PSYCO Midterm 2 Flashcards
Reaction Range
Genetically influenced limits in which environmental factors can effect an organism
Evolutionary Psychology
Discipline which applies Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection to human and non-human animal behaviour
Criticisms of Evolutionary Psychology
- Many claims of Evolutionary Psychology is not testable or falsifiable
- Relies on many assumptions of early humans which we have limited knowledge about
- Multiple evolutionary explanations are often possible and can conform to to any finding
Sensation
The process stimuli are detected, transduced into nerve impulses, and sent to the brain.
Perception
What the brain interprets from raw sensory inputs
Transduction
The process of converting an external energy or substance into electrical activity within neurons
Sense Receptor
Specialized cell responsible for converting external stimuli into neural activity for a specific sensory system
Sensory Adaptation
- Activation is greatest when stimulus is first detected, and then declines in responsiveness over time
- Also called neural adaptation
Psychophysics
Study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on their physical characteristics
Absolute Threshold
Lowest level of stimulus needed for the nerbous system to detect a change 50 percent of the time
Just Noticeable Difference (JND)
Smallest change in the intensity of a stimulus that we can detect
Weber’s Law
JND = K x I
I = Intensity of the stimukus
K = Constant
There is a constant proportional relationship between the JND and original stimulus intensity.
Signal Detection Theory
Accuracy = Number of Correct Responses/Number of Attempts
(Was Waldo in the image?
Did you say he was?)
(Four possibilities)
Increased sensitivity to the signal causes hits and correct rejections to occur more often
Decreased sensitivity to the signal causes misses and false alarms to occur more often.
Differences in sensitivity are measured with a statistic called d’ (d prime)
- A measure of the stimulus’ salience
- Increases in d’ represents improved detection
- Plotted using ROC curves (Receiver Operating Characteristic Curves)
Signal to noise ratio
SNR = Psignal/Pnoise
The ratio of the power of a signal to the power of background noise.
Signal = Stimulus to be perceived
Noise = Everything else
What are perceptions determined by
- What is currently in the sensory field
- What was in the sensory field a moment ago
- What we have experienced in the past
Parallel Processing
Ability to attend to many sense modalities simultaneously.
Bottom Up Processing
Processing in which a whole is constructed from parts
Top-down Processing
Conceptually driven processing influenced by beliefs and prior learning
Perceptual Set
A set formed when expectations influence perceptions
Perceptual Constancy
The process by which we perceive stimuli consistently across varied conditions
Disclaimer for perceptual sets and constancy
These are just concepts which descrive patterns of behaviour in relation to sets of stimuli. They do not provide an explanation for that pattern of behaviour.
Selective Attention
The process of selecting one sensory channel and ingnoring or minimizing others. (Assumed to be controls by the reticular activating system (RAS) and higher cortical regions)
Filter Theory of Attention
Attention is a “bottle neck” through which information passes
Dichotic Listening
a research design in which subjects have a message delivered to each ear independently through headphones. Both messages are delivered simultaneously, but only the attended ear’s message is able to be accurately recalled.
Inattentional Blindness
Failure to detect stimuli that are in plain sight when our attention is focused elsewhere
Change Blindness
Failure to detect changes in a visual stimulus
Extrasensory Perception (ESP)
Perception of events outside the known channels of sensation
Precognition
Predicting events before they occur through paranormal means
Telepathy
Reading other people’s minds
Clairvoyance
Detecting the presence of objects or people hidden from view
Why people believe in ESP
- Illusory Correlations
- People underestimate the frequency of coincidences
The Birthday Problem
How large must a group of people be before the probability of two people sharing the same birthday exceeds 50%?
23 people
Visible Light
Electromagnetic radiation between 400 and 700 nanometers
Hue
The colour of light
The Cornea
Part of the eye containing transparent cells that focus light on the retina
Myopia (nearsightedness)
Cornea is too long causing the focus of the light to occur in front of the retina
Hyperopia (farsightedness)
Cornea is too flat causing the focus of the light to occur behind the retina
The Lens
Part of the eye that changes curvature to keep images in focus.
Contains transparent cells
Accomodation
Changing the shape of the lens to focus on objects near or far
The Retina
Membrane at the back of the eye responsible for converting light into neural activity
Rods
Photoreceptor cells in the retina allowing us to see in low levels of light. About 92 million per eye
Dark Adaptation
Time in dark before rods regain maximum light sensitivity
Cones
Photoreceptor cells in the retina allowing us to see in colour. About 6-7 million per eye
Photopigments
Protein molecules within the rods and cones whose chemical chemical reactions when absorbing light result in nerve impulses being generated
Optic Nerve
Nerve (technically a bundle of ganglion cell’s axons) that travels from the retina to the brain
Blind Spot
Part of the visual field we can’t see because of an absence of rods and cones.
