Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

Detection of “raw” sensory info from the
environment

Question 2

Perception

Answer 2

Understanding sensory info as meaningful
categories (“Meaningful” associations of raw sensory info)

Question 3

Sensation is…

Answer 3

The process of detecting stimuli
– Environmental stimuli
– Internal stimuli (like hunger or pain)

Question 4

Sensory Transduction

Answer 4

To sense the world, you must convert info from
the physical environment into neural impulses

Question 5

Vision - Sensory Transduction

Answer 5

• Photons of light

Question 6

Hearing - Sensory Transduction

Answer 6

– Vibrations in the air

Question 7

Taste and Smell - Sensory Transduction

Answer 7

• Chemicals in air, water, and food

Question 8

Touch - Sensory Transduction

Answer 8

• Pressure, temperature, vibration

Question 9

Rods

Answer 9

– light receptors that fire in response to
different light intensities (light vs. dark)

Question 10

Cones

Answer 10

– light receptors that fire in response to
different light frequencies (colors)

Question 11

Sound converted to neural signals with…

Answer 11

mechanical engineering

Question 12

Sound waves move…

Answer 12

tympanic membrane (ear drum)

Question 13

The Ear Drum…

Answer 13

1. moves a set of three tiny bones (ossicles)
2. Ossicles send waves through fluid in the cochlea
3. The “ripples” cause receptors to move at different
   frequencies

Question 14

Taste and smell converted into neural
signals through…

Answer 14

chemical detection

Question 15

Taste

Answer 15

• Taste buds detect chemicals in food

Question 16

Smell

Answer 16

• Receptors in the nasal cavity detect chemicals in the
  air

Question 17

Sense of touch converted to neural signals by…

Answer 17

receptiors that get squished, stretched, and deformed

Question 18

Nociception

Answer 18

• Specialized receptors for detecting pain

Question 19

Gate control theory of pain

Answer 19

• Pain may be reduced by increasing other stimulation

Question 20

Sensory Threshold

Answer 20

• the minimum amount of detectable stimulus

Question 21

Absolute Threshold

Answer 21

The absolute limit of sensory sensitivity
– What’s the quietest sound you could possibly hear?

Question 22

Difference Threshold

Answer 22

– “Relative Threshold” or “Just noticeable difference”
– The smallest detectable difference
– How much louder before it actually sounds louder?

Question 23

Perception is selective

Answer 23

TRUE, Different senses simultaneously active
– Only some things are actively perceive

Question 24

Bottom-up Processing

Answer 24

The features of the stimulus

Question 25

Top-down Processing

Answer 25

Influence of past knowledge, expectations, and experience

Question 26

Perception can use expectations to...

Answer 26

“fill in the blanks”

Question 27

You are always sensing multiple stimuli but...

Answer 27

only perceive specific stimuli

Question 28

The grey strawberries are an example of...

Answer 28

Top-down processing (our brain filling in the gaps)

Question 29

Gestalt Psychology

Answer 29

Perception involves how the mind organizes patterns of sensations

Question 30

Law of Similarity

Answer 30

- similar things appear grouped together

Question 31

Law of simplicity

Answer 31

- Patterns are seen so the resulting structure is as simple as possible

Question 32

Law of Continuity

Answer 32

- Lines tend to be seen as following the smoothest path

Question 33

Figure-Ground

Answer 33

Object recognition occurs by making distinctions between the object and the background

Question 34

Size Constancy

Answer 34

An object’s size seems constant despite the size of the raw visual image – Knowledge of the object influences the perception of size

Question 35

The picture of two rats sitting on the railyard as the exact same size, seems to show a bigger rat in the distance is an example of...

Answer 35

size constancy.

Question 36

Shape Constancy

Answer 36

Object shape appears to remain the same even though the visual image changes

Question 37

Perception is a combination of...

Answer 37

bottom-up and top-down processing

Question 38

Is color seen or perceived?

Answer 38

Percieved - The color you see depends on how your brain interprets it relative to other colors it’s seeing at the same time

Question 39

Brain bases its interpretation of color on…

Answer 39

The amount of available light and the presence of other colors

Question 40

Your perception of color is only an estimate because...

Answer 40

the brain calculates what the color should look like

Question 41

Perceptions are...

Answer 41

Interpretations of raw sensory information

Question 42

Perceptual heuristics

Answer 42

“Automatic Shortcuts” the brain develops to interpret perceptions

Question 43

“light-from-above” perceptual heuristic

Answer 43

- an image of hills flipped upside down will look like valleys based on how our brains have processed light to come from above

Question 44

Motion detection perceptual heuristic

Answer 44

Alternating patterns of light and dark is a good indication of motion - brains can be fooled into seeing motion

Question 45

Sine Wave Speech

Answer 45

- Distorted versions of speech that can be understood if given prior expectation

Question 46

The McGurk Effect

Answer 46

Perception of language phonemes altered by visual cues - the mouth moving a certain way makes us believe we hear different things

Question 47

Don’t necessarily see the world as it is, instead we...

Answer 47

see the world as you expect it to be

Question 48

Ch. 3 Disembodied Woman

Answer 48

removal of Gallbladder - put on antibiotics She loses her proprioception Loses her ability to move her body unless she deeply focuses on it She needed to use her eyes to compensate.

Question 49

Proprioception

Answer 49

how our bodies continuously adjust and hold itself in space

Question 50

Dr. Sacks looks at the disembodied womans parietal lobe because it controls...

Answer 50

so much with physical.