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Intro To Psych HP1000 > Sensation and Perception > Flashcards

Sensation and Perception Flashcards

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1
Q

What did Jonathan I. develop after sustaining brain injury?

A

Cerebral achromatopsia

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2
Q

What is cerebral achromatopsia?

A

Loss of colour vision

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3
Q

What is sensation?

A

Process by which a stimulated receptor creates a pattern of neural messages that represent the stimulus in the brain, giving rise to our initial experience of the stimulus

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4
Q

What is perception?

A

A mental process that elaborates and assigns meaning to the incoming sensory patterns

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5
Q

Sensation is to perception as ________ is to _________

A

Stimulation; recognition

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6
Q

What is a sensory receptor?

A

A specialised neuron that detects sensory energy in the outside world

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7
Q

What is transduction?

A

The sensory process that converts information carried by a physical stimulus (such as light or sound waves) into the form of neural messages/impulses

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8
Q

Nerve impulses that carry information travel along _______, usually by way of the _______, to specialised processing areas in the brain

A

Sensory pathways; thalamus

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9
Q

What is absolute threshold?

A

The point at which a person can detect a stimulus 50% of the time it is presented

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10
Q

The absolute threshold for vision is defined as the ability to detect _________ located _________ on a clear night

A

a candle flame; 30 miles away (~48km)

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11
Q

The absolute threshold for human hearing is the _______ from ________ under very quiet conditions

A

tick of a watch; 20 feet (~6m)

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12
Q

The absolute threshold for smell is one drop of ________ diffused throughout a ________

A

perfume; three-room apartment

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13
Q

The absolute threshold for taste is _________ in _________

A

one teaspoon of sugar; 2 gallons of water (~7.5l)

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14
Q

The absolute threshold for touch is a ________ falling on the ________ from ________ above

A

bee’s wing; cheek; 1 centimetre

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15
Q

What is the difference threshold?

A

Degree of change in a stimulus level that is required in order for a person to detect a change 50% of the time

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16
Q

What is another name for difference threshold?

A

Just noticeable difference (JND)

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17
Q

What is another name for just noticeable difference (JND)?

A

Difference threshold

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18
Q

What is Weber’s law?

A

Weber’s law states that the size of the JND is proportional to the intensity of the stimulus

aka The amount of change needed to detect a JND increases as the intensity of the initial stimulus increases

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19
Q

What is signal detection theory?

A

The signal detection theory explains how we detect signals consisting of stimulation affecting our eyes, ears, nose, skin and other sense organs

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20
Q

According to signal detection theory, sensation depends on the: (3 things)

A

characteristics of the stimulus,
background stimulation,
detector

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21
Q

Signal detection theory suggests that differences in absolute thresholds between different people reflect ________

A

human judgment

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22
Q

What is sensory adaptation?

A

The loss of responsiveness in receptor cells due to constant stimulation

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23
Q

The sensory pathways carry information from _________ to _________

A

sense organs; the brain

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24
Q

Why do sensory psychologists use the standard of the amount of stimulation that your sensory system can detect about half the time for identifying the absolute threshold?

A

The amount of stimulation that we can detect is not fixed

It varies depending on ever-changing factors such as our level of arousal, distractions, fatigue, and motivation

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25
Q

Use the concept of transduction to explain why the brain never directly senses the outside world

A

The senses transduce stimulation from the external world into the form of neural impulses

which is the only form of information that the brain can use

Therefore, the brain does not deal directly with light, sound, odors, and other stimuli but only with information that has been changed (transduced) into neural messages

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26
Q

Which is the most complex and highly developed sense for humans?

A

Sight

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27
Q

What is the retina?

A

The light-sensitive layer of cells at the back of the eye

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28
Q

Each retina of the eye has about ______ million rods

A

125 million rods

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29
Q

What are photoreceptors?

A

Light-sensitive cells (neurons) in the retina that convert light energy to neural impulses

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30
Q

What are the two types of photoreceptors?

A

Rods and cones

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31
Q

Which component of the eye contains the visual receptors?

