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Behavioural sciences > Sensation and perception > Flashcards

Sensation and perception Flashcards

1
Q

The conversion or transduction of physical, electromagnetic, auditory, and other information into electrical signals in the nervous system

A

Sensation

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2
Q

The processing of sensory information to make sense of its significance

A

Perception

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3
Q

Nerves that respond to stimuli by triggering electrical signals that carry information to the CNS

A

Sensory receptors

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4
Q

Studies the relationship between the physical nature of stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they evoke

A

Psychophysics

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5
Q

Collections of neuron cell bodies found outside the CNS which send information to projection areas to further analyze sensory input

A

Sensory ganglia

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6
Q

Receptors that respond to electromagnetic waves in the visible spectrum (sight)

A

Photoreceptors

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7
Q

Receptors that respond to pressure or movement. Hair cells for example, respond to movement of fluid in the inner ear structure (movement, vibration, hearing, rotational, and linear acceleration)

A

Mechanoreceptors

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8
Q

Receptors that respond to painful or noxious stimuli (somatosensation)

A

Nociceptors

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9
Q

Receptors that respond to changes in temperature (thermosensation)

A

Thermoreceptors

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10
Q

Receptors that respond to the osmolarity of the blood (water homeostasis)

A

Osmoreceptors

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11
Q

Receptors that respond to volatile compounds (smell)

A

Olfactory receptors

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12
Q

Receptors that respond to dissolved compounds (taste)

A

Taste receptors

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13
Q

The minimum amount of a stimulus that renders a difference in perception

A

Threshold

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14
Q

The minimum of stimulus energy that is needed to activate a sensory system and evoke an action potential

A

Absolute threshold

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15
Q

The level of intensity (large enough in size and long enough in duration) that a stimulus must pass in order to be consciously perceived by the brain (signal is transductance)

A

Threshold of conscious perception

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16
Q

Information received by the CNS the does not cross the threshold of concious perception

A

Subliminal perception

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17
Q

The minimum change in magnitude required for an observer to perceive that two difference stimuli are different

A

Difference threshold (just noticeable difference)

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18
Q

The just noticeable difference for a stimulus is proportional to the magnitude of the stimulus, and that this proportion is constant over most of the range of possible stimuli

A

Weber’s law

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19
Q

A thoery that studies how internal (psychology) and external (environmental) factors influence thresholds of sensation and perception

A

Signal detection theory

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20
Q

Trials in which the signal is presented

A

Noise trials

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21
Q

Trials in which the singal is not presented

A

Catch trials

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22
Q

A signal is presented and correctly perceived in a trial

A

Hit

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23
Q

A subject fails to perceive the presented signal in a trial

A

Miss

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24
Q

A subject indicates that they perceived a signal even through the signal was not presented in a trial

A

False alarm

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25
Q

A subject correctly identifies that no signal was presented in a trial

A

Correct negative

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26
Q

A decrease in response to stimulus over time

A

Adaptation

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27
Q

Examined using signal detection experiments with four possible outcomes: hits, misses, false alarms, and correct negatives

A

Response bias

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28
Q

Covers the exposed portion of the eye (except the cornea) for structural support

A

Sclera

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29
Q

Located between the sclera and retina and provides nourishment and support to the retina

A

choroidal vessels (choroid)

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30
Q

Contains the photoreceptors that transduce light into electrical information

A

Retina

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31
Q

A clear, domelike, window in the front of the eye, which gathers and focuses incoming light

A

Cornea

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32
Q

Allows the passage of light from the anterior to posterior chamber

A

Pupil

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33
Q

The coloured part of eye - controls size of pupil - divides the front of the eye into the anterior and posterior chambers

A

Iris

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34
Q

The muscles of the iris that open pupil under sympathetic stimulation

A

Dilator pupillae

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35
Q

The muscles of the iris that constrict the pupil under parasympathetic stimulation

A

Constrictor pupillae

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36
Q

Produces AQUEOUS HUMOR that bathes the front part of the eye before draining into the canal of Schlemm.