Shape and Contour
Hubel and Wiesel recorded electrical activity of V1 area of visual cortex in cats. They discovered feature detector cells.
In later levels of visual processing, cells begin to detect more complex shapes and movements
Feature Detector Cells
Cells that detect lines and edges
The Principles of Gestalt Psychology
A German school of psychology that emphasized the natural organization of perceptual elements into wholes or patterns.
Gestalt = whole
Psychology should be focused on how the “whole” is created from its basic parts
Main Figures:
- Max Wetheimer
- Wolfgang Kohler
- Kurt Koffka
Proximity
Objects physically close to each other tend to be perceived as unified wholes
Similarity
Similar objects will be seen as being grouped together or related
Continuity
We perceive lines as continuous movement while discounting abrupt changes
Also known as good continuation
Closure
The tendency to view incomplete figures or forms as complete objects
Symmetry
Symmetrically arranged objects are perceived as wholes
Figure-ground Segregation
The tendency to separate elements of an image into a foreground (figure) and background (ground)
Colour - Trichromatic Theory
The idea that colour vision is based on our sensitivity to the three primary colours
Fits with later findings that three types of cone cells are present that respond maximally at different wavelengths
- Short
- Medium
- Long
Relies on additive colour mixing
Can’t account for afterimages
Colour - Opponent Process Theory
Theory that we perceive colours in terms of three pairs of opponent colours.
- red or green
- blue or yellow
- black or white
Colour Blindness
Inability to see some or all colours
Usually due to genetic abnormalities that cause the absence/reduction in a specific cone typ
Brain damage to cortical areas responsible for vision can also produce colour blindness
Monochromats
Have only one type of cone (very rare = 0.0007% of the population
Dichromats
have two types of cone
Depth Perception
Ability to judge distance and three-dimensional relations
Monocular Cues
Stimuli that enable us to judge depth using only one eye
Binocular Cues
Stimuli that enable us to judge depth using both eyes
Monocular Cues - Relative Size
All things being equal, more distant objects look smaller
Monocular Cues - Texture Gradient
The texture of objects become less aparent as objects move farther away
Monocular Cues - Interposition
Close objects block the view of distant objects
Monocular Cues - Linear Perspective
The outlines of objects converge as distance increases
Monocular Cues - Height in plane
Distant objects tend to appear higher, and nearer objects appear lower
Monocular Cues - Light and Shadow
The casting of shadows gives objects a 3-D form
Monocular Cues - Motion Parallax
When objects moving across a field of view appear to move more/faster the closer they are to an observer
Binocular Cues - Binocular Disparity
Depth information is obtained by comparing the difference in image location of the left and right eyes
Binocular Cues - Binocular Convergence
The degree to which your eyes converge inward provides information to estimate distance
Hypnosis
Set of techniques that suggest alterations in behaviour, perceptions, feelings, and thoughts.
People are chosen to be hypnotized based on their suggestibility, they are not hypnotized to be more suggestable.
- Cannot make people do things they don’t want to.
Regression Therapy
Hypnotizing people to get them to remember events from their childhood (where their psych problems originated)
Problems:
Reports of age-regressed individuals often cannot be corroborated by individuals present at the time
Poggendorf Illusion
EEG responses
Past-Life Regression Therapy
People are regressed to remember events from a past life.
Problems:
Claims of regressed individuals often prove false when fact-checked
Ability to be regressed to a past-life is dependent on a belief in reincarnation
Psychoactive Drug
Substance that contains chemicals similar to those found naturally in our brains that alter consciousness by changing chemical processes in neurons. Alter how we think, feel, and act Effects of the drug depends on: Type Dose
Types of Drugs
Depressants
Stimulants
Opiates
Psychedelics
Depressants
Alcohol, barbiturates, Quaaludes, Valium
Decreased activity of the central nervous system (initial high is followed by sleepiness, slower thinking, and impaired concentration)
Stimulants
Tobacco, cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamines
Increased activity of the central nervous system, sense of alertness, well-being, energy
Opiates
Heroin, morphine, codeine
Sense of euphoria, decreased pain
Psychedelics
Marijuana, LSD, Ecstasy
Dramatically altered perception, mood, and thoughts
Ocular delivery
Drops, bioadhesives
Buccal delivery
Mucoadhesive, spray
Sublingual delivery
Tablets
Oral delivery
Capsule, pill
Intravenous delivery
Injection
Intramuscular delivery
Depot
Subcutaneous delivery
Depot, implant
Transdermal delivery
Patch, cream, spray
Pulmonary/Nasal delivery
Aerosol, spray
Vaginal/rectal delivery
Gel, suppository
Blood Brain Barrier
A physiological mechanism that alters the permeability of brain capillaries, so that some substances, such as certains drugs, are prevented
