Chapter 9 Flashcards
our senses
- vision
- hearing
- smell
- taste
- touch
- pain
- kinaesthesia
they provide info in the form of a differnt kind of energy which stimulates a sense organ or sensory receptor
sensation
- the process by which our sense organs and receptors deflect and respond to sensory info that stimulates them
- most sensory info ‘stimuli’ comes from our esternal environment e.g light for vision or chemicals for smell
- other sensory info comes from sensory receptor sites which are within our body (e.g from muscles, tendons and joints (for kinaesthesia))
- sensory info is meaningless untill it is sent to the brain for processing
where are the sensation receptors for each of our senses
- vision = eyes
- tase = mouth
- hearing = ears
- smell = nose
- touch = skin
- kinaesthesia = muscles
perception
- process by which we give meaning to sensory info = personal interpret of the info
- usually processed automatically
- not a passive process what we see, hear, ect… is the result of brain processes that actively construct interpretations of reality from sensory info
- allows us to adapt to the environment and function in every day life
3 stages of perception
- attention
- organisation
- interpretation
Attention Organisation and Interpretation small defintion
- Attention: filtering info. Important features are selected for and unimportant features are ignored
- Organisation: individual impulses are organised into meaningful patterns or wholes
- Interpretation: the brain interprets the patterns/wholes and gives them meaning so we all know what they represent in the outside world
Attention
- our brain uses attention as a filter to determine what is important and what is not
- is defined as the level of awareness directed towards certain stimuli to the exclusion of other
3 main types of attention
- sustained attention
- selective attention
divided attention
sustained attention
- another name (vigilance), involves maintaining a high degree of attention over a prolonged point
- the more rare or unique a stimulis is = the greater a person vigilance is likely to be when attending to it
- vigilance measures of sustained attention are greater when there is uncertainty about the location in which the stimuli will be presented
- takes significant effort
- likelyhood of missing info is increases the longer an individual has remained vigilant
- when paying attention is difficult, the risk of misperceiving info increases
Selective attention
- focusing on a single activity while disregarding other environmentl stimuli. It is:
- best suited to situations in which the stimuli are new or we cannot be certain when the stimuli will be presented
- usually required when we complete a controlled cognitive process
- although your focus is on one stimulus, salient stimuli, you can still be consciously aware of other happenings in the environment
divided attention
- distributing attention to allow the processing of two or more stimuli at the same time. It is:
- usually used when an automatic cognitive process is being used
- can only be effectively used when it is not necessary to concentrate fully on either stimulus
- where 2 or more stimuli rely on similar sensory systems (e.g visual or auditory), it is harder to pay attention and process the information
Controlled cognitive process
- a cognitive task that requires a high level of conscious awareness and mental effort
Automatic cognitive process
- a task that requires a low level of conscious awareness or mental effort
Types of processing
- top-down processing
- bottom-up processing
Top-down processing
- uses individual schemas to apply our prior knowledge onto a situation and expert certain outcomes
- top-down processing is a time efficient way of interpreting the world, but can cause incorrect perception
HOW IT WORKS
Top-down processing -> Drawing on past experiences and knowledge to interpret sensations -> interpreting information according to expectations -> pereception is formed
Bottom-up processing
- involves looking at sensory information and then processing it to create meaning
- what is percieved depends on what sensory data is ‘attended’ to and how it is interpreted in real time
HOW IT WORKS
Bottom-up processing -> analysing the specific features or elements of a stimulus -> creating a whole picture from individual elements -> a perception is formed
Gustation
- technical term for the sense of ‘taste’, and gustatory means ‘to do with taste’
Top-down processing for gustation
- drawing on past experiences and expectations of how a food should taste
- depends on how familiar you are with the smell, taste and reaction you had
- e.g taking a small bite of a chocolate you’ve enjoyed in the past - you taste everything due to top- down processing