A

Ciliary body

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37
Q

Right behind iris, controls the refraction of incoming light to focus it on the retina and is held in place by suspensory ligaments and connected to ciliary muscles

A

Lens

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38
Q

A part of ciliary body that is under parasympathetic control. Pulls on the suspensory ligaments and changes the shape of the lens to focus an image ~ accommodation

A

Ciliary muscle

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39
Q

The fluid behind the lens that supports the retina

A

Viterous humor

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40
Q

The back of the eye that acts as a screen and consists of neural elements and blood vessels that convert incoming light to electrical stimuli

A

Retina

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41
Q

The theory that the retina contains two kinds of photoreceptors, those specialized for light and dark detection and those for color detection

A

Duplexity (duplicity theory of vision)

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42
Q

Assoicated with colour vision and the detection of fine detail and work best in bright light. They come in three wavelengths: short, medium, and long

A

Cones

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43
Q

Contain rhodopsin and respond to any wavelenth of light but only detect light and dark. Function best in low light.

A

Rods

44
Q

The area of high cone concentraion in the retina

A

Macula

45
Q

The central part of the macula that only contains cones. Visual acuity is best in daylight

A

Fovea

46
Q

The part of the retina that is devoid of photoreceptors

A

Blind spot

47
Q

The location where rods and cones synapse

A

Bipolar cells

48
Q

A group of axons that form the optic nerve and synapse with bipolar cells converging information from rods and cones

A

Ganglia cells

49
Q

Cells that integrate signals from ganglion cells and perform edge-sharpening

A

Amacrine and horizontal cells

50
Q

The brain’s ability to analyze information regarding color, form, motion, and depth simultaneously using independent pathways in the brain to form cohesive picture.

A

Parallel processing

51
Q

Shape, ability to discriminate object from background by detecting its boundaries. Detected by parvocellular cells

A

Form

52
Q

Found in the LGN and have high color spatial resolution ~ detect very fine detail of form. Only work with slow-moving objects because these cells have very low temporal resolution

A

Parvocellular cells

53
Q

Cells in the LGN that detect motion b/c they have very high temporal resolution Detect information from periphery but have very low spatial resolution (no rich detail). Provide blurry picture of object moving by

A

Magnocellular cells

54
Q

The ability to discriminate 3D shape and judge distance. Performed by bionocular neurons which compare inputs from both hemispheres and compares the differences

A

Depth perception

55
Q

Cells that detect very specific details

A

Feautre detectors

56
Q

The ability to detect rotational and liner acceleration and use this information to inform our sense of balance and spatial orientation

A

Vestibular senses

57
Q

The pinna (auricle) channels sound waves into the external auditory canal which directs sound waves to the tympanic membrane (eardrum). Frequency of wave determines vibration of drum and amplitude determines the intensity.

A

Outer ear

58
Q

Three smallest bones in body and transmit and amplify vibrations of drum ~ located in the middle ear

A

Ossicles

59
Q

The three ossicles in the middle ear

A

Malleus (hammer), incus (avil), stapes (stirrup)

60
Q

Connects the middle ear with the nasal cavity and equilizes the pressure between the middle ear and the external enviornment

A

Eustachian tube

61
Q

Sits in the bony labyrinth, the hollow region of the temporal lobe, and contains the membraneous labyrinth which contain receptors for the sense of equilibrium and hearing and are filled with potassium rich fluid called endolymph which is suspended by perilymph which transmits vibrations from the outside and provides cushion

A

Inner ear

62
Q

The fluid that fills the bony labyrinth

A

perilympth

63
Q

The fluid that fills the membraneous labyrinth

A

endolympth

64
Q

Spiral shaped organ that contains hearing receptors and is divided into three parts called scalae

A

Cochlea

65
Q

The middle scalae of the cochlea that rests on a thin basilar membrane and is composed of hearing cells that are bathed in endolympth

A

Organ of Corti

66
Q

Allows the perilymph to move within cochlea and respond to vibrations

A

Round window

67
Q

Hair cells transmit physical stimulus into electrical signal which is carried to CNS by auditory ———- nerves

A

vestibulocochlear

68
Q

The portion of bony labyrinth that contains utricle and saccule ~ sensitive to linear acceleration ~ contains modified hair cells covered with otoliths which resist motion and send signals to brain

A

Vestibule

69
Q

Three canals that are sensitive to rotational acceleration and each ends in a swelling called an ampulla where hair cells are locate

A

Semicircular canals

70
Q

The auditory pathway starts from the cochlea and travels through the —— and —— of the thalamus to get to the —– in the temporal lobe. Some information projects to the —–, which localizes the sound, and the —–, which is invovled in the startle reflex

