Sensation Flashcards
sensation
When we detect information using our organs (sense) (eyes,ears,nose,skin,tongue) to send information to the brain.
Perception
How the brain organizes and interprets raw sensory inputs.
transduction
Process where sensory stimuli are converted to signals the brain can interpret.
rods
Sensory Receptor cell located in retina. Detect Light and dark contrast. Respond at very low levels of light. (night vision) Poor at fine detail and don’t support color vision.
cones
: Sensory Receptor cell located in retina. Detect different colors. Responsible for vision under brighter conditions and for seeing both color and detail.
optic nerve
Connects the eye to the brain. Carries impulses formed by the retina and dispatches them through the optic nerve to the brain, which interprets them as images.
Visual cortex
The part of the cerebral cortex that receives and processes sensory nerve impulses from the eye.
occipital lobes
Regions of the cerebral cortex-at the back of the brain-important for vision.
Gestalt Psychology
Tells us how we organize features of a visual scene. a school of thought that looks at the human mind and behavior as a whole. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. (Car as a whole not as metal, rubber, glass, tires, hubcaps etc.)
Figure/ground relationship
How sensory information is organized into figure (Stands out more-more important) and Ground (background-less important) Ex: Words on a printed paper are seen as the “figure” (more important) and the white sheet as the “Background” (less important)
Reversible Figures
An unclear figure where the perspective easily shifts so that at certain times specific elements appear to make up a distinct figure while at others, those same elements appear as an indistinct background
Perceptual Grouping Principles
Laws of: Proximity, Similarity, Continuity, Closure
Proximity
The closer 2 figures are to each other, the more likely we are to group them and see them as part of the same object.
Similarity
Group figures according to how closely they resemble each other. (Shape size color or orientation)
Continuity
Group together edges or contours that have the same orientation. Completing an object hidden behind another.
Closure
Completing figures that have gaps
Sensory Adaptation
A decrease in sensitivity to a constant level of stimulation. (chair- 1st sit realize chair is holding you up. After a few minutes you don’t even notice the chair anymore, although it is sill there)
Selective Attention
Concentration on certain stimuli and not others.
Cocktail Party Effect
Ability to concentrate on one stimuli while at the same time filtering out a range of other stimuli.
Inattentional Blindness
The failure to notice a fully-visible, but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task, event or object.
Top-down
Interpretation of senstaion is influenced by available knowledge, experiences and thoughts. Use context to give meaning. More likely to see what we expect to see.
Bottom-up
System in which perceptions are built from sensory input. No context or prior influence.
Perceptual Illusion
The perception of something objectively existing in such a way as to cause misinterpretation of its actual nature. (ie: young girl and old lady)
Motion-after Effect
is a visual illusion experienced after viewing a moving visual stimulus for a time.
McGurk Effect
Visual info and audio info are in conflict with each other. We tend to trust our eyes more than ears. When we have a conflict between visual nd audio perception we must resolve