A

Retina

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32
Q

Visual transduction occurs within the

A

Retina

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33
Q

What are rods?

A

Photoreceptors in the retina that are especially sensitive to dim light but not to colours.

(They are rod-shaped)

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34
Q

What are cones?

A

Photoreceptors in the retina that are especially sensitive to colours but not to dim light

(they are cone-shaped)

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35
Q

Are rods or cones responsible for helping us perceive colours?

A

Cones

C for Colour!

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36
Q

What sort of stimulation do the cones detect?

A

The cones give us high-resolution color vision in relatively bright light and sharp images

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37
Q

Are rods or cones responsible for vision in low-level situations?

A

Rods

D in roDs stand for Dark

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38
Q

What sort of stimulation do the rods detect?

A

The rods are better than the cones for detecting objects in dim light

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39
Q

Where are cones located?

A

They are concentrated in the very centre of the retina, in a small region called the fovea

Funfact the fovea also gives us our sharpest vision

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40
Q

What is the fovea?

A

The tiny area of sharpest vision in the retina

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41
Q

What is the correct order in which light activates the visual cells of the retina?

A

Rod and cone cells (photoreceptors) -> bipolar cells -> ganglion cells

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42
Q

Bundles of axons from ganglion cells make up the _________

A

optic nerve

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43
Q

What is the optic nerve?

A

Bundle of neurons that carries visual information from the retina to the brain

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44
Q

The ________ refers to the region of the eye at where the ________ exit the eye

A

blind spot; optic nerve

*there are no photoreceptors there! any stimulus that falls on the blind spot cannot be seen

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45
Q

What is the visual cortex?

A

A special brain area that creates visual images from the information imported from the eyes through the optic nerve

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46
Q

The aspect of colour that corresponds to names such as red, green and blue is _________

A

hue

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47
Q

The psychological sensations of vision relating to
wavelength: ________
intensity (amplitude): _________

A

colour; brightness

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48
Q

The physical stimulation of vision relating to
colour: __________
brightness: __________

A

wavelength; intensity/amplitude

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49
Q

The visible spectrum refers to

A

the portion of the whole spectrum of light that is visible to the human eye

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50
Q

Range of wavelength of visible light is?

A

400nm (blue) to 700nm (red)

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51
Q

Humans can typically discriminate amongst _________ hues

A

5 million

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52
Q

What is the trichromatic theory?

A

The idea that the eye contains three different types of cones (receptors) sensitive to light in the red, green and blue wavelengths

and that is how colours are sensed

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53
Q

What is the trichromatic theory sometimes called?

A

Young-Helmholtz theory

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54
Q

What is the opponent-process theory?

A

The idea that cells in the visual system process colours in complementary pairs

such as red/green or yellow/blue

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55
Q

The trichromatic and opponent-process theories of colour vision are not in conflict because each corresponds to _________.

What do they correspond to?

A

a different portion of the spectrum

trichromatic: concerns what happens when light hits the cones in the retina

opponent-process: concerns neural signals in the bipolar cells and on their way to the brain

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56
Q

What is an afterimage?

A

A sensation that lingers after the stimulus is removed

Most visual afterimages are negative afterimages, which appear in reversed colours

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57
Q

_____ have more problems with colour vision

A

Men

due to the sex-linked nature of most forms of colour blindness

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58
Q

The psychological sensations of hearing relating to
frequency (wavelength): ________
intensity (amplitude): _________
complexity: _________

A

pitch; volume; timbre

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59
Q

The physical stimulation of hearing relating to
pitch: __________
volume: __________
timbre: __________

A

wavelength; intensity/amplitude; complexity

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60
Q

Which is a characteristic of both light waves and sound waves?

