Lecture 19 Flashcards
What is Olfaction?
Smell
Where are the neurotransmitters for smell found?
In the upper nasal cavity
Where are signals from the upper nasal cavity sent?
The olfactory bulb
What special about the olfactory bulb?
It is one of the continually active sites of neurogenesis
How odours recognized?
Diverse and complex odours are coded/recognized as individual distinct rather than a mixture of basic dimensions
What are Phermones?
Chemical signals found in natural body scents
What can pheromones serve as?
Adaptive purposes (warnings, navigation, mating, etc.)
What do touch receptors detect?
Pressure, pain, and temperature
Where are signals from touch receptors sent to?
The somatic sensory cortex
What is pressure detected by?
Nerve fibres at base of hair follicles
What is Pain and Temperature detected by?
Free nerve ending receptors beneath skin’s surface
What does Gate Control theory suggest?
Pain results from opening/closing of gating mechanisms, spinal cord gates neural impulses en route to brain (increases/decreases the signal)
Where are gate signals relayed to?
The thalamus and continue on to various regions (somatic sensory cortex, frontal areas, limbic system, etc)
What factors can affect gating and thus perception?
Psychological: thoughts, emotions, beliefs, actions
Physiological: endorphins
What is Kinethesis?
Feedback about muscles and joint positions
What is Kinethesis important for?
Action
What are receptors for Kinethesis?
Nerve endings in muscles, joints, and tendons. Visual feedback is also relevan
What does the Vestibular system provide?
Information related to sense and balance/spatial orientation
What do the 3 Semicircular canals contain?
Receptors for head movements
What head movements to semicircular canals contain receptors for?
Left/Right
Backwards/Forwards
Up/Down
What do Vestibular sacs respond to?
Position of body
What do Vestibular sacs indicates?
Whether the body is upright or at angle
What is Bottom-up Processing?
Relatively automatic analysis of individual elements of stimulus which are combined into unified whole, typically relates to basic stimuli properties (colour, shape, etc.)
What is Bottom up processing associated with?
Transduction at receptor sites (rods and cones for vision, hair cells for hearing)
What is Top down processing?
Modulating role of existing knowledge, concepts ideas, expectations etc. that affect how things are perceived and interpreted, what meaning is drawn etc.
What are the two primary roles for attention?
Focusing on specific information deemed more relevant
Filtering out other information deemed less relevant
What is Inattentional blindness?
Refers to situations in which we fail to notice things that are right in front of us
What is Change blindness?
Situations in which we fail to notice what may be considered relatively obvious changes
What predicts how we perceive stimuli?
Gestalt laws of perceptual organization
How is Similarity perceived?
Grouping by feature
How is Proximity perceived?
Grouping by closeness
How is closure perceived?
Close/open edges boundaries
How is continuity perceived?
Elements linked ti form continuous line
What is Figure?
Distinct shape, typically focal point of scenes
What is Ground?
Typically not the focal point of scenes (the background)
What does Perceptual
schemas refer to?
Mental representation or image, with which we compare stimuli to for recognition purposes
What does Perceptual Schemas refer to?
Mental representation or image
What do Perceptual constancies refer to?
Our tendency to recognize objects perceived in slightly different contexts as being the same
