Chapter 5 - Sensory and Perception Flashcards
Sensation definition
Perception definition
Sensory receptor cells
converts stimuli into neural impulses
Sensory transduction
Process of converting stimuli into neural impulses
Absolute threshold
smallest/lowest amount of stimulus someone can detect
Difference threshold
minimal difference needed to notice a change in stimulus
Signal detection theory
Responses depend on ability to register noise
Sensory adaptation
Being able to tune out certain noises or feelings
Bottom-up processing
converting stimuli into neural impulse - taking individual data points of visual stimuli to create an image
Top-down processing
matching data points to previous knowledge
Perceptual set
being able to interpret stimulus in certain ways (duck/rabbit)
Odourants
Airborne chemicals we detect as odour
Olfactory receptor neurons
Converts chemical signals from odourants into neural impulses to travel to brain
Papillae
bumps on tongue that contain clumps of taste buds
Taste buds
cluster that converts chemical signals from food to impulse
5 taste receptors on tongue
sweet, sour, bitter, salt, umami
Umami
Taste of monosodium glutamate
a reason some foods are rejected
texture
Senses at birth
Smell and taste are well-developed at birth for mothers milk
Ageusia
inability to taste
anosmia
inability to detect odor
hyposmia
reduced ability to smell
reflex epilepsy
seizure when exposed to specific odor
migraine headaches
odors can trigger migraine
tactile system 5 senses
pressure, touch, temperature, vibration, pain
Free nerve ending location
surface of skin
free nerve ending function
detect touch, pressure, pain, temperature
Meissner’s corpuscles location
fingertips, lips, palms (hairless skin area)
Meissner’s corpuscles function
convert info about sensitive touch
Merkel’s discs location
surface of skin
Merkel’s discs function
convert info about light pressure against skin
Ruffini’s end-organs location
deep in skin
Ruffini’s end-organs function
register heavy pressure and movement in joint
Pacinian corpuscles location
deep in skin
Pacinian corpuscles function
respond to vibration
Perceiving touch
touch receptor - spinal cord - thalamus - somatosensory cortex
Fast pathway
sharp fast pain - travels along myelinated neurons to the brain
Slow pathway
slow burning pain - communicates with brain regions involved in emotion processing
Gate control theory of pain
closing a ate that prevents messages of pain - rubbing elbow after hitting it
No pain (familial dysautonomia
genetic condition where people are unable to detect pain - could be dangerous since you cannot feel bleeding out
Phantom limb sensation
hallucinations of touch, pressure, vibration, or pain in a part of the body that doesn’t exist anymore
Sound waves
Vibrations of the air in the frequency of hearing
Frequence
Determines pitch
Amplitude
Magnitude/loudness
Tonotopic map
Map of different frequencies in areas of the auditory cortex
Frequency theory
Sound is matched to the same nerve impulses (100Hz = 100 impulses/second)
place theory
different sound frequencies activate different regions of the basilar membrane
Absolute pitch
perfect pitch - able to recognize and produce any musical note
Sound adaptation
ears contract and become less sensitive to unimportant information
Cocktail party effect
brain picks up on relevant sounds in noisy environments
General loudness
loud sounds seem closer
Loudness in each ear
The ear which is closer to the sound hears it louder than the other ear
Timing
sound waves will reach the closer ear first
Why do babies prefer mother’s speech
They have been hearing it for the entire pregnancy and find comfort and familiarity in it
Deafness
loss of hearing (partial or complete)
Tinnitus
Ringing in ear
Iris
coloured part of the eye
Lens
brings things into focus
Photoreceptors
Located in retina, contains rods and cones
Rods
Detect light - used for night vision so not as accurate
Cones
Used for central and colour vision - accurate and clear
Fovea
Centre of retina that contains all the cones
Hue
Seeing colour based on wavelengths of light (seeing the rainbow)
Saturation
Purity/vividness of colour
Brightness
Light reflected off object
Trichromatic theory
three main sensory for colour - we see colours through combining three colours
Opponent process theory
colour pairs work together (opposites yellow-blue, black white)
What pathway
Determines identity of object
Visual agnosia
Damage to what pathway - cannot recognize objects
Prosopagnosia
form of visual agnosia - cannot recognize faces
Where pathway
Locating objects
Hemi-neglect
Damage to where pathway - can only see one side