A

Wavelength

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61
Q

A sound wave generated in outer space will travel at the rate of _________

A

0 feet per second

sound waves cannot be formed in outer space

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62
Q

Snapping your fingers causes the surrounding air to _________

A

vibrate

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63
Q

In terms of sound waves, frequency refers to the

A

number of vibrations the wave completes in a given time

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64
Q

The eardrum is also called the

A

tympanic membrane

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65
Q

The outer ear is also called the

A

pinna

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66
Q

The tiny bones in the middle ear consist of the

A

hammer, anvil, stirrup

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67
Q

The pinna is the

A

outer ear

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68
Q

The tympanic membrane is the

A

eardrum

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69
Q

The hammer, anvil and stirrup form the

A

tiny bones in the middle ear

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70
Q

What is the cochlea?

A

The primary organ of hearing

A coiled tube in the inner ear, where sound waves are transduced into nerve messages

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71
Q

The hammer, anvil and stirrup transmit sound waves from the _________ to the __________

A

outer ear; cochlea

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72
Q

What happens in the cochlea? (in terms of wave conversion)

A

Airwaves are converted to fluid waves

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73
Q

What is the basilar membrane?

What is its function?

A

A thin strip of hairy tissue sensitive to vibrations in the cochlea

The basilar membrane contains hair cells connected to neurons

When a sound wave causes the hair cells to vibrate, the associated neurons become excited

Result, the sound waves are converted (transduced) into nerve messages

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74
Q

Fluid located in the cochlea is set in motion and causes vibration in the _______

A

basilar membrane

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75
Q

Sounds are converted into action potentials within the ___________ and then transmitted to the ____________ in the ____________

A

basilar membrane; auditory cortex; temporal lobes

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76
Q

The ________ are the auditory receptors where sound waves finally become neural impulses

A

hair cells

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77
Q

How do we hear sound waves? (4 steps)

A
  1. Airborne sound waves are relayed to the inner ear
    Vibrating waves of air enter the outer ear, move through the ear canal to the eardrum. This tightly stretched sheet of tissue transmits the vibration to the hammer, anvil and stirrup. These bones pass the vibrations on to the cochlea in the inner ear
  2. The cochlea focuses the vibrations on the basilar membrane
    In the cochlea, the airborne sound becomes “seaborne”. As the stirrup vibrates against the oval window at the base of the cochlea, the vibrations set the fluid into wave motion, causing vibration in the basilar membrane
  3. The basilar membrane converts the vibrations into neural messages
    The swaying of tiny hair cells on the vibrating basilar membrane stimulates sensory nerve endings connected to the hair cells. The excited neurons transform the mechanical vibrations of the basilar membrane into neural activity
  4. The neural messages travel to the auditory cortex in the brain
    Neural signals leave the cochlea in a bundle of neurons called the auditory nerve. The neurons from the two ears meet in the brain stem, which passes the auditory information to both sides of the brain. Ultimately, the signals arrive in the auditory cortex in the temporal lobes for higher-order processing
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78
Q

Humans can hear a range between _______ to _______Hz

A

20; 20,000

79
Q

Place theory argues that sounds of __________ induce vibration in different areas of the ___________

A

different frequencies; basilar membrane

80
Q

What is place theory?

A

Place theory of pitch suggests that pitch is determined by the specific location where hair cells are stimulated

Accounts for our ability to hear high tones above 1000Hz

81
Q

What accounts for our ability to hear high tones above 1000Hz?

A

Place theory of pitch

82
Q

Frequency theory alone would best describe how the basilar membrane deals with frequencies below _________

A

5000Hz

83
Q

What accounts for our ability to hear below 5000Hz?

A

Frequency theory

84
Q

What is frequency theory?

A

Neurons on the basilar membrane respond with different firing rates to different sound wave frequencies

85
Q

What is special about the range of 1000 to 5000Hz?

A

This interval spans the upper frequency range of human speech

Is crucial for discriminating high-pitched sounds that distinguish consonants like p, s, t

The auditory canal is specially shaped to amplify sounds within this speech range

86
Q

What can cause hearing loss? (3 things)

A
  1. Aging
  2. Diseases that attack auditory nerve
  3. Exposure to loud noises that damage the hair cells in the cochlea
87
Q

The _______ sense allows us to orient our body with respect to gravity

A

Vestibular

88
Q

What is the function of the vestibular sense?

