Consciousness (Ch 3) & Sensation and Perception (Ch 6)

Question 1

prosopagnosia

Answer 1

face blindness. cant recognize faces

Question 2

sensation

Answer 2

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and reprsent stimulus energies from our environment

Question 3

perception

Answer 3

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recgonize meningful objects and events

Question 4

bottom-up processing

Answer 4

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to hte brain’s integration of sensory information e.g. in class example - intepreting a cow from the many lines and shades and shapes.

Question 5

top-down processing

Answer 5

information processing guided by higher level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

—filling in gaps in what we see

—schema –

◦can create a perceptual set –

–ex: scary movies

—fast, but can have mistakes than bottom-up avoids

Question 6

transduction

Answer 6

process of turning physical stimulus into neural impulses our vrain can interpet

Question 7

adaptation

Answer 7

decreasing sensitivity to continuous level of stimulation

ex: adapting to a smell in your house

Question 8

priming

Answer 8

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain assocations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response

flashing emotionally positive or negative images before showing another image changes people’s responses. flashing kittens (split second) before showing picture of a person, makes that person be more liked

i guess showing pictures of a rabbit before saying “hare” makes a person think of a “hare” rather than “hair”

Question 9

Schema

Answer 9

mental representation of how we expect the world (or is it a specific object) to be

–can create a percepual set - predisposition to perceiving something a certain way

—-ex: scary moves - opening up door

Question 10

absolute threshold

Answer 10

smallest amount of stimulus we can detect 50% of the time

Question 11

subliminal stimulus

Answer 11

intensity below absolute threshold

• Do they work?
• Mixed results
• placebo effect
• FEDEX
• Tostitos
  
  • video frame inserts - do have temporary effects on TV watcher, but not permanently

Question 12

Perceptual Thresholds

Answer 12

JND

Selective Attention

Signal Detection Theory

Question 13

JND (Just noticiable difference)

Answer 13

smallest amount of change needed in a stimulus before we detect it

-computed by Weber’s Law

–more intense stimulus = much more change needed to notice difference

Question 14

Weber’s Law

Answer 14

for their deffernces to be perceptible, two stimuli must differ by a constant proortion - not a constant amount

for the average person to perceive their differences, two lights must differ in intensity by 8 percent. Two objects must differ in weight by 2 percent. And two tones must differ in frequency by only .3 percent.

Question 15

Intensity

Answer 15

the brightness of light

Question 16

pitch

Answer 16

a tones experienced brihtness or lowness

depends on frequency

place theory - explains high pitches

frequency - low

Question 17

gate control theory

Answer 17

spinal cord contains a neurological “gate” that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass onto hte brain

• diffrent priorities
• we feel the pain from scratching over the itchiness

Question 18

figure-ground

Answer 18

the organizations of the visual fields into objects(the figures) and that stand out from their surroundings( the ground)

Question 19

visual cliff

Answer 19

a lab device for testing depth perception in in fonts and young animals

infants and newborns refused to crawl over the cliff (glass floor)

Question 20

retinal disparity

Answer 20

a binocular depth cue that in which our eyes see any object from a slightly different angle, and in which our brain interperts the difference to determine how far away hte object is

Question 21

perceptual constancy

Answer 21

perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent lightnees, color, shape, size) even as illumination and retina images change.

e.g. perceigin a door as a rectangle even when it looks like a trapezoid because its opened

Question 22

human factors psychology

Answer 22

explores how people and machines interact and optimizes the interactions

Human factors psychologists made ATMs more user friendly then VCRs

Question 23

Clairvoyance

Answer 23

perveicing remote events

e.g. sensing that a friend’s hous is on fire

Question 24

parapsychology

Answer 24

the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psycho-kineses

“OK, raise my right hand as part of this study”

Question 25

Cocktail Party effect

Answer 25

your attention can be focused elsewhere even admidst many signals

e.g. i concentrate best when many people are talking. It makes like white noise

Question 26

Signal Detection Theory

Answer 26

• a theory predicting how and when we detet the presence of a faint stimulus (“signal”) amid background stimulation(“nosie). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection degends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and elevel of fagigue.
  e. ge. a mother taking a nap, hearing a baby cry softly but not hearing loud pots banging

Question 27

Perceptual Set

Answer 27

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

police man on side of highway pointing hair driver at cars. cars thinking it is a speed radar dector.

Question 28

feature detector

Answer 28

nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific featuers of the simulus such as shape, angle, or movement.

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Question 29

accomodation (of the eye)

Answer 29

the process by which the eye’s lens change shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

when we look at something close everything far away is blurry and vice versa

Question 30

fovea

Answer 30

central focal point in the retina, around which the eye’s cones cluster.

