perception

Question 1

what is a pure tone made up of

Answer 1

amplitude (maximum air pressure in each cycle)

frequency (the number of cycles of changing air pressure per second)

Question 2

amplitude and loudness

Answer 2

there is positive correlation between increased amplitude and perceived loudness (this does not increase 1-1)

Question 3

auditory transduction

Answer 3

• basilar membrane in the cochlea responds to frequencies
• the membrane is ordered so that the base responds to high frequencies and the apex responds to low frequencies
• it is made up of hair cells which fire based on frequency

Question 4

basilar membrane hair cells

Answer 4

mechanoreceptors which send electrical signals to the brain via the auditory nerve

Question 5

place coding (auditory)

Answer 5

determining the amplitude of sound frequencies depending on which hair cells are activated

Question 6

what is the human hearing range

Answer 6

20-20,000 Hz

Question 7

complex sounds

Answer 7

sounds with a mix of different frequencies

Question 8

the fundamental frequency

Answer 8

the lowest frequency of the complex sound

Question 9

harmonic complex sounds

Answer 9

all frequencies are integer multiples of the least common denominator

Question 10

auditory masking

Answer 10

using a sound with the intention of covering up human detection of another sound

Question 11

visual vestibular integration dysfunction

Answer 11

visual cues indicate that you are rotating, but vestibular information contradicts this
the compromise feels like falling
e.g. camera obscura tunnel

Question 12

pseudophone

Answer 12

creates discrepancies between where the brain locates a sound and where it visually is

Question 13

what is flavour integration comprised of (4)

Answer 13

olfactory receptors in nose
light receptors in eyes (colour changes perception)
touch receptors in mouth (crunchiness)
sound receptors in ears (hearing texture influences perception)

Question 14

visual acuity

Answer 14

ability to see fine detail

Question 15

what is the process of an image passing through to the primary visual cortex?

Answer 15

LIGHT -> RETINA [photosensitive ganglion cells] -> OPTIC NERVE AXONS -> OPTIC CHIASM [cross over] -> LATERAL GENICULATE NUCLEUS -> PRIMARY VISUAL CORTEX

Question 16

why does v1 receive a distorted image

Answer 16

the fovea is over represented in terms of photoreceptors, so central vision is much more detailed

Question 17

what is the retina made up of

2

Answer 17

120 mil photoreceptors that respond to light

fovea - responsible for visual acuity (focuses on objects of interest)

Question 18

what do rods/cones detect

Answer 18

cones = colour, make up the fovea
rods = low light, make up majority of photoreceptors

Question 19

how does the visual system interpret upside down images

Answer 19

it has a topographic map system, so that size and dimensions are preserved

Question 20

two streams of the primary visual cortex

Answer 20

dorsal - to superior parietal lobe; ‘where’ system

ventral - to inferior temporal lobe; ‘what’ system

Question 21

specialised areas to process visual stimuli (3)

Answer 21

FFA Fusiform Face area - faces
PPA Parahippocampal Place area - places
EBA Extrastriate Body Area - bodies

Question 22

two visual systems in a frog

Answer 22

lesions to visual area created blind area

would ignore prey in blind spot, but would still manage to jump around obstacles in blind spot

Question 23

evidence for distinct dorsal stream

Answer 23

ppts with optic ataxia = dorsal damage

- no difficulty identifying stimuli, but difficulty moving towards targets / pointing without delay

Question 24

evidence for distinct ventral stream

Answer 24

ppts with visual agnosia = ventral damage
- highly proficient at grasping objects, but incapable of facial recognition or copying pictures in drawing (but not from memory)

Question 25

size estimation & ebbinghaus illustration

Answer 25

2 circles of the same size
perceive the circle surrounded by smaller circles as bigger, because we use surrounding stimuli and information to help estimate

Question 26

change blindness

Answer 26

shows that there are gaps in our perceptual systems and we may discard details that do not make logical sense

Question 27

space based theory of attention

Answer 27

‘spotlight’ metaphor
we move our attention across a space, we then focus on whatever falls within that visual field
‘zoom lens’ metaphor
the attention area can grow or shrink depending on what is being processed

Question 28

3 types of visual searches (space based theory of attention)

Answer 28

feature search - target is defined by a single feature (EX colour)
conjunction search - target is defined by the conjunction of two+ features
spatial configuration search - the target and the distractors contain the same basic features

Question 29

the binding problem - visual attention

Answer 29

the challenge of combining different visual features, as colour motion and orientation are represented by separate neurons

Question 30

object based theory of attention

Answer 30

feature integration;
a set of basic features can be processes preattentively, but the correct binding of features to objects requires attention

Question 31

evidence that visual features are represented separately and need to be bound together

Answer 31

illusory conjunction - the incorrect combining of the features of two objects into one object (EX seeing a green square and red circle, but processing it as a green circle)

Question 32

saliency - bottom-up attention

Answer 32

processing noticeable edges, colour, brightness
used in experimental settings, but in real life salient information may not be salient and vice versa // ppl tend to have fixations on nature which isnt always salient

Question 33

top-down attention

Answer 33

fixating on useful information, or contextual cues which may be complex

Question 34

yarbus & the unexpected visitor (top-down attention)

Answer 34

ppts asked to examine a painting, with different objectives

the gaze behaviour changed dramatically depending on what the goal was