Sensation and Perception Flashcards
what is the bistable image?
the sensory stimulation is identical, what is changing is how your brain interprets it
the process of converting the characteristics of a stimulus into nerve impulses is called…
transduction
the study of the relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli and sensory capabilities is called…
psychophysics
what factors influence sensory judgements?
alertness, expectation, rewards/costs for success or failure, significance of the stimulus
what is the function of kinesthesis?
provides us with feedback about the position and movement of our muscles and joints
what occurs in bottom-up processing?
individual elements of the stimulus are combined into a unified perception.
start at the sensory receptors and work up to higher levels of processing
which form of processing involves using existing knowledge, concepts, ideas and expectations?
top-down processing
the mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another is called…
perceptual set
the minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time is called…
the absolute threshold
what is the signal detection theory?
predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise)
what does Weber’s law argue?
to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage
the retina contains…
receptor rods and cones as well as layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information
which part of the eye detects fine detail and give rise to colour sensations?
cones (retinal receptors that are concentrated near the centre of the retina)
the optic nerve carries…
neural impulses from the eye to the brain
what is the opponent-process theory?
opposing retinal processes (e.g. white-black) enable colour vision
