lesson 4 modularity and consciousness Flashcards

1
Q

Sensation

A

simple stimulation of a sense organ. It is the basic registration of light, sound, pressure, odor,
or taste as parts of your body interact with the physical world.

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1
Q

Perception

A

occurs in your brain as sensation is registered there: It is the organization, identification, and
interpretation of a sensation in order to form a mental representation.

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2
Q

transduction

A

when sense receptors convert physical signals from the environment into neural signals that are sent to
the central nervous system

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3
Q

what makes sensory receptors sensitive

A

each is uniquely sensitive to a particular type of energy. The eye is sensitive to light (but
not to sound); the skin to mechanical pressure (but not to visible light). The eye is sensitive to mechanical
pressure, too, but only a little bit. If you close your eye and push on your eyelid with your finger, you might see
sparkly dots. This mechanical pressure is registered by the receptors in your eye as light, not touch. You perceived light when sensory receptors in the eye were stimulated, even though the
stimulus was not light

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4
Q

what physical constrain limits the amount of neurons we have

A

shape of a woman’s pelvis limits max head size, limits number of neurons, limits capacity for processing sensory information

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5
Q

sensory adaptation

A

sensitivity to
prolonged stimulation tends to decline over time as an organism adapts to current (unchanging) conditions.

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6
Q

troxler fading

A

Stare at the central black dot in image. After several seconds, the grey cloud around the dot will disappear- another example of adaptation (or feeling tongue in mouth, or sensation of pants)

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7
Q

psychophysics

A

methods that
systematically relate the physical characteristics of a stimulus to an observer’s perception.

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8
Q

absolute threshold

A

the minimal intensity needed
to just barely detect a stimulus in 50% of the trials. A threshold is a boundary (like A candle flame 30 miles away on a clear, dark
night)

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9
Q

sensitivity

A

how responsive we are to faint stimuli

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10
Q

acuity

A

how well we can distinguish two very similar stimuli

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11
Q

just noticeable different (jnd)

A

the minimal change in a stimulus (e.g., in its loudness or brightness) that can just barely be detected

*not fixed, depends on sense measured and intensity of standard (original) stimulus

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12
Q

weber’s law

A

for every sense domain, the change in a stimulus that is just noticeable is a constant ratio of the standard
stimulus, over a range of standard intensities.

if you picked up a 1-ounce envelope, then a 2-
ounce envelope, you’d probably notice the difference between them. But if you picked up a 20-pound package, then a 20-pound, 1-ounce package, you’d probably detect no difference

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13
Q

Signal detection theory (SDT)

A

a way of analyzing data from psychophysics experiments that measures an
individual’s perceptual sensitivity (how effectively the perceptual system represents sensory events) while also
taking noise, expectations, motivations, and goals into account

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14
Q

what two things must happen to perceive a stimulus

A

the strength of the sensory evidence for that stimulus

the amount of evidence necessary for your perceptual system to “decide” that the stimulus is present, known as the decision criterion

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15
Q

visual acuity

A

ability to see fine detail

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16
Q

what part of light determines hue (color)

A

length of light wave

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17
Q

what part of light determines intensity

A

amplitude (how high the peaks are)

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18
Q

what part of light determines saturation (richness of color)

A

purity (when light source emitting only one wavelength)

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19
Q

how do eyes detect light

A

Light that reaches the eyes passes first through a clear, smooth outer tissue called the cornea, which bends the
light wave and sends it through the pupil, a hole in the colored part of the eye. This colored part is the iris, which is a translucent, doughnut-shaped muscle that controls the size of the pupil and hence the amount of light that can enter the eye

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20
Q

retina

A

layer of light sensitive tissue lining back of eyeball

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21
Q

accomodation

A

process by which the eye maintains a clear image on the retina

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22
Q

if eyeball too long what does it lead to

A

nearsight (myopia)

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23
Q

if eyeball too short what does it lead to

A

farsight (hyperopia)

