Psych/Soc Flashcards
Sensation
aligns with transduction, taking the physical, electromagnetic, auditory, and other info from our internal and external environment and converting this information into electrical signals in the nervous system
Perception
refers to processing info within the central nervous system in order to make sense of the information’s significance
Mechanoreceptors
respond to pressure or movement
Nociceptors
respond to painful or noxious stimuli (somatosensation)
Absolute threshold
the minimum of stimulus energy that is needed to activate a sensory system (how bright, loud, or intense a stimulus must be before it is sensed)
Threshold of conscious perception
the level of intensity that a stimulus must pass in order to be consciously perceived by the brain
Subliminal perception
information that is received by the central nervous system but that does not cross the threshold of conscious perception
Difference threshold (just noticeable difference)
the minimum change in magnitude required for an observer to perceive that two different stimuli are, in fact, different
Retina
innermost layer of the eye, contains the actual photoreceptors that transduce light into electrical information the brain can process
Weber’s law
the idea that difference thresholds are proportional and must be computed as percentages
cornea
domelike window in front of the eye, gathers and focuses the incoming light
Cones
used for color vision and to sense fine details
Rod
permit vision in reduced light, only allow sensation of light and dark
Parallel processing
the brain’s ability to analyze information regarding color, form, motion, and depth simultaneously using independent pathways in the brain
Depth perception
our ability to discriminate the 3-D shape of our environment and judge the distance of objects within it, is largely based in discrepancies between the inputs the brain receives from our two eyes
vestibular sense
our ability to both detect rotational and linear acceleration and to use this info to inform our sense of balance and spatial orientation
Perilymph
simultaneously transmits vibrations from the outside world and cushions the inner ear structures
auditory (vestibulocochlear) nerve
carries electrical signals to the central nervous system
Five basic tastes
sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami (savory)
Somatosensation
has 4 modalities: pressure, vibration, pain, temperature
Kinesthetic sense (proprioception)
the ability to tell where one’s body is in space
Bottom-up (data driven) processing
object recognition by parallel processing and feature detection (the brain takes the individual sensory stimuli and combines them together to create a cohesive image before determining what the object is
Top-down (conceptually driven) processing
driven by memories and expectations that allow the brain to recognize the whole object and then recognize the components based on these expectations
Perceptual organization
the ability to create a complete picture or idea by combining top-down and bottom-up processing with all of the other sensory clues gathered from an object