Sensation and Perception

Question 1

What is sensation

Answer 1

stimulation of sensory organs

Question 2

What is transduction

Answer 2

translation of physical energy from the environment to neutral signals (taking the signal and turning it into action potential)

Question 3

What is perception

Answer 3

selection, organization, an interpretation of sensory input (what our brains do to help us understand our senses)

Question 4

What is absolute threshold

Answer 4

the exact amount/state at which the senses can recognize a signal (ie. salt in a glass of water: exactly how much salt is needed to identify its presence)

Question 5

What is difference threshold

Answer 5

the smallest difference between stimuli to create a noticeable difference (ie. amount of light in a room: how many more lights must be added to detect a change in the original intensity)

Question 6

What is Weber’s law

Answer 6

it is not the amount of stimulus, rather the proportion

Question 7

What is psychophysics

Answer 7

the study of how physical stimuli becomes a psychological experience

Question 8

A really big part of perception comes down to our own _______________

Answer 8

expectations

Question 9

What is the McGurk effect

Answer 9

What we see influences what we (think) we hear

Question 10

What determines a sounds “loudness”

Answer 10

amplitude

Question 11

What determines a sounds “high or low sound”

Answer 11

frequency (pitch is how we perceive that sound)

Question 12

What is the difference between top-down and bottom-up methods

Answer 12

top-down: perception preconceived by past experiences
bottom-up: takes individual factors and combines them to form a perception

Question 13

What is the stimulus of the visual system

Answer 13

visible light

Question 14

What is the retina

Answer 14

convert light into nerve impulses, and contains lenses and cones

Question 15

What are the two types of visual receptors

Answer 15

rods and cones

Question 16

What are the characteristics of rods

Answer 16

high sensitivity to light
low acuity
analyze info in the periphery
black and white vision

Question 17

What are the characteristics of cones

Answer 17

low sensitivity to light
high acuity
analyse info in the fovea
colour vision

Question 18

What is trichromatic theory

Answer 18

three types of cones; red green and blue
- some people have less of a certain type of cone than they should: colour blindness

Question 19

What is opponent process theory

Answer 19

sets of cones overlap in their responses to colour
- if a cell is turned onto green it must be turned off to red

Question 20

What is afterimage (in respect to opponent process theory)

Answer 20

firing cells get tired, and when you look away you see a different colour

Question 21

Where does visual information cross sides in the brain

Answer 21

the optic chiasm

Question 22

What does the dorsal visual system result in

Answer 22

eye and head movement, reaching movement, other simple behaviours

Question 23

What does the ventral visual systems

Answer 23

speech and thinking in words, consciousness, and other complex behaviours

Question 24

What is blindsight

Answer 24

people who are cortically blind can still respond to visual stimuli that they can’t consciously see

Question 25

What is hollow face illusion

Answer 25

people can accurately flick off targets in the hollow face
- visual action track (dorsal) is not fooled by the illusion we experience through the visual perception track (ventral)

Question 26

What is the visual action track

Answer 26

dorsal

Question 27

What is the visual perception track

Answer 27

ventral

Question 28

What is gesault psychology

Answer 28

whole is greater than the sum of the parts

Question 29

What is depth perception

Answer 29

ability to see 3-D shapes even though the retina sees in 2-D

Question 30

What are monocular cues

Answer 30

available to either eye alone
- relative size
- interposition
- elevation
- relative motion
- linear perspective

Question 31

What are binocular cues

Answer 31

the result from seeing with both eyes
- retinal disparity

Question 32

What is meant by relative size

Answer 32

items that are expected to be the same size
- smaller objects are perceived as further away

Question 33

What is interposition

Answer 33

if one object blocks the view of another, it is perceived as closer

Question 34

What is elevation

Answer 34

items higher up in the visual field are perceived as further away

Question 35

What is relative motion

Answer 35

movement direction
- objects in front of the fixation point seem too forward
movement speed
- close objects move fast
- further objects move closer

Question 36

Linear perspective

Answer 36

the more lines converge (the closer they get), the further the perceived distance (think about looking at a train track head on)

Question 37

What is binocular cue

Answer 37

objects closer to the face appear at increasingly different locations on the retinas

Question 38

What is visual agnosia

Answer 38

impairment in the recognition of visual objects (think about the case of Dr. P.)
- can be hypothesized this is caused by a tumour on the visual cortex (occipital lobe)

Question 39

What is weird about the case of Dr. P in relation to his brain function

Answer 39

the temporal lobe was clearly intact and unaffected since his speech was unaffected, so only the visual cortex could be altered