Perception Flashcards
1
Q
function of senses
A
obtain information about the properties of the world
vision - electromagnetic radiation
hearing - mechanical vibrations
touch - mechanical perturbations of the skin
smell - chemical properties of gases
taste - chemical properties of solids and liquids in contact with the tongue
temperature - heat
2
Q
perception
A
turning the sensory input into a meaningful conscious experience. the process of taking that signal and processing it into a usable image or experience
3
Q
Phenomenology
A
the subjective experience of perception`
4
Q
Absolute threshold
A
the smallest amount of stimulus energy necessary for an observer to detect a stimulus
5
Q
Method of Limits
A
Stimuli is presented on a graduated scale (scale that varies along predictable and relatively small changes). It’s used to determine absolute and difference thresholds
6
Q
Method of constant stimuli
A
the threshold is determined by presenting the observer with a set of stimuli, some of which are above the threshold and some which are below but the stimuli are presented in a random order. this reduces errors of habituation or fluctuations in perception due to attention. however, it is very time-consuming
7
Q
Method of adjustment
A
The observer controls the level of stimulus and themselves adjusts it to be at the perceptual threshold.
8
Q
Magnitude Estimation
A
Participants judge and assign numerical estimates to the perceived strength of a stimulus
9
Q
Response compression
A
As the strength of the stimulus increases, so does the perceptual response but it does not increase as much as the strength of the stimulus
10
Q
Response expansion
A
As the strength of the stimulus increases, the perceptual response increases even more
exception to response compression
e.g. pain perception, smaller increments of increase in the physical dimension lead to greater increments in the perception of the perceptual characteristic
11
Q
Fundamental criteria of theories (Popper, 1960)
A
Explanatory (not descriptive)
Falsifiable (predictive)
Parsimonious (simplest)
12
Q
Levels of explanation
A
Anatomical and physiological
behavioural and psychological
theoretical and philosophical
13
Q
Physiological approach (indirect) (perceptual theories)
A
chief proponent: Horace Barlow (1921 - 2020)
understanding neurons, how they react to perceptual stimuli and how they interact with each other is the key to understanding perception
14
Q
Ecological Approach
A
Gibsonian Approach
Information in sensory world is complex and abundant and therefore perceptual systems need only directly perceive such complexity. Perception is about reflecting sensation, no interpretation of the brain
15
Q
Computational Approach
A
David Marr
Perception is information processing: successive transformation of sensory data from one representation to another
16
Q
Optic Array
A
spatial distribution of light determined by sources and reflectors of light
a gibsonian concept
17
Q
Visual Encoding
A
Proposed by Marr and Barlow and include the principles of least commitment, least redundancy and graceful degradation
18
Q
Principle of Least commitment
A
a vision system should avoid making irrevocable decisions, such as throwing out information that may be useful later
19
Q
Principle of Least Redundancy
A
Things should be coded as efficiently as possible
20
Q
Principle of Graceful degradation
A
an efficient information processing system should be able to respond to minor error without generating completely incorrect output
21
Q
Receptive Field
A
region of retina that, when stimulated influences the firing rate of the neurone
22
Q
Phototransduction
A
photoreceptors turn light into electricity
23
Q
Photoreceptor
A
transduce light into a neural system
24
Q
Rods and Cones
A
rods: night vision, light detection, grayscale
cones: high visual acuity, colour vision, daytime vision
25
L, M & S cones
types of cones that are maximally sensitive to a particular frequency of light
26
Spectral Sensitivity
the range of wavelength that can stimulate the eye
27
Metamer
?
