Lecture Five Reading

Question 1

What is perception?

Answer 1

The processes that organise and interpret information

Question 2

What is sensation?

Answer 2

The process by which stimulation of a sensory receptors receptor gives rise to neutral impulses that result in an experience or awareness of conditions inside or outside the body

Question 3

What is accommodation in terms of eyesight?

Answer 3

The process by which ciliary muscles change the thickness of the lens of the eye to permit variable focusing

Question 4

What is the retina?

Answer 4

The layer at the back of the eye which contains photoreceptors which convert light energy to neural responses

Question 5

What is a rod?

Answer 5

A photoreceptor on the periphery of the receptor which is most active in dim light and does not produce colour

Question 6

What is a cone?

Answer 6

A photoreceptor concentrated in the centre of the retina which works best under normal viewing conditions and sees in colour

Question 7

Which section of the retina contains densely packed cones responsible for the sharpest vision?

Answer 7

Fovea

Question 8

What is the reason for the blind spot?

Answer 8

It is the part of the retina where the optic nerves leave the back of the eye and contains no light receptors

Question 9

What is the function of an amacrine cell?

Answer 9

Integrates information across the retina by linking bipolar cells to other bipolar cells and ganglion cells to other ganglion cells

Question 10

What is the function of a ganglion cell?

Answer 10

A cell in the visual system that integrates impulses from many bipolar cells in a single firing rate

Question 11

What is the function of a bipolar cell?

Answer 11

A cell in in the visual system which that combines impulses from many receptors and transmits the result to ganglion cells

Question 12

What is the function of a horizontal cell?

Answer 12

A cell which integrates information across the retina

Question 13

What is a receptive field?

Answer 13

The area of the visual field to which a neuron in the visual system responds

Question 14

What is hue?

Answer 14

The dimension of colour space which captures the qualitative experience of the colour of light-largely determined by the wavelength

Question 15

What is saturation?

Answer 15

The dimension of colour space which captures the purity and vividness of colour sensation

Question 16

Which colour has zero saturation?

Answer 16

Grey

Question 17

What is brightness?

Answer 17

The dimension of colour space which captures the intensity of light

Question 18

Which colour has the least brightness?

Answer 18

Black

Question 19

What are complimentary colours?

Answer 19

Colours opposite each other on the colour circle which add to produce white light

Question 20

What is the Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory?

Answer 20

The theory that there are the three types of colour receptor that produce red, green and blue

Question 21

What is Hering’s opponent-process theory?

Answer 21

All colour experiences arise from three underlying systems, each of which includes to opponent elements

Question 22

How does Hering’s theory explain negative after imaging?

Answer 22

One element becomes fatigued from overstimulation and therefore increases the relative contribution of the opposing colour

Question 23

What is pitch?

Answer 23

The highness or lowness of a sound, depending on the frequency of the soundwave

Question 24

What is loudness?

Answer 24

A perceptual dimension of sound determined by the amplitude of the sound wave

Question 25

What is timbre?

Answer 25

The dimension of auditory sensation that reflects the complexity of a soundwave

Question 26

What is the primary organ of human hearing?

Answer 26

Cochlea

Question 27

What is the basilar membrane?

Answer 27

A membrane in the cochlea that stimulates hair cells when it moves to induce the neural effects of auditory stimulation

Question 28

What is place theory?

Answer 28

The theory that different frequencies produce maximum activation at different places on the basilar membrane, resulting in different pitches depending on the different places

Question 29

What is frequency theory?

Answer 29

Pitch is equal to the frequency that occurs as a result of the specific rate of vibration in the basilar membrane

Question 30

What is the volley principle?

Answer 30

Several neurons fire at once when the peaks in a sound wave come too close together- ie. at really high frequencies

Question 31

What is a pheromone?

Answer 31

A chemical signal released by organisms to communicate with other members of the same species

Question 32

What is anosmia?

Answer 32

Inability to smell

Question 33

What is the difference between a cutaneous sense and a vestibular sense?

Answer 33

Cutaneous is the skin sense (temperature and sensation) whilst vestibular sense is the sense that tells you how your body is orientated with respect to gravity

Question 34

What is kinaesthetic sense?

Answer 34

The sense concerned with movement of the body parts relative to one another

Question 35

What is the gate-control theory?

Answer 35

The theory that certain cells in the spinal chord act to block some pain signals when other signals are trying to get through
Ascending messages are biological in nature and carry pain messages
Descending message are psychological in nature and can open or close the gate

Question 36

When do babies begin to fear the visual cliff?

Answer 36

Once they begin crawling