Sensation Flashcards
What is sensation?
Detecting stimuli from the environment and converting it to neural signals
What is perception?
Selecting and organizing sensations - creating meaning form sensory information
What is Bottom-up processing?
Constructing a whole from it’s parts - no prior knowledge
What is Top-down processing?
Conceptually driven and based on expectations - looks at the big picture and then the details
What is Selective attention?
hearing one voice among many, etc.
What is the Cocktail Party effect?
When you’re in a crowded situation and can hear someone call your name
What is inattentional blindness?
failing to see visible objects when attention is elsewhere
What is change blindness?
failing to notice change in an environment
What is Choice Blindness?
Failure to recall a choice after you made it already (ex: those face cards from brain games)
What is choice blindness blindness?
inability to recognize that we are unable to recognize our own choice blindness
What is the “Pop out” phenomenon
some stimuli appears to pop out, like those dots
What is absolute threshold?
smallest detectable level of stimuli against background
What is SDT? (Signal Detection Theory)
Assumes that there is no absolute threshold and depends on
persons experience
expectations
motivation
level of fatigue
What is Sublimal Stimulation?
Stimuli below the absolute threshold
ex: smelling something bad but cant describe it
What is difference threshold?
detecting differences in stimuli
What is webers law?
2 stimuli must differ by a constant % to be perceived as different
ex: bodybuilder
What is sensory adaptation?
Getting used to something constant - like hair tie on wrist
nerve cells fire less frequently
What is light?
waves of electromagnetic NRG
what is transduction?
sensory info converted into action potential
What does the wavelength of light effect?
Hue
What does amplitude of light waves effect?
brightness and intensity
What does the saturation of light waves have to do with?
how strong a color is
What is the cornea?
outer covering of the eye (protection) that bends light to focus it
What is the pupil?
A whole into the eye where light enters
What is the iris?
Surrounds the pupil and dilates/constricts in response to light intensity
What is the lens?
where light hits after it goes through the pupil - focuses to the retina
bends the image upside down
What is the retina?
membrane at the back of the eye which contains rods and cones
What is the retinas area of focus?
The fovea
What are rods?
responsible for light and motion detection - can send messages with other rods
What are cones?
responsible for details and colors (only in bright light)
clusters around the fovea and can preserve precise infromation
How does the retina react to light?
Triggers reaction in rods and cones
creates chemical signals and neural signals
bipolar cells activate ganglion cells
goes to the brain
what are ganglion cells?
cells that form the optic nerve
what is the optic nerve?
carries information from the eyes to the brain (thalamus)
what is a bling spot?
area where there are no optic nerve cells that leave the eye - no receptor cells
What is feature detection?
using minimal patterns to identify objects
where does facial recognition occur?
the temporal love and hippocampus
what is parallel processing?
processing many things at once such as color movement and depth
what is the young-helmholtz trichromatic theory
red green and blue are the three main colors
what is the opponent processing theory?
complimentary colors leave afterimages because other color in the cones from your eye get tired
what are afterimages?
when a photo disappears and you can see the complimentary colors as an afterimage
what does the amplitude of sound waves determine?
the volume
what does the frequency of sound waves determine?
the pitch
long waves = ___
short waves = __
low pitch
high pitch
where does transduction occur? (hearing)
in the cochlea
How does transduction in the ears occur?
eardrum vibrates and is connected to the cochlea
vibrations cause fluid to move along with hairs within
triggers electrical signals
auditory nerve transmission from said electrical signals
What is a part of the outer ear?
Ear canal, eardrum
what is the eardrum?
a tight membrane that vibrates when struck by sound
what is a part of the middle ear?
the piston made up of the hammer, anvil, and stirrup
what is the function of the middle ear?
to connect the eardrums vibrations to the cochlea
what is the function of the inner ear?
converting sound waves into electrical NRG
what is the oval window?
where the stirrup and cochlea meet
what is the cochlea
a coiled, bony, fluid filled tube where sound waves trigger neural impulses
what happens when hair cells in the ear are damaged?
hearing loss
what is the auditory nerve?
cells that send auditory messages to the brain
what is the semicircular canal?
helps you keep your balance - filled with fluid
what is the auditory cortex?
helps process auditory information and it located inside the temporal lobe
How does the brain interpret loudness?
by the # of activated hair cells in the ear
what is the place theory?
that we hear different pitches because different sound waves trigger activity in different places along the cochleas basilar membrane.
best explains how we hear higher pitches
What is frequency theory?
That the brain reads pitch by keeping track of the frequency of neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve
best explains how we hear lower pitches
How do we locate sounds?
based on its location, speed of the sound, and localization
What is the only cure to sensorineural hearing loss?
cochlear implants
What is conduction hearing loss?
problems with mechanical system that conducts to the cochlea
what is sensorineural hearing loss?
damage to the cochleas hair cell receptors “nerve deafness”
How do we feel hot?
when warm and cold sensors are combined
What is the mcgurk effect?
ex: girl saying ba but sounding like GA because of what you are seeing with your eyes
What are the two types of skin?
hairy and glabrous
what is kinesthesis?
sense of body position - how you don’t hit things
what is vestibular sense?
motors your head and body movement - balance
what are vestibular sacs?
help with balance - by the semicircular tubes
What is CIPA disease?
when someone is born without the ability to feel pain
what are nociceptors?
sensory receptors that detect hurtful temp, pressure, and chemicals
what is the gate control theory?
the idea that your spinal chord contains neurological “gate” that blocks/allows pain to pass into the brain
more stimuli might make the pain lessen because only a little bit can go in at a time
what are psychological influences on pain?
editing memories of pain - recording the peak and only remembering that
what are socio-cultural influences on pain?
perceiving more pain when others fo
what is biopsychosocial influemce?
the combination of psychological and social-cultural influences
what are the 5 main tastes?
sweet
salty
bitter
sour
umami
why to we taste sweet?
source of NRG
why to we taste salty?
sodium essential to psychological process
why to we taste bitter?
potential poisons
why to we taste sour?
potentially toxic acid
why to we taste umami?
proteins to grow and repair tissues
what is flavor?
texture, smell, and taste combined
what are taste buds?
little bumps on the top and the side of your tongue with receptors inside the pores
What is olfaction?
experiencing smell
when does the ability to smell peak?
adulthood
which part of the brain is smell linked to?
the limbic system
what is synesthesia?
