Sensation and perception Flashcards
What is transduction
When sensory receptors detect specific stimuli, they convert that energy into an action potential which is sent to the central nervous system
What are the 5 sense organs
eyes
ears
nose
skin
taste buds
What is sensation?
activation of receptors in various sense organs
what is perception?
the method by which the sensations experienced at any given moment are interpreted and organized in some meaningful fashion.
What is sensory receptors?
specialized neurons that respond to specific types of stimuli
what is sensation
occurs when sensory receptors detect sensory stimuli
What is the absolute threshold?
minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the time
What is just noticeable difference
the minimum difference in stimuli required to detect a change or a difference between stimuli
- minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected
What is subliminal perception?
The process by which subliminal stimuli act upon the unconscious mind, possibly influencing behavior
What is perception?
way that sensory information is interpreted organized and consciously experienced
What is a perceptual set?
refers to a predisposition to perceive things in a certain way
- we often tend to notice only certain aspects of an object or situation while ignoring other details
What is bottom-up processing?
system in which perceptions are built from sensory input
- stimulus driven
what is top-down processing?
interpretation of sensations is influenced by available knowledge, experiences and thoughts
-schema driven
What is sensory adaptation?
not perceiving stimuli that remain relatively constant over prolonged periods of time
what is habituation?
a behavioral response reduction that results from repeated stimulation and that does not involve sensory adaptation/sensory fatigue or motor fatigue
- a decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations
- learned/acquired behavior
What is inattentional blindness?
failure to notice something that is completely visible because of a lack of attention
what is change blindness?
Is a phenomenon of visual perception that occurs when a stimulus undergoes a change without this being noticed by its observer
what is motivation
Sometimes we think we hear something such as a phone ringing when it is not because we are motivated to perceive it
What are two properties of waves
amplitude and wavelengths
what are light waves?
the visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can see
What is photons?
wave packets of light, associated with specific wavelengths
- tiny light particles, travel in waves
what is light?
light is a physical stimulus
- has two properties which are waves and particles
What is color?
determined by length of the wave
- long wavelengths are found at red end of visible spectrum
- shorter wavelengths are found at blue end
what is saturation?
The purity of the color people see
what is brightness?
determined by the amplitude of wave- how high or how low the wave actually is
- the higher the wave, the brighter the light will be
- low waves are dimmer
what is the cornea?
clear membrane that covers the surface of the eye
-protects the eye
-focuses most of the light coming into the eye
- fixed curvature
what is the pupil?
hole through which light from the visual image enters the interior of the eye
what is the iris?
round muscle ( the coloured part of the eye) in which the pupil is located
- can change size of the pupil, letting more or less light into the eye
- helps focus the image
what is the lens?
another clear structure behind the iris, suspended by muscles
- finishes the focusing process begun by the cornea
what is visual accomodation
the change in the thickness of the lens as the eye focuses on objects that are far away or close
- loss of this ability due to hardening of the lens as we age results in a condition called presbyopia
what is the virtreous humor?
A jelly-lie fluid that also nourishes the eye and gives it shape
what is retina?
final stop for light in the eye - a screen for images
what is optic nerve?
carries information to brain
What is nearsightedness?
shape of eye causes focal point to fall short of the retina
What is farsightedness?
focal point is behind the retina
what is a blind spot?
area in the retina where the axons of the retinal cells exit the eye to form the optic nerve
what is depth perception
our ability to perceive spatial relationships in 3-D
- Depth cues of a visual scene are used to establish our sense of depth
What is Binocular cues?
cue that relies on the use of both eyes
what is binocular disparity?
slightly different view of the world that each eye receives
what is interposition?
the partial overlap of objects
- objects that obscure or overlap other objects are perceived as closer
what is monocular cues?
cue that relies on only one eye
what is deafness?
the partial or complete inability to hear
what is congenital deafness?
deafness from birth
what is conductive hearing loss
associated with a failure in the vibration of the eardrum and/or movement of the ossicles
- can often be dealt with using hearing aids which amplify incoming sound waves to make vibration of the eardrum and movement of the ossiclees more likely to occur
What is transduction?
sensory receptors change sensory stimulation into neural impulses
what is olfacation
sensation of smell; a chemical sense
what is olfactory epithelium
patch of tissue at top of each nasal cavity
- contains 10 million smell receptor cells
what is memorY?
key connections between smell, emotion and memory
- ability to associate smells with memories peak between 6 and 10 years old
What is vestibular sense?
contributes to our ability to maintain balance and body posture
- the major sensory organs of the vestibular system are located next to the cochlea in the inner ear
- these organs are fluid-filled and contain hair cells which respond to movement of the head and gravitational forces
What is sensory conflict theory?
an explanation of motion sickness in which the information from the eyes conflicts with the information from the vestibular senses ( motion sickness)
What is the principle of gestalt?
“the whole is more than the sum of its part)
-field of psychology based on the idea that the whole is different from the sum of its parts
- the brain creates a perception that is more than simply the sum of available sensory inputs
the brain does this in predictable ways which gestalt psychologists translated into principles by which we organize sensory information
- include figure, proximity, similarity, continuity, closure
What is figure ground relationship
the idea that we tend to segment our visual world into figure and ground
what is the principle of proximity/grouping?
the idea that things are close to one another tend to be grouped together
What is the principle of similarity?
the idea that things are alike to be grouped together
what is the principle of continuity?
the idea that we are more likely to perceive continuous, smooth flowing lines rather than jagged, broken lines
what is the principle of closure?
figures with gaps in them are perceived as complete