28
Visual Electrophysiology
Experiments conducted on animals
tiny electrodes placed close to a visual neurone
visual stimuli presented to the animal
electrical signals in the neuron are recorded
29
Bipolar Cell
receive information from photoreceptors and other horizontal cells; cross talk across photoreceptors
30
Retinal Ganglion Cell
receives information from bipolar cells; send signal to brain via the optic nerve
31
Spike Train
combinatorial sequence of spikes and silences
representation of neural activity
32
Centre/Surround Structure
on-centre receptive fields: cell centre produces excitation, surround produces inhibition
off-centre receptive fields:
centre produces inhibition, surround produces excitation
33
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
Bilateral structure in thalamus, has 6 layers, relays information from optic nerve to the visual cortex
34
Retinotopy
mapping of visual input from the retina to neurons
35
M, P & K cells
pathways from retinae to visual cortex
36
V1 / Striate Cortex / Primary visual cortex
Bilateral, 6-layered structure
function is unclear - essential to vision
37
Simple, complex, end-stopped cells
simple cells: respond to stimuli with particular orientations to objects within their receptive field
complex cells: respond to a variety of stimuli across different locations, including to stimuli with particular orientations
end-stopped cells: hyper complex, respond to mainly angles and corners
38
extra-striate cortex
secondary visual cortex, combines input from both eyes, more specialised
39
V2, V3, V4, V5/MT, IT, MST
V2: colour, form, depth
V3: motion, form
v4: colour, shape
v5/mt: motion, depth
IT: comlex form
MST: motion in depth
40
Dorsal/Ventral pathways
dorsal: action, parietal pathway
ventral: perception, temporal pathway
41
Scene Perception
view of real world environment that contain background elements and objects which are organised meaningfully, are acted within
42
Figure-ground organisation
the experience viewers have as to which part of an image is in front and which part of an image is in the background of a particular scene
43
Object Perception
objects are acted upon, are contained in scenes
e.g. faces, inanimate objects, animals
44
Gestalt Rules
laws of perceptual grouping
45
Grouping
figures brought together into a common unit/object
46
Good continuation
gestalt law
figures that have smooth edges are more likely to be seen as continuous that those with edges that have abrupt or sharp angles
47
Similarity
gestalt law
similar objects are grouped together
48
Proximity
gestalt law
elements that are close together tend to be perceived as a unified group
49
perceptual segregration
distinguishing between two objects
50
illusory contours
non-existent but perceptually real edges perceived as a result of edge completion e.g. kanicza triangle
51
object categorisation
higher levels of objects have a faster visual recognition
52
viewpoint invariance
how objects are encoded,, e.g. through a 3D-model or through multiple snapshots
53
scene gist
representations of general layouts stored in memory, provide gist of the current scene
54
perceptual inference
through top-down effects, inferences are made about the nature of the world affect our judgement
55
superstitious perception
seeing something due to suggestion without actual evidence
56
cognitive toponymy
study of what place names can tell us about how people conceptualise their environment
57
TE, TEO
subregions of the inferotemporal cortex (IT)
58
Fusiform Face Area (FFA)
specialised in face recognition, damage leads to prosopagnosia
59
Occipital Face Area (OFA)
associated with recognising faces as distinct from other objects
60
Para hippocampal Place Area (PPA)
functional area of the brain that responds more strongly to images of scenes and places, critical for scene and place recognition, navigation
61
Extra-Striate Body Area (EBA)
an area within the inferotemporal cortex that is activated when its cells view bodies or body parts but faces
62
Visual Word Form Area (VWFA)
area in inferotemporal cortex, specialised in recognising written words
63
Diagnosticity
distinguishing features between objects
64
Lateral occipital complex (LOC)
visual area involved in object recognition
65
Grandmother neurone
neuron that responds to a particular object at a conceptual level, firing in response to the object itself, a photo of it, etc
66
affordance
information in the visual world that specifies how that information can be used (gibsonian theory)
67
divided attention
process of attending multiple sources of information
68
selective attention
the process of attention that allows us to focus on one source when many are present
69
exogeneous attention
guided by environment
70
endogenous attention
guided by the attender
71
inattentional blindness
the phenomenon in which people fail to perceive an object or event that is visible but not attended to
72
change blindness
inability to quickly detect changes in complex scenes
73
spotlight of attention
attention directed through visual field of focus
74
the binding problem
the problem faced by the visual system of perceiving which visual features belong to the same object
75
feature integration theory (FIT)
by treisman
some features can be processed in parallel and quickly prior to using attentional resources, other visual characteristics require us to use attention and are done serially, less quickly
76
pre-attentive stage
stage in FIT
visual system senses that all the basic visual features in the scene (edge orientations, shapes, colours)
77
focus attention stage
second stage in FIT
attention binds object features together
78
conjunction search/parallel search
Searching a display for an item that differs from all other items in the display by having a particular combination of two or more features.