A

The body position sense that orients us with respect to gravity

It also tells us when we are moving or how our motion is changing

89
Q

What are the receptors for our vestibular sense? What is their function? Where do they connect to?

A

Tiny hairs in the semicircular canals of the inner ear

They respond to our movements by detecting corresponding movements in the fluid of the semicircular canal

Allows us to maintain our balance and tell our posture

Connect to parietal lobes

90
Q

The ______ sense controls knowledge of the position of your limbs and keeps track of body parts relative to each other

A

Kinesthetic

91
Q

What is the kinesthetic sense?

A

The body position and movement sense that keeps track of body parts relative to each other

92
Q

What are the receptors for our kinesthetic sense?

Where do they connect to?

A

Kinesthetic receptors in joints, muscles and tendons

They connect to the parietal lobes

93
Q

Sense of smell is also known as

A

olfaction

94
Q

Sense of smell is adaptive in that (4 functions)

A
  1. aids in the location of food
  2. allows us to detect decaying food
  3. signals sexual receptivity in some mammals
  4. can mark the boundaries of a territory
95
Q

What are pheromones?

A

chemical signals released by organisms to communicate with other members of their species

often used by animals as sexual attractants

96
Q

Sense of taste is also known as

A

gustation

97
Q

What are the five primary qualities/dimensions of taste?

A

Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami

98
Q

Structure of taste receptors?

A

On the tongue, there are small mucous-membrane projections “bumps” called papillae

There are taste buds in every papillae

And there are taste receptors/gustatory cells in the taste buds

99
Q

What can produce a loss of taste reactivity? (6 things)

A
  1. Aging
  2. Reduced density of papillae on the tongue
  3. Alcohol
  4. Smoking
  5. Acids
  6. Hot foods

3-6 damage our taste receptors

but they can be replaced :D

100
Q

Which system boasts the most resistance to permanent damage?

A

Taste

101
Q

What are supertasters?

A

Individuals with relatively high density of papillae on the tongue (most taste buds)

and hence are more sensitive to taste than others

102
Q

Sensory information related to the skin senses is processed within the ___________

A

somatosensory cortex

103
Q

What are skin senses?

A

Sensory systems for processing touch, warmth, cold, texture and pain

104
Q

We are ____ times more accurate in sensing stimulation on our fingertips than stimulation on our backs

A

10

Due to more receptors on our fingertips than our backs

Other places with more receptors are face, tongue, hands

105
Q

What are the important functions of touch? (3 functions)

A

Through touch, we communicate our desire to give or receive comfort, support and love

Touch also serves as a primary stimulus for sexual arousal in humans

It is essential for healthy mental and physical (motor) development

106
Q

What is synesthesia?

A

The mixing of sensations across sensory modalities, as in tasting shapes or seeing colours associated with numbers

107
Q

What might be the cause of synesthesia?

A

The cortical area called the TPO, lying at the junction of the temporal, parietal, and occipital lobes, simultaneously processes information coming from many pathways

Synesthetes have more neural connections among the TPO lobes

108
Q

What are pain receptors called?

A

Nociceptors

109
Q

What do pain receptors do?

A

Specialize nerve cells, called nociceptors, sense painful stimuli and send their unpleasant messages to the central nervous system

Different nociceptors are sensitive to different stimuli (heat/pressure/chemical trauma/tissue injury/itching)

110
Q

What are the two distinct regions that have primary roles in processing incoming pain messages?

A
  1. A pathway terminating in the parietal lobe - registers location, intensity and sharpness or dullness of pain
  2. A group of structures deep in the frontal cortex and the limbic system - registers how unpleasant the painful sensation is
111
Q

What is the phantom limb condition?

A

When the amputee feels sensations, sometimes painful ones, that seem to come from the missing body part

112
Q

How does the phantom limb condition work?

A

Phantom limb sensations arise in the brain, perhaps the result of the brain generating sensation when none comes from the missing limb

113
Q

What does the phenomenon of phantom limbs teach us?

A

Understanding pain requires understanding not only painful sensations but also mechanisms in the brain that both process and inhibit pain

114
Q

What is the gate-control theory of pain?

