Module 6 Flashcards by Alexandra Beltran

Sensation

process of being aware of the world around
ex: you touch it, see it, smell it

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Perception

Process of organization and interpreting sensations
ex: your brain figures out it is an orange (based on your sensations)

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T or F: Perception and Sensation need to work together

True

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What does the Nervous system do?

sorts through all of the incoming info using bottom-up processing

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Bottom-up processing

analyzes the raw stimuli entering through your many sensory systems

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Top-down processing

uses our experiences and expectations to interpret and incoming Sensations
ex: Because you’ve had an orange before, you already know what it will taste like
-perception is influenced by this

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Threshold

an edge or boundary

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Absolute Threshold

the least amount of stimulation needed to detect something
ex: a star you can barely see

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Difference threshold

the minimal difference to detect that two stimuli are not the same

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Signal detection theory

how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimus (signal) among background stimulation (noise or clutter)

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What is used to understand how we detect faint stimuli

Mathematical formulas

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What 3 things does signal detections depend on

stimulus
Environment
Person doing the detecting

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Cold war example (1950s and 1960s)

We needed to improve our ability to detect incoming nuclear warheads in time to respond appropriately
- “hits” and “misses”
-“false alarms” where a missile would be mistaken as a plane or flock of birds

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Stimulus variables

How bright is the blip on the radar screen

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Environmental variables

How much distracting noise is in the room

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Organismic variables

Is the operator properly trained and motivated

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What must Living organisms constantly do

Adapt to meet the demands of our environment
-we pay more attention to new stimuli

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If nothing in your visual field has changed then you’re probably okay but…

If you sense a movement off to the side, you better pay attention it might be something dangerous

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Selective attention

It lets you just concentrate on small number of stimuli to function in a busy, noisy world

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Light enters our eyes as…

waves of electromagnetic energy

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Visible Spectrum produces…

light and color

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The length of the wave determines…
(sight)

color (hue)

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The amplitude (height) of the wave determines…
(sight)

Brightness

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Corena (light hits here first)

Clear, curved bulge on the front of the eye that bends light to begin focus

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Iris

A ring of colored muscle tissue that regulates the size of the pupil and it's an adjustable black opening that controls the amount of light allowed in -the iris and pupil work together to let in light

Lens

Transparent, behind the pupil, change of shape to focus images on the retina

Retina

Light sensitive surface at the back of the eyeball that changes light into nerve impulses which is interpreted by the brain

Rods

only detects black, white, and shades of gray

Cones

detects sharp detail and color -color is only visible when there is enough light -hits the optical nerve

Optical nerve

Carries info from the eyes to the occipital lobes were visual processing happens

How many colors can our eyes detect

7 million hues of color done by the cones

Trichromatic theory

3 wavelengths: red, green, and blue -combine to make millions of color

What cones do "color blind" people like

red or green cones

Subtractive process

Each paint pigment subtracts (absorbs or soaks ups) different wavelengths of light

What color do you get when you mix red, blue, and yellow together

black

What color do you get when you mix red, green, and blue lights together

white

Sound comes in waves produced by...

vibrations -in pulses of air molecules -Travels at 750 mph

The length of wave (frequency) determines the...

Pitch -expressed in hertz (Hz)

True or False: Normal human hearing can hear as low as 20 Hz or as high as 20,000 Hertz

True

The height (amplitude) of the waves determines...

loudness -measured in decibels - absolute threshold is 0 -anything over 85 dB is not good

Eardrum

Thin piece of tissue that seals the inner working at the ear from dirt and Q-tips

Ossicles

Three tiny bones of the inner ear -Hammer -Anvil -Stirrup

Cochlea

The fluid-filled, shaped bony tube were sound waves are changed to neural impulses

Oval window

Vibrates the cochlea's fluid -stimulates thousands of hair cells -when moved to fraction they create a neural impulses that your brain can process

Auditory nerve

Carries the sound to the temporal lobes where auditory processing happens

What 2 senses are chemical senses

Smell and taste

Receptor cells on the tongue can detect 5 tastes (list them)

1. salty 2. sweet 3. sour 4. bitter 5.umami

How can the receptors be damaged

heat and cigarettes

True or False: Taste cells can replace themselves within a few days

true

True or False: we all have the same sensitivity to taste

False -everyone is different

Supertaster

More intense taste than the rest of the population -Especially bitter -They probably were the poison detectors in ancient civilizations – if they avoided a food, others probably did too -Less likely to depend on alcohol -¼ of population

Nontasters

Can taste but with much less intensity -Have a better chance to survive in a famine -¼ of population -rest of the population are medium tasters

Taste and smell interact to produce...

flavor -appearance, texture, and temp. also goes along with flavor

Touch is...

your physical connection with the outside world

Our skin has receptors cells all over (list the basic senses)

1. Pain 2. Warmth 3. Cold 4. Pressure

An itch comes from...

gentle stimulation of pain receptors

Hot comes from...

simultaneous stimulation of warm and cold

Wetness comes from...

simultaneous stimulation of cold and pressure

Gate-control theory

Pain messages travel on nerve fibers in the spinal cord -“pain gates” are open when we have pain -Ice and heat can close them

Kinesthetic sense

a system that senses position and movement of body parts -Relies on receptor cells in muscles and joints Ex- when you have held your leg in the same position for a long time it "falls asleep"

Vestibular sense (think of a ballerina)

a system for sensing body orientation and balance -Relies on the fluid filled canals on top of the cochlea in the inner ear