79
serial search
?
80
illusory conjunction
erroneously perceiving objects that consist of the features present in a scene but in the wrong combinations
81
gamma band oscillation
control connectivity between different brain regions
82
salience
features that attract our attention
83
monotropism
theory of autism
tendency for an autistic person's interests to draw them in more strongly than non-autistic person
84
attentional enhancement
enhances perception, faster response time to attended objects/locations
85
delay and compare
measure image at one place and time and hten later at another place and time
86
motion (reichardt) detector
hypothetical neurons sensitive to motion, respond to activity in one receptive field at time 1 and another receptive field at time 2
87
apparent motion
a visual illusion in which two stimuli are separated in time and location moving between the two locations
88
correspondence problem
how the visual system knows if an object that is seen at Time 1 is the same object at Time 2
89
nearest neighbour matching
answer to correspondence problem
90
common fate
(gestalt rule)
objects that move in the same direction are grouped together
91
aperture problem
the impossibility of determing the actual direction of motion by the response of a single neuron that "sees" the stimulus only through a small "aperture" (the neuron's receptive field) and "sees" only the component of motion in the neuron's preferred direction
92
barberpole illusion
diagonally moving grating is perceived as moving vertically because of the shape of the vertically oriented window through which it is viewed
93
optic flow
motion depth cue that refers to the relative motion of objects as the observer moves forward or backward in a scene
94
corollary discharge
the feedback we get from our eye muscles as our eyes track an object is important to the perception of the model
95
vestibular system
creates sense of balance and spatial orientation for the purpose of coordinating movement with balance.
96
biological motion
displayed through point-lighter walker
97
benham's disc
black and white disc that when spun generates colours
98
spectral reflectance
brightness of a surface in different regions of the elctromagnetic spectrum
99
colour diagnosticity
helps categorise objects based on their colour
100
Trichromacy
any coloured light can be matched by adjusting the relative amounts of three primary lights
101
trichromatic theory/young-helmholtz theory
to perceive colour of any light, we must have more than one type of receptor and each type of receptor is sensitive to a different range of wavelengths
102
spectral sensitivity
the relative efficiency of detection, of light or other signal, as a function of the frequency or wavelength of the signal
103
metamer
any two stimuli that are physically different but are perceived as identical
104
Opponent-process theory
explains colour perception in retinal ganglion cells, and continuing to LGN and occipital cortex
opposing colours (black-white, red-green, blue-yellow)
105
Forbidden colours
some authors argue that there are reddish-greens and yellowish-blues
106
blobs/interblobs
blobs contain wavelength-sensitive cells, interblobs most responsive to high spatial frequencies
107
cone-opponent cells
respond best when they are excited by the input from one cone in the centre but inhibited by the input from another cone type in the surround in LGN and V1
108
ocular dominance
tendency to prefer visual input from one eye to the other
109
double opponent neurons
strongly responsive to colour patterns but weakly or non-responsive to full-field colour stimuli,
thought to be in V1
110
spectral power distribution
the power per unit area per unit wavelength of an illumination
111
colour constancy
tendency to see a surface as having the same colour under illumination by lights with different spectral power distributions
112
chromatic adaptation
kind of photopigment bleaching that results from exposure to relatively intense lighting consisting of a narrow range of wavelengths
113
lightness constancy
tendency to see a surface as having the same lightness under illumination by very different amounts of light
114
proprioception
perception of the position and movement of body parts, based on the information in neural signals from specialised sensors within those body parts
115
kinesthesis
sense of movement of the musclestac
116
tactile perception (somaesthesis)
sense of objects touching skin