Question 31

oponent process theory

Answer 31

opposing retinal processes

• red-green
• yellow-blue
• white-black

enable color vision

somecells are inhibited by red and stimulated by green; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green

Question 32

Sensorneural Hearing Loss

Answer 32

caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the audotry nerves:

-also called nerve deafness

Nerve damage = sensorineural

Question 33

kinesthesis

Answer 33

system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

if we twist our wrist a degree in a direction, the sensors immediately report it

Question 34

barbiturates

Answer 34

drugs that depress the activity of the central nervous system, reducing anxiety but impairing memory and judgement

• mimic alcohol
• combination w/ alcohol is fatal
• too much = fatal
• prescribed to reduce anxiety/induce sleep
• large doses can impair memory/judgement

Question 35

opiates

Answer 35

opium and its derivative, such as morphine and heorin

• they dpress neural activity, temporarily lessening pain and anxiety
• brain eventually stops producing its own opiates, endorphines

heoine

morphine

Question 36

Dependence

Answer 36

a physical dependence - a physiological need for a drug, marked by unpleasant withdrawal symptoms when the drup is discontinued

psychological dependence - a psychological need to use a drug, such as to relieve negative acts

-people with heoine addiction will get dopesick if they don’t get their high

Question 37

dissociation

Answer 37

a split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others

• like during hypnosis
• dissociates the sensation of pain stimulus (of when the subject is still aware from the emotional suffereng that defines our experience of pain

Question 38

posthypnotic suggestion

Answer 38

a suggestions, made duringa hypnosis session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotizied; used by some clinicians to help control undesired symptoms and behaviors

during hypnosis: “you’re a strong independent black woman. you don’t need tosmoke”

after: quits smoking

Question 39

REM Rebound

Answer 39

the tendency for REM sleep to increase following REM sleep deprivation (created by repeated awakienings during REM sleep) (or i guess by not getting enough sleep in general)

-b/c peoeple need REM sleep to process memories and stuff

lack of REst leads to REm REbound

Question 40

information processing theory

Answer 40

-brain dealsf with info during REM

–integrates info into memories

-3 things back it up

–stressful day will increase number and intensity of dreams that night

–drams usually relate to daili concerns

–baibies spend more time in REM than adults

During day : gets F on test

dream: “Son, you must go to boarding school bc you are failing”

Question 41

paradoxical sleep

Answer 41

REM sleep

brain emits beta waves, which are emmitte when one is awake

muscles ar erelaxed (except for minor twitches) but other body systems are active

Question 42

alpha waves

Answer 42

the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state

Alpha = Awake, but relaxed

Are these emitted when one is falling asleep? (e.g. stage 1 sleep? (also is that even stage 1 sleep’s definition?)

Question 43

formal charge

Answer 43

…?

Question 44

Circadian Rhythm

Answer 44

the biological clock; regular bodily rhythms (for example, of temperature and wakefulness) that occur on a 24-hour cyclec

circa -> “circle” like a clock

Question 45

REM/paradoxical sleep

Answer 45

rapid eye movement sleep, a recurring sleep stage during which vivid dreams commonly occur

aka paradoxical sleep, because the muscles are relaxed (except for minor twiches) but other body systems are active

Question 46

Near Death Experiences

Answer 46

an altered state of conscioiusness reported after a close brush with death (such as thorugh cardiac arrest)

often similar to drug induced hallucinations

“and then suddenly I saw a bright light at hte end of a tunnel”

Question 47

Dual processing

Answer 47

the ability for your mind to process two_ activies at once on conscious and unconscious tracks

you cann see and listen at the same time

Question 48

hypnagogic sensations

Answer 48

sensory experiences that occur w/o a stimulus

-occurs during brief stage 1 sleep

-sensation of falling

fantastic images

floating weightlessly

Question 49

sleep spindles

Answer 49

bursts of rapid, rhythmic brainwave activity

-in Stage 2 sleep (when sleep talking occurs)

Question 50

Delta waves

Answer 50

the large, slow brain waves associated with deep sleep

stage 4 sleep

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Question 51

narcolepsy

Answer 51

a sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleep attacks

the sufferer may iapes directly into REM sleep, often at inopportune times

Question 52

sleep apnea

Answer 52

a sleep disorder characterized by temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated momentary awakenings

“apnea” means “with no breath”

Question 53

manifest content

Answer 53

the literal content in a draem, in freud’s theory

as opposed to latent content - unconscious meaning

Manifest content : monter saying “rawr”

latent content: something that you are going through in your life scares you

Question 54

instinct

Answer 54

acomplex behavior that is rigidly patterned thorughoug a species and is unlearned

infants innate reflexes for rooting and sucking

Question 55

rooting reflex

Answer 55

assists in breastfeeding

a newborn infant will turn his head toward anything that strokes his cheek or mouth, searching for the object

Question 56

activation synthesis theory

Answer 56

brain = very active during REM

random neural activity

dreams = brain’s interpretation of physiological events during REM

frontal lobe makes up story to explian them

Question 57

amphetamines

Answer 57

stimulants

drugs that simulate neural activity, causing speeded-up body function and associated energy and mood changes

amphetamiNeS

Neural activity

Stimulus

Question 58

Hallucinogens

Answer 58

psychedelic (“mind-manifesting”) drups, such as LSD, that distort perceptions and evoke sensory images in the absence of sensory input

LSD

Question 59

Ecstasy (MDMA)

Answer 59

a synthetic stimulant and mild hallucinogen

produces euphoria and social intimacy, but with short term health risks and longer-term harm to reotonin-producing neurons and to mood and cognition

“that trig was ecstatic, man”

Question 60

Withdrawal

Answer 60

the discomfort and distress that follow disconinuing the use of an addictive drug

if a person who drinks coffee everyday stops, they will get headaches and sleepiness