Science Psychology Flashcards
What is Psychology?
The scientific study of human thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
What are behaviours?
Directly observable actions.
What are mental processes?
Indirectly observable; private and internal.
What is psychology vs Psychiatry? + examples
Psychology:
no referral needed.
cannot prescribe medication or admit to hospital.
Mental
Psychiatry:
Referral needed
Medical doctor
Can prescribe medication and admit patients to hospital
Role of the cerebral cortex
The outer layer of the brain (only a few millimetres thick,
Processing of complex sensory information, the initiation of voluntary movements, language/symbolic thinking and the regulation of emotion, including localisation of function.
What are the cerebral hemispheres?
Two almost symmetrical brain areas running from front to back of the brain (left hemisphere and right hemisphere).
What does the left hemisphere do?
Receive and process sensations from right side of body.
control voluntary movement on right side of body.
Verbal and analytical functions.
Analysis (Maths, sequential tasks).
Logical reasoning.
What does the right hemisphere do?
Receive and process sensations from left side of body.
control voluntary movement on left side of body.
non-verbal tasks and processing of the whole.
Spatial and visual thinking.
creativity, fantasy, appreciation of art and music
recognising emotions.
What are the cortical lobes?
Areas of the cerebral cortex associated with different functions.
Frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, temporal lobe.
Role of the frontal lobe.
Located at the front of the cerebral cortex.
Estimates, attention, decisions, personality, expressing emotions, movement, language, controlling emotions, problem solving, planning.
Role of the parietal lobe.
Located at the upper middle of the cerebral cortex.
Body senses-somatosensory cortex, spatial reasoning, attention.
Role of the occipital lobe.
Located at the back of the cerebral cortex.
Visual information.
Role of the temporal lobe.
Emotional memories, memory, facial recognition, language, sounds.
What is sensation?
Physiological process of sense organs and receptors detecting and responding to raw sensory, stimulating information.
What is perception?
Process of giving meaning and use to sensory information. How we interpret sensory information.
What is the order of processes?
Reception, Transduction, Transmission, Selection, Organisation, Interpretation.
What is reception?
1st process of visual perception system (Sensation)
Detecting, receiving and responding to sensory information.
Receptive field is the area of space in which a receptor can respond to a stimulus.
What is transduction?
2nd process of visual perception system (Sensation)
The information is converted into a neural impulse.
What is transmission?
3rd process of visual perception system (Sensation)
The information is sent to the brain for perceptual processing. (still not consciously aware of the sensory stimuli).
What is selection?
4th process of visual perception system (Perception)
Certain sensory stimuli or their features are attended, and other features are ignored.
What is organisation?
5th process of visual perception system (Perception)
Selected features of sensory stimuli are regrouped so that they are cohesively arranged.
What is interpretation?
6th process of visual perception system (Perception)
The organised sensory information is understood in a way that depends on the meaning that is assigned to it. (Individual is now consciously aware of sensory stimuli in the way that they interpreted it).
What is the pupil and where is it located?
Black opening in the centre of the iris which allows light to pass through it. Located at the front of the eye
What is the iris and where is it located?
Controls the amount of light entering the eye by adjusting the size of the pupil. Located at the front of the eye.
What is the Sclera and where is it located?
White of the eye, the outer layer which can provide structural support and protection.
What is the cornea and where is it located?
The cornea is located in front of the iris and is responsible for refracting light into the eye (lens) and allows the eye to focus and form a clear image.
What is the eye muscle and where is it located?
Enable movement and rotation in socket. Located on the eye.
What is the aqueous humour and where is it located?
The aqueous humour provides nourishment and acts to keep the eye inflated. Lubricates the lens and cornea. Located between lens and cornea.
What is the vitreous humour and where is it located?
Vitreous humour, also called vitreous fluid, takes up the space between the eye’s lens and retina.
What is the lens and where is it located?
Behind the iris, a flexible structure that allows light to be focused onto the retina.
What is the retina and where is it located?
Cells on the retina called cone and rod cells absorb light rays and turn them into electrical signals. Located on the back of the eye.
What is the optic nerve and where is it located?
Carries the electric signals from the retina to the brain. Located on the back of the eye, coming off of it.
What is the blind spot and where is it located?
Part of the eye along the retina, where there are photoreceptors (rods and cones).
What is the tapetum and where is it located?
Enhances night vision by reflecting light back through the retina which increases the amount of light available to photoreceptors. Located behind the retina.
What are photoreceptors?
Part of the eye that absorb light rays and turn them into electrical signals.
What is the path of light through the eye?
CPILR
through Cornea, Pupil (surrounded by Iris), Lens, to Retina
Cornea-Pupil-Iris-Lens-Retina
What is depth perception?
Ability to accurately estimate distance of objects and therefore perceive the world in 3 dimensions.
What are depth cues?
Visual cues allowing someone to judge distance or depth of stimuli in their environment. Allow to translate 2 dimensional images from retina to 3 dimensional.
What are monocular depth cues?
Most depth cues. Use only one eye to give information to brain about depth/distance.
Accommodation and Pictorial depth cues.
What is monocular accommodation?
automatic adjustment of the shape of the lens to focus in response to changes in distance.
What are monocular pictorial depth cues?
Used to create depth and distance on 2 dimensional surfaces. e.g pictures.
5 pictorial cues:
Linear perspective
Interposition (overlap)
Texture gradient
Relative size
Height in visual field
What is relative size?
Pictorial depth cue. Refers to tendency to perceive the object producing the larger retinal image as closer to us and the smaller as more distant.
What is interposition (overlap)?
Occurs when one object obscures part of another. Partially obscured is perceived as more distant.
What is texture gradient?
Changes in texture which occur on surfaces as they move into distance. Details diminish with distance.
What is linear perspective?
Appearance of depth caused by the seeming convergence of parallel lines as they move into the distance.
What is height in the visual field?
Perception that objects close to horizon are more distant than those further away. Object on ground below horizon get higher in visual field and appear smaller when moving towards horizon. vice versa.
What are binocular depth cues?
Use two eyes. Judgement of depth dependent on the comparison between or combination of the images projected onto both left and right eye.
Retinal disparity and Convergence
What is retinal disparity?
Binocular depth cue. Difference between the different retinal images received by either eye. Closer the object the greater the difference.
What is convergence?
Binocular depth cue. Brain detecting, interpreting depth or distance from changes in tension in the eye muscles that occur when eyes turn inward to focus on close objects. Closer the object the greater the tension on eye. Important in determining distance of objects that are close (within 6m)
What are psychological factors?
Visual perception principles are guiding rules that apply to incoming visual signals and determine how they are organised and interpreted. Help make sense by combining visual signals systematically.
Gestalt principles and visual constancies
What are gestalt principles?
Principles that help make sense of visual stimuli by grouping together sperate phenomena into meaningful wholes. Apply these automatically.
Figure-ground
Closure
Similarity
Proximity
What is figure-ground
Gestalt principle. Organise visual information by separating aspects of visual field into ground and figure
What is closure?
Gestalt principle. Fill in the empty spaces or gaps mentally of an incomplete picture to create a whole.
What is Similarity?
Gestalt principle. Tendency to perceive stimuli that have similar features as a whole.
What is proximity?
Gestalt principle. Tendency to perceive parts of a visual image which are closer together as belonging in a group.
What is contour?
Contour is the line that separates the figure from the background. Belongs to the figure.
What is a sensory system?
Network of sensory nerves and tissues that enable the body to receive information about its surroundings.