perception that results from mechanical deformation, indentation, vibration or stretching, of the skin
117
glabrous skin
skin that has no hair
118
merkel receptors
respond to continous pressure, involved in sensing fine details
119
meissner corpuscles
respond to application and removal of stimulus
120
pacinian corpuscles
respond to stimulus onset and offset
121
ruffini endings
respond to continuous pressure, detect stretching of skin
122
SAI mechanoreceptors
slow-adapting mechanoreceptors with Merkel cell endings; they have relatively small receptive fields and are relatively densely arranged near the surface of the skin
123
SAII mechanoreceptors
slow-adapting mechanoreceptors; they have relatively large receptive fields and are relatively sparsely distributed relatively deeply in the skin
124
FAI mechanoreceptors
fast-adapting mechanoreceptors with Meissner corpuscle endings; they have relatively small receptive fields and are relatively densely arranged near the surface of the skin
125
FAII mechanoreceptors
fast-adapting mechanoreceptors with Pacinian corpuscle endings; they have relatively large receptive fields and are relatively sparsely distributed relatively deeply in the skin
126
C-tactile mechanoreceptors
mechanoreceptors that are a type of free nerve endings only present in hairy skin; respond to slow, gentle touch and send signals to insular cortex
127
Nociception
pain, for detecting actual or potential tissue damage
128
A-delta fibers
myelinated axons of nociceptors that transmit pain signals relatively rapidly, to produce a rapid response to potentially damaging mechanical stimuli and to excessive heat
129
C-fibers
unmyelinated axons of nociceptors that transmit pain signals relatively slowly
130
gate theory of pain
If the gates are more open, then a lot of pain messages pass through to the brain and you are likely to experience a high level of pain. If the gates are more closed, then fewer messages get through and you are likely to experience less pain.
131
Pitch
the perceptual dimension of sound that corresponds to the physical dimension of frequency; the perceived highness or lowness of a sound
132
Loudness
the perceptual dimension of sound that is related to the physical dimensions of amplitude; how intense or quiet a sound seems
133
Timbre
difference in sound quality between two sounds with the same pitch and loudness; for complex periodic sounds, timbre is mainly due to differences in the relative amplitude of the sounds' overtones; the perceptual dimension of sound that is related to the physical dimension of waveform
134
Sound Pressure Level
logarithmic measure of the effective pressure of a sound relative to a reference value
135
Decibel (dB)
a physical unit to measure sound amplitude; logarithmically related to sound pressure measured in micropascals
136
Phon
a logarithmic unit of loudness level for tones and complex sounds
137
Frequency
The physical dimension of sound that is related to the perceptual dimension of pitch; expressed in Hertz, the number of cycles per second of a periodic sound wave
138
Hertz
the number of cycles per second of a sound wave; the physical unit used to measure frequency
139
Outer Ear
funnels sound from the environment onto the tympanic membrane which vibrates in response to the sound waves
140
Middle Ear
a tiny air filled chamber containing three small bones, the ossicles
141
Inner Ear
contains the cochlea, a specialised structure containing neurons that transduce the vibrations into neural signals that are sent to the brain via the auditory nerve
142
Pinna
outermost portion of the ear
143
Auditory Meatus/Canal
a narrow channel that funnels sound waves gathered by the pinna onto the tympanic membrane that amplifies certain frequencies in those waves
144
Tympanic Membrane
a thin elastic diaphragm at the inner end of the auditory canal that vibrates in response to the sound waves that strike it; forms an airtight seal between the outer ear and the middle ear
145
Impedance Matching
transference of energy from the air of the middle ear to the inner ear fluid
146
Ossicles
three small bones in the middle ear that transmit sound energy from the tympanic membrane to the incus
147
Staples, Malleus, Incus
Stirrups, Hammer, Anvil
transmit sound energy from each other to the oval window, at the base of the cochlea
148
Cochlea
a coiled, tapered tube within the temporal bone of the head, partitioned along its length into three chambers; contains the structures involved in auditory transduction
149
Basilar Membrane
