Sensation and Perception

Question 1

What is sensation?

Answer 1

Detection of physical energy by the sensory organs (e.g., eyes for sight, ears for hearing)

Question 2

What is perception?

Answer 2

The brain’s interpretation of raw sensory data, perceives sensation

Question 3

When we perceive a stimulus that doesn’t match reality, what is that called?

Answer 3

An illusion

Question 4

What is the process by which the nervous systems turns an external energy into excitation of neurons?

Answer 4

Transduction

Question 5

What are sense receptors?

Answer 5

Specialized cells that convert a specific stimulus

Question 6

What is the top-down process and what is the bottom-up process?

Answer 6

Top-down process: initiated by our thoughts and beliefs and flows down
Bottom-up process: where a whole stimulus is constructed with parts

Question 7

What is parallel processing?

Answer 7

The ability to attend to multiple senses at once

Question 8

What is psychophysics?

Answer 8

The study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on their physical characteristics

Question 9

What is absolute threshold?

Answer 9

The lowest level of a stimulus that we can detect

Question 10

What is the just-noticeable difference (JND)?

Answer 10

The smallest amount of stimulus change a human can detect

Question 11

Explain Weber’s Law.

Answer 11

The stronger the stimulus, the greater the change needed to detect a difference.
E.g., if we add one candle to a low-lit room, our brain perceives a large difference. If we add one candle to a high-lit room, our brain would not perceive a large difference.

Question 12

HINT: What is the Signal Detection Theory?

Answer 12

Theory regarding HOW stimuli are DETECTED under different conditions!
A method of differentiating a person’s ability to discriminate the presence and absence of a stimulus

Question 13

What are phosephenes?

Answer 13

Luminous shapes like stars, zigzags, etc. that are seen when one’s eyes are closed tightly

Question 14

What is synesthesia?

Answer 14

Hearing sounds when one sees or tastes colours, a form of sensory cross-modality

Question 15

What is sensory cross-modality?

Answer 15

Where two or more senses integrate with each other to create unique perceptual experiences

Question 16

What is the Binding Problem?

Answer 16

How our brain takes multiple pieces of information and combines them to represent something concrete

Question 17

What is selective attention?

Answer 17

Allows us to choose which sensory inputs to focus on and which to ignore

Question 18

Even when we’re not paying attention to some sensory inputs, they are still being processed. What effect is this called?

Answer 18

Cocktail Party Effect

Question 19

What is a wavelength?

Answer 19

The distance between two peaks of a wave, what makes up light

Question 20

What is the sclera?

Answer 20

The white portion of the eye

Question 21

Which coloured portion of the eye controls how much light enters it?

Answer 21

The iris

Question 22

Which curved, transparent layer that covers the iris and pupil focuses light on the back of the eye?

Answer 22

The cornea

Question 23

What is the pupil?

Answer 23

The hole where light enters the eye

Question 24

Which part of the eye changes curvature/accomodation to keep images in focus?

Answer 24

The lens

Question 25

What is the retina?

Answer 25

The thin membrane at the back of the eye

Question 26

Which part of the eye is in the centre of the retina and is responsible for acuity?

Answer 26

The fovea

Question 27

What are the two types of sense receptors on the retina and what do they do?

Answer 27

Rods allow us to see at low light levels, and cones allow us to see colour

Question 28

Which part of the eye causes a blind spot because it connects to the retina?

Answer 28

The optic nerve

Question 29

What does the trichromatic theory of colour suggest?

Answer 29

Our vision is based on our sensitivity to 3 primary colours: red, green, and blue

Question 30

What does the opponent process theory of colour suggest?

Answer 30

Colour vision is considered as a function of complementary/opposing colours, e.g. red vs. green

Question 31

Also known as "myopia", what is near-sightedness?

Answer 31

Harder to see objects at a distance due to a steep cornea or long eyes

Question 32

Also known as "hyperopia", what is far-sightedness?

Answer 32

Harder to see objects nearby due to a flat cornea or short eyes

Question 33

What are Gestalt Principles?

Answer 33

Rules that govern how we perceive objects as wholes within their overall context, e.g., proximity or symmetry

Question 34

HINT: What is the Visual Cliff Test?

Answer 34

Conducted by Eleanor Gibson, proved that hesitation as young as 6 months old demonstrates that depth perception is partially innate and a result of experience

Question 35

Between what range can humans hear wavelengths?

Answer 35

20-20,000 Hz

Question 36

What is audition?

Answer 36

Our sense of hearing, the sense we rely on most after sight

Question 37

What are the 3 components that make up sound?

Answer 37

1. Pitch (wave frequency, Hz) 2. Loudness (amplitude of sound waves, dB) 3. Timbre (complexity of sound)

Question 38

The ear is made up of 3 parts. What are their names?

Answer 38

Outer, middle, and inner

Question 39

Which two parts of the outer ear tunnel sound waves to the eardrum?

Answer 39

The pinna and the ear canal

Question 40

Which part of the middle ear vibrates and transmits sound from the eardrum to the inner ear?

Answer 40

The ossicles

Question 41

Which part of the inner ear converts vibration into neural activity?

Answer 41

The cochlea

Question 42

When sounds cannot enter the outer or middle ear, what is this called?

Answer 42

Conductive deafness

Question 43

Due to damage in the auditory nerve, what is this permanent hearing loss called?

Answer 43

Nerve deafness

Question 44

Due to repeated loud noise, what type of hearing loss causes damage in the hearing cells?

Answer 44

Nerve-induced hearing loss

Question 45

What is the somatosensory system?

Answer 45

System that responds to stimuli applied to skin, temperature, and energy

Question 46

What are mechanoreceptors?

Answer 46

Specialized nerve endings in the skin

Question 47

What is the Gate control Theory?

Answer 47

Theory that suggests we have a neurological gate in the spinal cord that "opens" or "closes" to allow or block pain signals to travel to the brain

Question 48

What are our 3 body systems that work in harmony?

Answer 48

1. Somatosensory system - touch and pain 2. Proprioception system - kinesthetic sense 3. System of vestibular sense - equilibrium and balance

Question 49

Known as the "chemical senses", which two senses work together to enhance liking or disliking of some foods?

Answer 49

Olfaction (smell) and gustation (taste)

Question 50

Name the 5 basic tastes that our tongue is sensitive to.

Answer 50

1. Sweet 2. Salty 3. Sour 4. Bitter 5. Umami (savoury and meaty)

Question 51

What does the tongue contain that senses the basic tastes?

Answer 51

Taste buds (papillae)

Question 52

What is the tongue map myth?

Answer 52

A myth that suggests that 4 areas of the tongue tastes a different flavour