
Weber’s Law
explains why you can taste a pinch of sugar in a glass or water, but not in a gallon of water
specialized cell that responds to a particular type of energy
receptor cell
carries info from sensory receptos to brain as coded signal
sensory neuron
process through which physical energy is converted into an electrical charge
transduction
process in which sensory receptor cells become less responsive to an unchanging stimulus
sensory adaptation
process in which lens adjusts in shape from thick to thin to enable a person to focus on objects that are close or far
visual accomodation
lens cannot accomodate for distance, happens in old age
presbyopia
multilayered tissue responsible for visual transduction
retina
photoreceptor cell in retina that responds to varying degrees of dark and light
rod
depressed spot in the retina that occupies the center of the visual field
fovea
photoreceptors found outside fovea
rods
photoreceptors concentrated in fovea
cones
photoreceptors responsible for color vision
cones
sharpness of vision
acuity
one of several neurons that connect the bipolar neurons in the eyes to the brain
ganglion cell
bundle of axons that carries neural messages from eye to brain
optic nerve
point where some fibers from each optic nerve cross sides
optic chiasm
feature detector that only responds to a single feature of a stimulus
simple cell
might respond to vertical line
specialized brain cell that only responds to particular element in visual field
feature detector
feature detector that responds to two features of a stimulus
complex cell
might respond to a vertical line moving horizontally
feature detector that responds to multiple features of a stimulus
hypercomplex cell
area of the visual cortex that specifically responds to and recognizes faces
fusiform face area
describes the process of doing several things at the same time
parallel processing
condition in which a person is not consciously aware of what he sees but can still partially respond to visual information
blindsight
damage to primary visusl cortex creates blind spots
a particular color
hue
describes the intensity of a color
saturation
describes the intensity of light waves
brightness
inclination to preceive familiar objects as retaining their color despite changes in sensory information
color constancy
number of cycles per second in a wave
frequency
change in air pressure caused by molecules of air or fluid colliding and moving apart
sound wave
height of a wave
amplitude
quality and purity of the tone of a sound
timbre
pertains to the way in which the primary auditory cortex is organized so that neurons that respond to particular frequencies are grouped together
tonotopic
area of reduced sound intensity around the ear farther away from where a sound originates
sound shadow
process in which sound waves are emitted and the environement is analyzed by listening to the frequency of the waves that are reflected back
echolocation
chemical substance released by an animal to trigger behavior responses in other members of that species
pheromones
specialized cell in the nasal cavities of most animals that detects pheremones
vomeronasal organs
bump on tongue in which taste buds are embedded
papilla
tiny hair at the tip of a taste receptor cell
microvillus
senses relating to pressure, pain, and touch
skin senses
sense of how body parts interact with one another
kinesthetic sense
sense relating to movement and body position
vestibular sense
negative feeling caused by an external stimulus
nociceptive pain
sense of touch is a combination of 3 senses
skin senses, kinesthetic sense, vestibular sense
negative feeling caused by a malfunction in the central nervous system
neuropathic pain
phantom limb pain
theory that a neurological gate in the spinal cord controls the transmission of pain
neurological gate theory
explains why some peopel feel pain more acutely than others
gate-control theory
chemical that lets us perform superhuman feats under stress
endorphins
morphine-like chemical that inhibits pain signals and is released by the medial forebrain bundle
endorphins
specialized nerve ending that provides a constant stream of information from a person’s muscles through the spinal cord and on to the parietal lobe
proprioceptors
tube located in the inner ear that helps monitor the body’s position in space
semicircular canal
group of cells that connect the semicircular canals to the cochlea
vestibular sac
directed by internal decisions
directed by external stimuli
endogenous
exogenous
describes failure to perceive a given stimulus
inattentional blindness
describes a failure to detect alterations to choices a person has made
choice blindness
shown two pictures you select woman a is most attractive. When asked to justify why you thought woman b was is more attractive, you do so using features of woman a
describes the failure to detect drastic auditory/visual changes
change deafness / change blindness
stimulus that is important or interesting to a person
pop-out stimulus
phenomenon in which selective attention allows a person to focus on one voice and ignore others
cocktail party effect
complex processing of information that occurs without a person’s conscious awareness
preattentive processing
lets us analyze images using a guided search process for particular features
the act of juggling independent sensory inputs
multitasking
use of beliefs, experiences, expectations, and other concepts to shape our view of the world
top-down processing
phenomenon in which a person’s visual systems use sensory information to draw conclusions about what she sees
unconscious inference
visual illusion in which lines are perceived without actually being present
illusory contour
mental disposition based on previous experiences and expectations that influence the way you pereceive things
perceptual set
mishear something because you expect something else
law that a person organizes a stimulus into the simplest possible form
Law of pragnanz
tendency to perceive objects that are close to one another as part of the same group
proximity
tendency to perceive objects that are the same shape, size, or color as similar
similarity
Gestalt principles of organization
similarity, proximity, continuity, closure, symmetry, common fate
tendency to perceive objects as complete and overlook incompleteness
closure
tendency to view intersecting lines as part of a continuous pattern
continuity
why cross is perceived as two not four lines
if parts of a stimulus are all moving in the same direction, they are perceived as parts of a whole
law of common fate
tendency to perceive two unconnected but symmetrical shapes as one object
symmetry
object on which a person is focusing
figure
object surrounding the object of focus or the figure
ground
illusion in which staring at an image long enough causes the figure and ground to reverse
reversible figure
object recognition theory that previously seen objects are stored as a template that is compared to a viewed shape in the retinal image
view-dependent theory
object recognition theory that visual system recognizes objects as a combination of their individual parts
view-independent theories
pattern of physical energy created by distal stimulus that stimulates a person’s receptors
proximal stimulus
stimuls from an object that exists in the surrounding environment
distal stimulus
how do we recognize a car even if we have never seen the particular model
feature integration theory
theory that people organize stimuli based on knowledge of how their features should be combined
feature integration theory
feature integration theory says that every stimulus can be broken down into primitive features using what two step process
parallel processing to detect visual features, rapidly scanning for pop-out stimuli
serial processing using stored knowledge to combine features into forms
results from mistakenly combining features of two different stimuli
illusory conjunction
simple three-dimensionsal shape that, with other geons, makes up all other objects
geon
optimal time period shortly after birth during which normal sensory and perceptual development takes place
critical period
sensory deprivation during this time results in perceptual limitations
theory that we recognize an unfamiliar object by piecing together the geons it is composed of
recognition-by-components
supported by fact that quick id depends on clear external edges
process in which a person adjusts to change in environment by adjusting sensory input
perceptual adaptation
prism glasses
condition in which signals from sensory organs are processed in the wrong cortical areas of brain
synesthesia
condition in which a person perceives letters as a certain color
grapheme-color synesthesia
person who experiences synesthesia and only associates colors with letters, but does not actually see the color
associator
represents how loud or soft a sound is
amplitutde
person who experiences synesthesia and actually sees letters as being certain colors even though they know what color they actually are
projector
what are some theories and measurements from psychophysics
signal detection theory, absolute threshold, difference threshold, Weber’s law
how do we tell where a sound came from
heads cast a sound shadow, some animals use echolocation
examples of endogenous and exogenous attention
endogenous-make an explicit choice to pay attention to a book
exogenous-pay attention to a car crash reflixively
theories of processing
top-down processing (perception influenced by beliefs, experiences, expectations called perceptual set) gestalt principles (perceive whole groups instead of individual parts)
object recognition theories
view-dependent theories, view-dependent theories, feature integration theory, recognition by components theory
