mod 17 (and pages 89-90): sensation and perception

Question 1

define sensation vs. perception

Answer 1

process of sensory receptors and nervous system take in and represent raw stimulus energy vs. processing and representation of reality (raw vs. real)

Question 2

define transduction

Answer 2

3 S’s, sight, sound, smell, energy from sensation —> interpretation

Question 3

bottom up vs. top down processing

Answer 3

detail-by-detail (whats actually there) vs. contextual/experiential/assumption/emotion/motivation processing, filling in gaps

Question 4

Absolute threshhold

Answer 4

51%

Question 5

signal detection theory

Answer 5

war - more signal sensitivity, much lower absolute threshold

Question 6

what is stimuli below your threshold called

Answer 6

subliminal stimuli, PRIMES your response with unnoticed stimuli that only your unconscious sees

Question 7

brain scanning vs. synchronized activity

Answer 7

unconscious vs. long enough/big enough stimulus to be conscious

Question 8

difference threshold

Answer 8

just barely see difference 51% if time

Question 9

webers (think weight) law

Answer 9

two stimuli are sensed as different via PROPORTION/PERCENTAGE (8% lights, 2% weight, etc.), not an ABSOLUTE NUMBER (must be 2 lbs or more of difference)

Question 10

Sensory adaptation

Answer 10

noseblind, nerve cells fire less in response to same stimulus voer and over

Question 11

are our eyes always m oving

Answer 11

yes

Question 12

you will stop seeing things and images will disappear and reappaear if your eyes stayed still

Answer 12

fax

Question 13

perceptual set

Answer 13

assumptions/experiences/context that changes what we see (old vs. young woman in that one pictrue)

the stuff we fill in with our own brains CONTEXt and EXPERIENCE in information we dont fully understand/arent familiar with

Question 14

do later experiences color our past perceptions of them?

Answer 14

yes (see “eel is on the orange” or “eel is on the wagon” (peel vs. wheel vs. literally just an eel))

Question 15

can emotion/motivation color context?

Answer 15

yes, sad music = you hear mourning more often than morning, that 2 miles looking real long after running a 5k, and when you desire water, it seems closer than it usually is, spouses who feel loved and appreciated = “just having a bad day” when the other is doing something bad. referees give more penalties after history of aggressive behavior

Question 16

basic steps to sensory systems:

Answer 16

1. receive stimulation from receptor cells
2. transform into neural impulses
3. deliver to brain

Question 17

bottom up vs. top down

Answer 17

detail by detail whats really there to create a larger picture vs. context, experience, and assumptions fill in gaps of new thing you don’t fully understand yet

Question 18

define psychophysics

Answer 18

the relationship between transductive senses (coffee vs. wine w/o smell sense)

Question 19

selective attention

Answer 19

cocktail party, your perception/sight of reality is focused on one thing, misses another (cant multitask)

Question 20

change blindness

Answer 20

change in visual stimuli goes unnoticed by observer (monkey) due to focus in other area

Question 21

define JND

Answer 21

difference threshold

Question 22

out of 11,000,000 bits of information your senses take in a second, how many do you PERCEIVE?

Answer 22

40 bits

Question 23

choice blindness

Answer 23

form of change blindness, you are told you are sensing something you have a predisposition towards more/less so than another thing, yet when swapped and kept with the same labels you don’t notice a change

Question 24

define pop-out stimuli

Answer 24

stimulus that is so strong it forces our attention and its the first thing we see (smiling face in the midst of very sad ones)

Question 25

define subliminal

Answer 25

stimuli below the threshold, PRIMES your response with unnoticed stimuli that only your unconscious sees

Question 26

What is ESP? what researches claims of it?

Answer 26

Extrasensory perception (ghosts, auras of ppl, stuff like that)

the field of Parapsychology