A

vestibulocochlear nerve, medial geniculate nucleus (MGN), auditory cortex, superior olive, inferior colliculus

71
Q

The location of the hair cell on the basilar membrane determines the perception of pitch when that hair cell is vibrated

A

Place theory

72
Q

Smell is the detection of volatile or aerolized cheimcals by the —– —– on the olfactory epithelium in the upper part of the nasal cavitiy

A

olfactory chemoreceptors (olfactory nerves)

73
Q

chemicals given off by animals that have an effect on social, foraging, and sexual behvaiour in other members of the species

A

Pheromones

74
Q

The olfactory pathway starts from the olfactory nerve and travels through the olfactory —- and olfactory —- to get to higher order brain areas, such as the limbic system

A

bulb, tract

75
Q

The five taste modalities

A

sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (savoury)

76
Q

Taste is the detection of dissolved compounds by — — in —.

A

Taste buds, papillae

77
Q

The four modalities of somatosensation

A

Pressure, vibration, pain and temperature

78
Q

Receptors that respond to deep pressure and vibration

A

Pacinian corpuscles

79
Q

Receptors that respond to light touch

A

Meissner corpuscles

80
Q

Receptors that respond to deep pressure and texture

A

Merkel cells (discs)

81
Q

Receptors that respond to streach

A

Ruffini endings

82
Q

Receptors that respond to pain and temperature

A

Free nerve endings

83
Q

The minimum distance necessary between two points of stimulation on the skin such that the points are felt as two distinct points ~ depends on nerve density

A

A two-point threshold

84
Q

Temperature is judged relative to normal temperature of skin

A

Physiological zero

85
Q

Receptors responsible for pain perception

A

Nociceptors

86
Q

States that pain sensation is reduced when other somatosensory signals are present. The spinal cord can preferentially forward signals from touch modalities to the brain

A

The gate theory of pain

87
Q

Refers to the ability to tell where one’s body is in three-dimensional space. Uses proprioceptors found primarily in muscle and joints and play role in hand-eye coordination, balance, and mobility

A

Kinesthetic sense (proprioception)

88
Q

The ability to recognize and object by parallel processing the feature detection. Takes individual stimuli to form cohesive picture. Slower but less prone to mistakes.

A

Bottom up (data driven) processing

89
Q

The process driven by memories and experiences which allows the recognition of the whole object, with little attention to detail. Faster but more prone to mistakes

A

Top-down (conceptually driven) processing

90
Q

The ability to create a complete picture or idea by combining top-down and bottom-up processing with all of the other sensory clues including, depth, form, motion, and constancy gathered from an object

A

Perceptual

91
Q

Cues that require one eye and include relative size, interposition, linear perspective, motion parallax, and their minor cues

A

Monocular cues

92
Q

Objects appear larger the closer they are (monocular cue)

A

Relative size

93
Q

When two objects overlap, the one in front is closer (monocular cue)

A

Interposition

94
Q

The greater the convergence of parallel lines, the further the distance (monocular cue)

A

Linear perspective

95
Q

The perception that objects closer to us seem to move faster when we change our field of vision (monocular cue)

A

Motion parallax

96
Q

Involve retinal disparity which refers to the slight difference in images projected on the two retinas

A

Binocular cues

97
Q

The brain detects the angle between the two eyes required to bring an object into focus (binocular cue)

A

Convergene

98
Q

Our ability to perceive that certain characteristics of objects remain the same, despite changes in the environment (binocular cues)

A

Constancy

99
Q

A set of general rules that account for the fact that the brain tends to view incomplete stimuli in organized, patterned ways

A

Gestalt principes

100
Q

Elements close to one another tend to be perceived as a unit

A

Law of proximity

101
Q

Objects that are similar tend to be grouped together

A

Law of similiarty

102
Q

Elements that appear to follow in the same pathway tend to be grouped together

A

Law of good continuation

103
Q

Perceiving shapes that are not actually present

A

Subjective contours

104
Q

When space is enclosed by a contour, the space tends to be perceived as a complete figure

A

Law of closure

105
Q

Perceptual organization will always be as regular, simple, and symmetric as possible

A

Law of pragnanz

Behavioural sciences (2 decks)

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