chapter 6

Question 1

1. Contrast sensation and perception.

Answer 1

a. Sensation: the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
b. Perception: the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events. The brain has to process and understand the sensations it is experiencing. (A building from far away appears small while up close it seems larger but really it was the same size all a long and your perception is what changes)

Question 2

2. Define bottom-up processing and top-down processing.

Answer 2

a. Bottom up processing: starts at the sensory receptors and works up to higher levels of processing (taking in sensory information and assembling and integrating it) (What am I seeing?)
b. Top-down processing: constructs perceptions from the sensory input by drawing on our experience and expectations (is that something I’ve seen before?)

Question 3

3. Describe absolute and difference thresholds.

Answer 3

a. Absolute Threshold: The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time (light, sound, pressure, taste, odor) (the 5 senses)
b. Difference threshold: noticeable difference a person can detect at least 50% of the time (a parent knowing their child crying over another’s child)

Question 4

4. How did the Gestalt psychologists understand perceptual organization?

Answer 4

a. Emphasize our tendencies for the brain to put things in organized wholes

Question 5

6. Describe the concept of pain and pain control.

Answer 5

a. Pain: the bodies way of letting you know something is wrong.
b. Pain control: pain can be attributed to both physical and psychological phenomenon, depending on the symptoms, therapy and treatment can differ from drugs to surgery and thought distraction.

Question 6

7. Describe Weber’s Law.

Answer 6

a. The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage rather than a constant amount.

Question 7

9. Define parallel processing and sensory adaptation.

Answer 7

a. Parallel processing: the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions including vision. Contrasts with the step by step processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving
b. Sensory Adaptation: diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Question 8

10. Contrast kinesthesia, vestibular sense, and semicircular canals.

Answer 8

a. Kinesthesia: awareness of the position and movement of the parts of the body by means of sensory organs (proprioceptors) in the muscles and joints
b. Vestibular sense: the sense of body movement and position. Including the sense of balance
c. Semicircular canals: three fluid-filled bony channels in the inner ear. They are situated at right angles to each other and provide information about orientation to the brain to help maintain balance.