Lecture 1

Question 1

Diagram from Descartes’ Treatise of Man

Answer 1

1664. Shows the formation of inverted retinal images in the eyes, and the transmission of these images, via the nerves so as to form a single, re-inverted image (an idea) on the surface of the pineal gland.

Question 2

Rene Descartes

Answer 2

1596-1650

Defender of Dualism.

Invented the Cartesian coordinate system (X, Y, & Z).

Father of modern philosophy.

“I think therefore I am”

Question 3

The Allegory of the Cave

Answer 3

~380 BCE

Plato’s (429-348 BCE) Early Philosophy of Perception

A Socratic Dialogue written by Plato that involved a conversation between Socrates and Glaucon, Plato’s brother.

Question 4

Morpheus’s answer to Neo in The Matrix, 1999

Answer 4

“What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. This is the world that you know.”

Question 5

Perception and your sense of reality are the products of evolution:

Answer 5

Sensory systems provide a survival advantage.

Importance of type of energy in the environment for an animal determines which senses have developed.

Human senses are limited to only certain kinds of energy in the environment.

Therefore, humans’ sense of reality is also limited.

Question 6

Carl Sagan Video

Answer 6

Cosmos- The 4th Dimension

Key concepts

• Dimensionality
• Projections to smaller dimensions
• Experiencing larger dimensions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnURElCzGc0

Question 7

The 3 basic problems of perception

Answer 7

What is the quantitative relationship between physical energy and sensation?
(psychophysics)

How does physical energy in the environment become transduced into neural signals within the brain?
(sensory physiology)

How are patterns of sensory stimulation interpreted as meaningful events?
(psychophysiology)

Question 8

What is the quantitative relationship between physical energy and sensation?

Answer 8

psychophysics

Question 9

How does physical energy in the environment become transduced into neural signals within the brain?

Answer 9

sensory physiology

Question 10

How are patterns of sensory stimulation interpreted as meaningful events?

Answer 10

psychophysiology

Question 11

psychophysics

Answer 11

What is the quantitative relationship between physical energy and sensation?

Question 12

sensory physiology

Answer 12

How does physical energy in the environment become transduced into neural signals within the brain?

Question 13

psychophysiology

Answer 13

How are patterns of sensory stimulation interpreted as meaningful events?

Question 14

Dualism

Answer 14

The idea that the mind has an existence separate from the material world.

Mental phenomena are non-physical.

Question 15

Father of modern philosophy

Answer 15

Rene Descartes

Question 16

Materialism

Answer 16

The idea that only matter and energy exist.

The mind is not separate from the body.

Most psychologists are modern materialists.

Question 17

Gustav Fechner:

Personal Details

Answer 17

Held a Medical degree.

Worked to exhaustion.

Depression.

Spent 3 years alone.

Went blind looking at the sun.
Experience a “miracle” when vision returned.

Struggled with mind-body concepts.
Had some crazy ideas.

Believed in panpsychism:
The idea that all matter has consciousness.
Wrote Nanna, or Concerning the Mental Life of Plants

Question 18

Gustav Fechner

Answer 18

1801–1887

Invented “psychophysics” and is often considered to be the true founder of Experimental Psychology.

Struggled with the mind/body problem.

Question 19

Psychophysics:

Alternate Definition

Answer 19

The science of defining quantitative relationships between physical and psychological (subjective) events.

Question 20

Ernst Weber

Answer 20

1795–1878

Discovered that the smallest change in a stimulus, such as the weight of an object, that can be detected is a constant proportion of the stimulus level,
(i.e. a linear relationship).
These proportions were called Weber Fractions.

Example: Object 1 must weigh 1/40th more/less than Object 2 for the difference to be noticeable or a JND (just-noticeable difference)

Question 21

Just-Noticeable Difference

Answer 21

An Example of a Weber Fraction.

Object 1 must weigh 1/40th more/less than Object 2 for the difference to be noticeable or a JND (just-noticeable difference).