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24
what are the types of photoreceptor cells
Cones detect color, operate under normal daylight conditions, and allow us to focus on fine detail. Rods become active only under low-light conditions, for night vision
25
blind spot
location in the visual field that produces no sensation on the retina (test: close left eye and stare at cross, move paper until dot gone)
26
area v1
the part of the occipital lobe that contains the primary visual cortex
27
what pathway
The ventral (lower) stream travels across the occipital lobe into the lower levels of the temporal lobes and includes brain areas that represent an object’s shape and identity. Because this stream represents what an object is, it is often called the “what” pathway
28
where pathway
The dorsal (upper) stream travels up from the occipital lobe to the parietal lobes (including some of the middle and upper levels of the temporal lobes) and includes brain areas that identify where an object is and how it is moving. Because the dorsal stream allows us to perceive spatial relations, researchers originally dubbed it the “where” pathway Neuroscientists later argued that because the dorsal stream is crucial for guiding actions, such as aiming, reaching, or tracking with the eyes, the “where” pathway is more appropriately called a “perception for action” pathway
29
damage in ventral stream can cause
ability to identify objects by sight was greatly impaired, although ability to identify them by touch was normal. This suggests that visual representation of objects, but not memory for objects, was damaged (shown clock, dont know it's a clock until you touch it)
30
damage in dorsal stream
have difficulty using vision to guide reaching and grasping (know it's a clock but dont know where it is to grab it) However, they can still identify objects they see because their ventral streams are intact (two streams are distinct)
31
binding problem
how the brain links features together so that we see unified objects in our visual world rather than free-floating or miscombined features
32
parallel processing
brain’s capacity to perform many activities at the same time
33
illusory conjunction
a perceptual mistake whereby the brain incorrectly combines features from multiple objects
34
perceptual contrast
although the sensory information from two things may be very similar, we perceive the objects as different (black and blue or white and gold dress)
35
gestalt principles
simplicity, closure, continuity, similarity, proximity, common fate
36
perceptual organization
process of grouping and segregating features to create whole objects organized in meaningful ways (like seeing illusion of face/vase, we flit back and forth between interpretations because they look so similar)
37
size and distance illusion is based on what principle
When you view two objects that project the same retinal image size, the object you perceive as farther away will be perceived as larger. Such illusions are typically constructed to be viewed from just one vantage point—for this reason, they are called forced perspective illusions (ames room)
38
multisensory
stimulating multiple senses at the same time
39
ventriloquist illusion
You depend on your visual system for reliable information about spatial location; when you see a moving mouth, simultaneously with hearing speech, you perceive the speech as coming from that mouth. We “believe” our visual system over our auditory system when it comes to determining the spatial location of an event.
40
change blindness
when people fail to detect changes to the visual details of a scene. occurs even when major details of a scene are changed—changes that we incorrectly believe we couldn’t possibly miss (watching one thing in video and missing 26)
41
inattentional blindness
a failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention (watching phone while driving can cause crash)
42
what does sense of hearing depend on
changes in air pressure unfolding over time
43
what does frequency (sound) correspond do
perception of pitch; low frequency is low pitch sound and vice versa
44
what does amplitude (sound) correspond do
perception of loudness; low amplitude is soft sound and vice versa
45
what does complexity (sound) correspond do
perception of timbre; simple complexity is pure tone and v
46
what does learning involve
the acquisition, from experience, of new knowledge, skills, or responses that results in a relatively permanent change in the state of the learner.
47
habituation
a general process in which repeated or prolonged exposure to a stimulus results in a gradual reduction in responding.
48
sensitization
occurs when presentation of a stimulus leads to an increased response to a later stimulus
49
what did behaviorism dismiss
insistence on measuring only observable, quantifiable behavior and its dismissal of mental activity as irrelevant and unknowable
50
Classical conditioning
when a neutral stimulus produces a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally produces a response (pavlov dogs spit), conditioning produces learned behaviors
51
distal senses
olfaction vision audition
52
proximal senses
touch taste
53
Visual form agnosia
damage to what pathway (ventral), cant identify objects but can see them
54
hemispatial neglect
damage to what pathway (ventral) can only process one side at a time, draw full clock on one side only, dont even eat food on that side
55
grasping deficits
damage to where pathway (dorsal) and cant grasp on to things and cant tell where they are
56
expectancy effect
dont see anything in picture of dots until i tell you there is something now you can make it out
57
hard wiring
causes us to see human like attributes in everything causes us to expect certain outcome like ball going certain way when hit
58
features of modules
domain specific (do one specific thing, like whatsapp cant give you directions
58
features of modules
domain specific (do one specific thing, like whatsapp cant give you directions