A

The idea that pain signals must pass through a neural “gate” in the spinal cord.

The “gate” involves special interneurons that can open or close the pain pathway running up the spinal cord towards the brain

Under some circumstances, closing the “gate” can interfere with the transmission of pain messages in the spinal pathway and block incoming pain signals

115
Q

What can close the “gate” mentioned in gate-control theory? (3 things)

A
  1. Messages from nonpain nerve fibers (eg those involved in touch)
  2. Messages from the brain - opiate drugs like morphine initiate a cascade of inhibitory messages that travel downward to block incoming pain messages
  3. Hypnosis
116
Q

Psychological aspects of pain perception can influence the release of neurotransmitters called _________ which are the body’s natural version of morphine

A

endorphins

117
Q

The capacity of a placebo treatment to reduce pain perception is due to ____________

A

release of endorphins in the brain

118
Q

What is the main function of pain?

A

It serves as an essential defense signal: it warns us of potential harm,

and helps us to survive in hostile environments

and to get treatment for sickness and injury

119
Q

How does pain become a disease in itself?

A

Neurons in the pain pathways become hypersensitive, amplifying normal sensory stimulation into pain messages

Chronic pain may sometimes arise from genes that get “turned on” in nerve-damaged tissue

120
Q

What is the main function of morphine?

A

Morphine suppress pain messages in the spinal cord and the brain

121
Q

What is the main function of aspirin?

A

Aspirin interferes with a chemical signal produced by damaged tissue

122
Q

What are unwanted side effects of analgesics (pain killing drugs)? (2 points)

A
  1. Digestive tract or liver damage
  2. Addiction
123
Q

What is a placebo?

A

A substance that appears to be a drug but is not

Often referred to as a “sugar pill” because they might contain only sugar rather than a real drug

124
Q

What are 3 ways to control pain using psychological techniques?

A
  1. Hypnosis
  2. Relaxation
  3. Thought-distraction procedures
  4. Placebos
125
Q

What is the placebo effect?

A

A response to a placebo (a fake drug) caused by the belief that it is a real drug

126
Q

How do placebos work?

A

The expectation of pain relief (by taking a “real drug”) is enough to cause the brain to release painkilling endorphins

127
Q

Individuals who respond to placebos report that their pain increases when they take the ______-blocking drug _______

A

endorphin; naltrexone

128
Q

__________ can lessen the psychological pain of social rejection

A

Acetaminophen

129
Q

Acetaminophen can lessen the psychological pain of _________

A

social rejection

130
Q

What do all of the following senses have in common: vision, hearing, taste, smell, hearing, pain, equilibrium, and body position?

A

Each of these senses transduces physical stimulation into neural activity

and each responds more to change than to constant stimulation

131
Q

Explain why different senses give us different sensations

A

The different sensations occur because the sensory information is processed by different parts of the brain

132
Q

A percept consists of _________ in combination with _________

A

sensation; associated meaning

meaning: concepts, memories of events, emotions, motives

133
Q

What are the two visual pathways that help us identify objects and locate them in space?

A

What pathway: determines what objects are
Flows mainly to the temporal lobe, extracts information about an object’s colour and shape

Where pathway: determines an object’s location
Projects to the parietal lobe

134
Q

What is the function of the what and where pathways?

A

To help us identify objects and locate them in space

135
Q

What is blindsight?

A

The ability to locate objects despite damage to the visual system making it impossible for a person consciously to see and identify objects

Is thought to involve unconscious visual processing in the where pathway

136
Q

What are feature detectors?

A

Cells in the cortex that specialise in extracting certain features of a stimulus, like length, slant, colour, boundary, location, and movement

137
Q

What is the binding problem?

A

The fact that we do not know how the brain combines multiple sensory features it detects into a single percept

138
Q

What are the two complementary processes involved in forming a percept?

A
  1. Top-down processing
  2. Bottom-up processing
139
Q

What happens in top-down processing?