tapered membrane suspended between the walls of the cochlea; thicker, narrower and stiffer at the base than at the apex
150
Organ of Corti
structure in the cochlea situated in the basilar membrane; consists of three critical components: inner hair cells, outer hair cells and the tectorial membrane
151
Semicircular Canal
three tiny, fluid-filled tubes in the inner ear that help keep balance
152
Inner/Outer Hair cell
neurons in the organ of corti
inner: responsible for auditory transduction
outer: serve to amplify and sharpen the responses of inner hair cells
153
Auditory Nerve
conveys signals from the hair cells in the organ of corti to the brain
154
Phase Locking
ability of a neuron to synchronise or follow the temporal structure of a sound
155
Frequency Decomposition
process of representing the same spatial region at different scales by using multiple frequency coefficients
156
Tonotopy
the spatial arrangement of where sounds of different frequency are processed in the brain
157
Place Model/Rate Model
Place model - zone of maximum excitation on Basilar membrane
rate model - precise timing of individual spikes
158
Cochlear Nucleus
structure in the brain stem (one on each side of the brain); it receives signals via auditory nerve fibers from in inner hair cells in the ipsilateral ear
159
Superior Olivary Complex
a structure in the brain stem (one on each side of the brain) a stop on the ascending auditory pathway receiving signals from both cochlear nuclei
160
Inferior Colliculus
structure in the midbrain (one one each side of the brain) stop on the ascending auditory pathway
161
Medial Geniculate Body
structure in the thalamus (one on each side of the brain) the next stop on the ascending auditory pathway after the inferior colliculus
162
Auditory Cortex (A1)
part of the cerebral cortex, tucked into the lateral sulcus on the top of the temporal lobe, consists of the auditory core region, belt and parabelt
163
charactersitic frequency
The frequency of a sound at which the threshold of a single fibre of an auditory nerve is lowest and to which it is therefore most responsive
164
Gustation
chemical properties of solids and liquids in contact with the tongue
165
basic tastes
well established taste categories: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami
166
magnitude estimation
participants judge and assign estimates to the perceived strength of a stimulus
167
taste bud
structures that contain taste receptor cells, within papillae in the mouth
168
papillae
tiny structures on surfaces in the mouth, mainly on the tongue - different types varying in size and shape
169
labelled line model
each cranial nerve fibre carries signals with information about just one of the five taste qualities, and the cortical neurons on the receiving end of these signals also respond to information about a single type of tastant
170
taste receptor cells
receptors that initiate transduction of tastants - sends a signal down one of the gustatory nerves
171
tastant
molecules that taste receptors recognise and respond to by producing neural signals that the brain represents as perceptions of different tastes
172
Nucleus of the Solitary Tract (NST)
point where taste receptos send connections to in the brain stem
173
anosmia
loss of the ability to perceive odours
174
orbito frontal cortex
first place where taste and smell information combine
175
olfaction
transduction of molecules in the air we breathe
176
olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs)
neurons that transduce odorant molecules into neural signals
177
glomeruli
small, more or less spherical structures in the olfactory blub; within the glomeruli, the axons of ORNs make synapses with the dendrites of mitral cells and tufted cells form the olfactory tract
178
olfactory nerve
the axons of ORNs, carrying neural signals from ORNs to the olfactory bulb via tiny oles in the cribiriform plate
179
olfactory bulb
initial processing centre for smell signals in the brain, receiving input from the olfactory nerve
180
pyriform cortex (PC)
the brain region considered to be the primary olfactory cortex, only region that receives signals from olfactory bulub and is known to be dedicated solely to olfaction
181
olfactory encoding
different odorants cause neural activity across a range of olfactory receptor classes which is thought to underllie olfactory recognition.
182
gastrophysics
discpline focused on investigations of aspects of gastronomy that relate to phenomena explained by physics and chemistry
