Psychological, Social, Biological Foundations of Behavior Flashcards
Retinal Disparity
Left eye and right eye view slightly different images. One type of binocular cue.
Convergence
Gives an idea of depth based on how much the eyeballs are turned. The second type of binocular cue.
Monocular cues
Relative size, interposition, relative height, motion parallex (relative motion),
Relative size
See relative size and determine approximate distance.
Perceptual Organization
Depth, Form, Motion, Constancy
Interposition
When something appears to be in front of something else, we can recognize that it is closer to us.
Relative height
Objects that are higher are perceived to be further away than objects that are lower.
Motion parallex (Relative motion)
Things closer to you appear to be moving faster than things that are further from you.
Size constancy
We know size of objects are roughly the same regardless of distance from eyes.
Shape constancy
We know the shape of an object remains the same even if it is reoriented.
Color constancy
Despite changes in lighting, color for an object is perceived as the same color.
Sensory adaptation
Change in sensitivity of your perception of a sensation.
Hearing: inner ear muscle contracts to dampen vibrations that go into your inner ear.
Touch: sensory receptors get saturated.
Smell: sensory receptors desensitized.
Sight: pupil dilation and contraction.
Proprioception
Sense of where you are in space.
Just noticeable difference
The smallest difference in stimulation that can be detected 50% of the time.
Weber’s law
Change in a stimulus that will be just noticeable is a constant ratio of the original stimulus.
Absolute threshold of sensation
Minimum intensity of a stimulus that is needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.
Subliminal stimuli
Stimuli below our absolute threshold of sensation
Thermoception
sensation of temperature; TrpV1 receptor used– heat causes conformational change
mechanoception
sensation of pressure
nociception
sensation of pain; TrpV1 receptor used– broken cell molecules bind to receptors to cause conformational change
somatosensation
intensity, timing, location
intensity
how quickly neurons fire
3 ways for neurons to encode timing
non-adapting (neuron constantly firing action potentials, equal space between action potentials), slow adapting (fires fast at the beginning, and then slows down, spacing increases), fast adapting (fires as soon as stimulus starts, then it stops, and starts again when the stimulus stops)
vestibular system
important for sense of balance and spatial orientation, mostly comes from receptors in our inner ear