Lecture 4

Question 1

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Answer 1

using electrodes to zap a magnetic field on certain parts of the brain to affect perception

Question 2

Penfield Maps

Answer 2

body maps on the parietal lobe

Question 3

oblique effect

Answer 3

vertical and horizontal lines are easier to perceive than diagonal lines (ex. Gabon Patches)

Question 4

David Marr’s Level of Analysis

Answer 4

Computational Level:
Algorithm Level:
Implementation Level:

Question 5

Explain Computational Level

Answer 5

What does the system do? What problem does it solve or overcome
Thinks of a black box with something happening inside, but the observer is unable to view in it

Question 6

Algorithm Level

Answer 6

How does the system solve these problems? What steps does it take?
The actual steps taken to solve the problem

Question 7

Implementation Level

Answer 7

How is this physically instantiated in the brain or system?
Physical substrate with different explanations relevant to the brain

Question 8

dualism

Answer 8

the mind is not made of matter – Plato, Descartes

Question 9

monism

Answer 9

the mind and matter are formed from the same thing
Most modern cognitive scientists are materialists
Matter is mind or mind is matter

Question 10

psychophysics

Answer 10

the study of defining quantitative relationships between mental experience (psycho) and physical events (physics)

Question 11

What is the goal of psychophysics?

Answer 11

formalize the relationship between physical stimuli in world and our perception of these stimuli

Question 12

absolute threshold

Answer 12

the absolute smallest stimulus level that can be detected

Question 13

How does one measure absolute threshold?

Answer 13

methods of limits
method of constant stimuli
method of adjustment
adaptive stairway method

Question 14

method of limits

Answer 14

present stimuli in order of intensity until the person cannot detect it

Question 15

method of constant stimuli

Answer 15

presents stimuli of different intensities in random order
the threshold is defined as the stimulus intensity that
the observer detects 50% of the time

Question 16

method of adjustment

Answer 16

person adjusts intensity until stimuli is just detectable
con) getting one measure; is quicker but not precise

Question 17

adaptive stairway method

Answer 17

stimuli intensity adjusts based on person’s response

Question 18

difference threshold

Answer 18

smallest diference between two stimuli that we are able to tell apart (just noticeable difference/JND)
how much different that you can find a difference but just barely

Question 19

point of subjective equality (PSE)

Answer 19

opposite of difference threshold
when they look the same to perceiver (doesn’t mean the stimuli is the same)

Question 20

difference threshold

Answer 20

as the magnitude of the standard stimulus increases, so does the difference threshold

Question 21

example of difference threshold

Answer 21

as your starting weight increases, s does the amount of weight you need to add to notice the change

Question 22

Weber’s law

Answer 22

difference threshold/value of standard = constant

Question 23

magnitude estimation

Answer 23

method use to measure how people quantify the perceived difference between two stimuli

Question 24

is there a crucial distinction between the physical and perceptual?

Answer 24

yes, there is not a one to one relationship between physical intensity and our perception
ex) light intensity: watts v. brightness