perception Flashcards
how do we intake reality into our knowledge?
physical stimuli is transduced into nerve impulses by our sense organs
what is the phenomenological world?
- each individual experiences the physical stimuli by reconstruction or representation of experiences of sounds, shapes, colours, smells, heat etc.
what are the 5 main senses & are there any more senses?
Visual - eyes
Auditory - ears
Olfactory - nose
Gustatory - nose
Tactile/ Haptic - skin
there are more than the 5 senses:
balance (equilibrioception)
body awareness - (proprioception, joints)
heat (thermoception, skin/ internal)
what is the most dominant sense? and why?
VISION
- amazing range, spatial resolution
- when senses conflict, we tend to believe the visual input
- 50% of the cortex is involved in visual processing
- best understood system in the brain - multidisciplinary
what big 3 areas/ fields of psychology are affected by PERCEPTION? & what specific studies?
- Neuropsychology
- the study of brains
- rubber hand illusion - Clinical Psychology
- eating disorders - Forensic psychology
- eyewitness testimony
what are the problems of perception:
- our perception is not always right, our senses can get it wrong (illusions & aftereffects)
- we have illusions in colour, depth & perspective, faces and motion.
what are the main types of illusions?
- illusions of colour: colour aftereffects, e.g. the dress
- illusions of depth & perspective - e.g. pavement arts
- illusions of faces: thatcher illusion
- illusions of motion: rotating snakes
what is the study of psychophysics?
- it refers to the scientific study of the subjective experience of perception
- relationship between physical stimuli and psychology we experience
what are the sensory systems?
the perceptual modalities:
- chemical senses (Taste and smell)
- body senses (touch, balance, etc)
- hearing
- vision
how is Touch (somatosensation) felt in the body
- the various layers of skin containing a bewildering array of receptors with an astonishing range of sizes and shapes.
- skin sensors for pain - receptors in skin convert pressure into neural signals
- convert heat energy into neural signals therefore signal temperature:
which part of the cortex is responsible for the touch? and where in the brain is it located?
the somatosensory cortex: which is at the top of the brain, sits behind the motor cortex - so the somatosensory cortex can order motor activities
how is taste (Gustation) felt in the body?
taste receptors are collected together in clumps called taste buds located on small projections on the tongue:
- different sorts of taste receptors:
- salt
- sweet
- sour
- bitter
- umami - savoury
how is smell (olfaction) felt in the body?
- As in taste, only dissolved chemicals (in the mucus in the nose) can activate the smell receptors.
- Also in taste, it seems as if certain smell receptors respond to particular chemicals
All the smells we experience are some combination of these primary smells. (at least 7)
how does smell work in the brain?
- The gas molecules go through the nasal cavity
- These receptors synapse directly onto the olfactory bulb (a specialised part of the brain for processing smells)
- Smell bypasses the usual route from sense organ to the brain via the thalamus.
This might justify the emotional significance as it BYPASSES usual route from sense organ right to the cortex.
how is balance acquired in the body:
the vestibular system provides us with information about accelerations we are undergoing and about our orientation relative to vertically (Gravitationally) downwards.