Question 22

Fechner’s law

Answer 22

A principle describing the relationship between stimulus magnitude and the resulting sensation magnitude, such that the magnitude of subjective sensation increases proportionally to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity.

S = k log R

Example: 100 candles is 2x’s as bright as 10.
10 candles is 2x’s as bright as 1.

Question 23

Stevens’ power law

Answer 23

1962. Proposed relationship between stimulus energy and perceived intensity is a power function.

Sensation = a(Intensity^b)

Question 24

Chronological Summary of Laws

Answer 24

Weber’s Law:
As stimulus level increases or decreases, the magnitude of change must increase proportionately (linearly) to remain noticeable.

Fechner’s Law:
The magnitude of subjective sensation increases proportionally to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity.

Steven’s Power Law:
Stimulus energy and perceived intensity is a power function.

Question 25

Doctrine of specific nerve energies

Answer 25

A doctrine formulated by Johannes Müller (1801–1858) stating that the nature of a sensation depends on which sensory fibers are stimulated, not on how the fibers are stimulated.

Question 26

Johannes Müller

Answer 26

1801–1858

Formulated the Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies. a doctrine stating that the nature of a sensation depends on which sensory fibers are stimulated, not on how the fibers are stimulated

Question 27

Photic Sneeze Reflex

Answer 27

Doctrine of specific nerve energies example

Photic Sneeze Reflex A.K.A., Sun Sneezing

18-35% of the population

2/3 of sun sneezers are female

Correlated with having a nasal septum deviation.

Amazingly the cause is still unknown

Caused by light intensity, not spectral composition

Most believe it is caused by “crossed wires”

Question 28

Icy Hot

Answer 28

Doctrine of specific nerve energies example

Dulls the pain

2 Active Ingredients:

• Capsaicin- Found in chili peppers; Activates warmth fibers.
• Menthol- Activates cold fibers;

Menthol “cools”
Capsaicin “heats”

Sensation of both hot and cold
NO Actual Heat Transfer

Question 29

List 2 Examples of the

Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies

Answer 29

Photic Sneeze Reflex

Icy Hot

Question 30

Hermann von Helmholtz

Answer 30

1821–1894.

First person to measure the Speed of Neural Impulses.

Demonstrated that Neurons Follow the Laws of Physics.
*Against what Müller believed.

Invented the Ophthalmoscope

Wrote On the Sensations of Tone (1863), one of the first studies of Auditory Perception.

Did A ton of other stuff for which there is not room to list.

Question 31

Speed of neural transmission

Answer 31

~50-100 meters/second

Question 32

Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Answer 32

1852–1934.

Discovered the direction of travel of nerve impulses.

Only ~1% of neurons absorb stain.

Improved upon a previous (Golgi’s) staining method and drawings.

Created incredibly detailed drawings of neurons and neural structure.

Ramón & Golgi were 1906 Nobel prize co-winners.

Question 33

Santiago Ramón y Cajal

More details….

Answer 33

Cajal discovered the direction of travel of nerve impulses in the brain and spinal cord.

He was the first to note that information travels one way from the dendrites to the axon and not the reverse.

He postulated that neurons are discrete entities.

He was unhappy that, because Spanish was not used in the scientific community, his work was not read outside Spain.

Many so-called discoveries by English, German, and French scientists were actually rediscoveries of his work, which had been previously published in Spanish journals.

Good information on Cajal can be found on the Nobel prize website,
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1906/cajal-bio.html

Question 34

Vision

Answer 34

Electromagnetic

Question 35

Electromagnetic Senses

Answer 35

Vision

Question 36

Mechanical force Senses

Answer 36

Touch

Vestibular
(Sense of balance)

Audition
(Hearing)

Proprioception
(Sense of limb positions)

Question 37

Chemical Diffusion Senses

Answer 37

Taste

Smell

Question 38

Pain

Answer 38

Type of Energy:

Intense pressure or heat