A

Our goals, past experience, knowledge, expectations, memory, motivations, or cultural background guide our perceptions of objects or events

140
Q

What is another name for top-down processing?

A

Conceptually-driven processing

141
Q

What happens in bottom-up processing?

A

Perceptual analysis emphasises characteristics of the stimulus, rather than our concepts and expectations, which influence our perceptions

142
Q

What is another name for bottom-up processing?

A

Stimulus-driven processing

143
Q

What are the types of percetual constancy? (3)

A
  1. Size constancy
  2. Colour and brightness constancy
  3. Shape constancy
144
Q

What is perceptual constancy?

A

The ability to recognise the same object as remaining “constant” under different conditions, such as changes in illumination, distance, or location

145
Q

What is size constancy?

A

Tendency to interpret an object as always being the same physical dimensions, regardless of its distance from the viewer

Serves as a strong cue for depth perception

146
Q

What is shape constancy?

A

Tendency to interpret an object as always being the same shape from different angles

147
Q

What is colour and brightness constancy?

A

Ability to see an object as essentially unchanged under different lighting conditions

148
Q

What is inattentional blindness?

A

A failure to notice changes occuring in one’s visual field, apparently caused by narrowing the focus of one’s attention

149
Q

What is change blindness?

A

A perceptual failure to notice that a visual scene has changed from the way it had appeared previously

It requires comparing a current scene to one from the past, stored in memory

150
Q

What is an illusion?

A

It is when your mind deceives you by interpreting a stimulus pattern incorrectly

Usually, other people observing the same stimulus are also deceived
(If they are not, it might be a hallucination)

151
Q

How does the black-and-white Hermann grid illusion work?

A

The firing of certain cells that are sensitive to light-dark boundaries inhibits the activity of adjacent cells that would otherwise detect the white grid lines

This inhibiting process makes you sense darker regions - the grayish areas - at the white intersections just outside your focus

152
Q

What are ambiguous figures?

A

Images that can be interpreted in more than one way

There is no “right” way to see an ambiguous figure

153
Q

What are 2 famous examples of ambiguous figures?

A
  1. vase/faces figures
  2. Necker cube
154
Q

Your ability to view and interpret an ambiguous figure in two different ways is a result of

A

alternating perceptual control between the left and right hemispheres

155
Q

What did we learn about the Muller-Lyer illusion through different cultures?

A

It is learned

156
Q

What are 2 influential theories that explain fundamental perceptual principles (how we form our perceptions)?

A
  1. Gestalt theory
  2. Learning-based theory
157
Q

What is Gestalt theory?

A

Gestalt theory suggests that our brains are innately “wired” to perceive stimuli in specific ways

Is a “nature” approach

158
Q

What is learning-based inference?

A

Learning-based inference emphasises learned influences on perception, including the power of expectations, context and culture

Is a “nurture” approach

159
Q

Learning-based interference is to nurture as _________ is to nature

A

Gestalt theory

160
Q

Gestalt theory is to nature as _______________ is to nurture

A

Learning-based inference

161
Q

What is the perspective of Gestalt psychology?

A

From the raw material of stimulation, the brain forms a perceptual whole that is more than the mere sum of its sensory parts

aka we should focus on the “whole” rather than its individual parts

162
Q

What are the 5 Gestalt principles?

A
  1. Figure-ground
  2. Closure
  3. Law of proximity
  4. Continuity
163
Q

What is the Gestalt principle of figure-ground?

What do figure and ground mean?

A

It distinguishes patterns (figure) from their backgrounds (ground)

Figure: part of a pattern that commands attention. stands out against the ground

Ground: part of a pattern that does not common attention; the background

164
Q

What is the Gestalt principle of closure?

A

The tendency to fill in gaps in figures and to see incomplete figures as complete

165
Q

What are the laws of perceptual grouping?

What do the laws suggest about our brains?

A

the Gestalt principles of similarity, proximity, continuity and common fate

They suggest how our brains prefer to group stimulus elements together to form a percept

166
Q

Who formulated the set of laws of perceptual grouping?

A

Wertheimer

167
Q

What is the Gestalt principle of law of similarity?

A

Tendency to group similar objects together in our perceptions

Similar: look/sound/feel
Eg team colours

168
Q

What is the Gestalt principle of law of proximity?

A

The tendency to group objects together when they are near each other

169
Q

What is the Gestalt principle of law of continuity?

A

That we prefer perceptions of connected and continuous figures to disconnected and disjointed ones

(also operates in the realm of social perception, assuming that personality does not change)

170
Q

What is the Gestalt principle of law of common fate

A

Tendency to group similar objects together that share a common motion or destination

171
Q

What is the law of Pragnanz?

A

The most general Gestalt priniciple, which states that the simplest organisation, requiring the least cognitive effort, will emerge as the figure

Tendency to perceive things in the simplest manner possible

172
Q

What does “Pragnanz” mean?

A

Meaningfulness

173
Q

What is another name for the law of Pragnanz?

A

Minimum principle of perception

174
Q

Who founded the theory of learning-based inference?

A

Hermann von Helmholtz

175
Q

Hermann von Helmholtz was a proponent of which perceptual theory?

A

Learning-based inference

176
Q

The learning perspective suggests that the most important factors in determining our ability to identify a percept are: (3)

A

Context, expectation and perceptual sets

177
Q

What is a perceptual set?

A

A readiness to detect a particular stimulus in a given context

178
Q

Our sense of depth or distance relies on cues that can be grouped into 2 categories:

A
  1. Binocular cues
  2. Monocular cues
179
Q

What are binocular cues?

A

Information taken in by both eyes that aids in depth perception

Including binocular convergence and retinal disparity

180
Q

What is binocular convergence?

A

It suggests how the lines of vision from each eye converge at different angles on objects at different distances

181
Q

What is retinal disparity?

A

Seeing greater disparity when looking at nearby objects than we do when viewing distant objects due to the difference in perspectives of the two eyes

182
Q

What are monocular cues?

A

Information about depth that relies on the input of just one eye

Includes relative size, linear perspective, light and shadow, interposition, relative motion and atmospheric perspective

183
Q

What is relative size (monocular cue)?

A

If two objects that are assumed to be the same size cast different-sized images on the retina, observers usually judge them to lie at different distances

184
Q

What is linear perspective (monocular cue)?

A

Apparent convergence of parallel lines

185
Q

What is light and shadow (monocular cue)?

A

Lighter-coloured objects seem closer to us and darker objects seem further away

186
Q

What is relative motion (monocular cue)?

A

As you move, objects nearer to you appear to move through your field of vision faster and more distant objects appear to move through your field of vision slower

187
Q

What is atmospheric perspective (monocular cue)?

A

Haze or fog makes objects in the distance look fuzzy, less distinct, or invisible

188
Q

What is interposition (monocular cue)?

A

Assumption that an object that appears to be blocking part of another object is in front of the second object and is closer to the viewer

Assumption that closer objects will cut off our vision of more distant objects behind them

189
Q

What do perceptual constancies do for us?

A

Perceptual constancies allow us to identify and track objects under a variety of conditions, such as changes in illumination or perspective

190
Q

Why does the Ponzo illusion illustrate the idea that perception is not an exact internal copy of the world?

A

The Ponzo illusion involves the most extensive perceptual interpretation

191
Q

Vibrating air molecules enter the ears at the _________

A

pinna (outer ear)

192
Q

Where are the olfactory bulbs located?

A

Just below the frontal lobes

193
Q

Explain the major principles of Gestalt psychology (3 features)

A
  1. This perspective believes that the brain is designed to seek patterns
  2. The theory claims that much of this is innate
  3. The theory claims that “the whole is more than the sum of its individual parts”
194
Q

Contrast the two major views of colour vision theory

A

Trichromatic theory:
- 3 classes of photoreceptors detect colour, with each colour representing a mixture of activation of the receptors
- cannot account for negative colour afterimages

Opponent-process theory:
- red light may activate a cell in the visual system, while green light inhibits that cell
- can account for negative colour images

Intro To Psych HP1000 (12 decks)

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