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Psych 101 > Sensation and Perception > Flashcards

Sensation and Perception Flashcards

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1
Q

Synesthesia

A

Two or more senses linked

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2
Q

Sensation

A

Detecting external events by sense organs and turning those into neural signals (sourness, loudness)

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3
Q

Perception

A

The more complex organizing of sensory info within the brain and the meaningful interpretations from it

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4
Q

What do sensory psychologists study?

A

Relationship between physical stimulus, psychological response, and sensory experience

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5
Q

Physical stimulus

A

Matter or energy in the world

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6
Q

Psychological response

A

Pattern of chemical and electrical activity in sense organs and CNS

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7
Q

Sensory experience

A

The subjective psychological sensation (perception)

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8
Q

5 major senses

A

Aristotle: Smell, taste, touch/pain, hearing, vision

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9
Q

More senses?

A

balance, limb position, movement

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10
Q

Step 1: reception

A

stimulation of receptors, specialized structures respond to physical stimuli and initiate neural impulses to sensory neurons

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11
Q

Step 2: transduction

A

Physical or chemical stimulation –> nerve impulses

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12
Q

Step 3: messages arriving in brain

A

Sent to many parts of brain, including specific sensory areas of cortex

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13
Q

Qualitative variation

A

Type of energy (eg. different wavelengths), activates different sets of neurons

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14
Q

Quantitative variation

A

Intensity. More/ faster action potentials

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15
Q

Sensory adaptation

A

reduction of activity in sensory receptors with repeated stimulus exposure

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16
Q

Gustav Fechner and William James

A

Psychophysics: How physical energy relates to psychological experience

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17
Q

Absolute threshold

A

Measures sensitivity, faintest detectable stimulus. Weakest amount detectable 50% of the time

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18
Q

Difference threshold

A

Depends on magnitude of original stimulus, minimal difference in magnitude between two stimuli to detect

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19
Q

Weber’s law

A

proportional difference for difference threshold

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20
Q

Signal detection theory

A

Hit, miss, false alarm, correct rejection

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21
Q

Purpose of perception

A

Identify meaningful objects as integrated wholes

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22
Q

How does the brain detect and integrate features?

A
  1. Feature detectors are specialized neurons to detect different individual features
  2. Integrate the features
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23
Q

Gestalt psychology

A

we automatically perceive whole, organized patterns, rather than parts

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24
Q

How do we divide a visual scene?

A

Figure (objects) and ground (background)

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25
Q

Circumscription

A

we detect the form surrounding the other form as the ground

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26
Q

Gestalt principles of grouping

A

tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups (Proximity, similarity, continuity, connectedness, closure, illusory contours)

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27
Q

Lower threshold

A

Higher sensitivity

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28
Q

Conservative response bias vs liberal response bias

A
  • must be sure
  • more likely to say they hear it
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29
Q

Plasticity of perceptual systems

A

neurons change sensitivity/ selectivity with experience

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30
Q

What is the visible spectrum

A

electromagnetic energy that humans can detect (750 - 390 nm) –> property of sensory receptors

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31
Q

Wavelength

A

percieved as hue (colour), related to frequency (cycles/ second). QUALITY

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32
Q

Amplitude

A

max height, perception of intensity/ brightness. QUANTITY

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33
Q

colour purity

A

how many wavelengths make up the light (saturation). Spectral colours have smallest number

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34
Q

cornea

A

the transparent covering of the eye, gives the eye colour

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35
Q

Pupil

A

where light passes after cornea, hole in iris muscle

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36
Q

Iris

A

Muscle that can increase or decrease pupil size to adjust light entering

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37
Q

Lens

A

Bends the light and uses accommodation: lens thickness is adjusted by specialized muscles to change degree of light bending

38
Q

Fovea

A

where light is focused, in retina

39
Q

Retina

A

back of the eye, contains rods and cones. converts light energy to electrical energy

40
Q

Nearsightedness

A

Myopia. Where faraway objects project too far in front

41
Q

Farsightedness

A

Hyperopia. Where near object overshoots

42
Q

Presbyopia

A

Lens gets less elastic with age

43
Q

What happens when light hits photoreceptors? (Cells?)

A

Causes chemical changes which causes shape changes and alters ion flow in/out. Generated electricity passes to bipolar and ganglion cells which triggers action potentials

44
Q

Optic nerve

A

Where action potentials converge, connects at the back of the retina and creates a blind spot that brain fills with info from surroundings

45
Q

How is what the retina perceives different than the brain’s perceptions?

A

Retina senses images as upside down, flipped horizontally, and 2D, brain flips it back

46
Q

Rods

A

-All have same photopigment type
-120 million rod cells, more in periphery
-sensitivity (ability to detect). Night vision

47
Q

Cones

A

-3 possible pigment types (colour)
-5 million cones cells, densely clustered in fovea
-acuity (sharpness)
-more one-to-one connections

48
Q

Foveation

A

constant eye movement to focus stimuli directly on fovea

49
Q

What happens when the info from the cones gets to the brain?

A

Processed by visual cortex

50
Q

Cortical magnification factor

A

fovea receive more cortical representation

51
Q

hierarchical analysis

A

higher and higher levels create more complete representations

52
Q

anatomical organization (vision)

A

eyes -> optic nerves -> brain -> optic chiasm

53
Q

After optic chiasm

A

Info diverges. Axons from left of each retina go to the left hemisphere and vice versa. Axons arrive in specialized visual nucleus of thalamus then to primary visual cortex

54
Q

Retinotopical organization

A

adjacent portions of retina go with adjacent areas of the cortex

55
Q

single-cell recording

A

measures action potentials, determines feature detectors

56
Q

After feature detectors? (Where?)

A

Info passed to secondary visual cortices (association) and organized into shapes. At the border of occipital and temporal lobes

57
Q

Adjacent temporal (highest level)

A

combines basic info with more complex

58
Q

Visual agnosia

A

vision without knowing

59
Q

Ventral visual pathway

A

Along temporal, the “what”

60
Q

Dorsal visual pathway

A

joins parietal, the “where” and “how”. Perception of movement processed in middle temporal cortex

61
Q

Categories of movement in dorsal visual pathway

A

Left/right, up/down, radial

62
Q

Akinetopsia

A

Can’t perceive motion

63
Q

Sound general pathway

A

Vibrations -> waves -> pressure -> interpreted as sound

64
Q

Human range of sound

A

20-20 000 HZ

65
Q

Higher frequency (for sound)

A

Perceived higher pitch (quality)

66
Q

Higher amplitude (for sound)

A

higher intensity/ loudness (quantity

67
Q

How is a change of 10 dB perceived?

A

Loudness doubles

68
Q

Complexity of sound

A

determines timbre/quality

69
Q

Human voice range (Hz)

A

60-7000

70
Q

Pinna

A

Outer ear, sound funnel evolved to capture sound waves. No movement so relies on structure

71
Q

Canal

A

Enhances certain frequencies and protects tympanic membrane

72
Q

Tympanic membrane

A

boundary between outer and middle ear, tight membrane that moves in/out with pressure changes

73
Q

Ossicles

A

Hammer, anvil, stirrup: amplifies sound. Then oval window

74
Q

Fluid in inner ear

A

Requires energy to move, protects inner ear by dampening vibrations

75
Q

Cochlea

A

turns fluid vibrations to neural energy. Fluid movement causes basilar membrane to vibrate, causing cilia to bend

76
Q

Cilia

A

triggers neural impulses. Pushing and pulling leads to action potential bursts

77
Q

Pathway after cilia

A

Auditory nerve -> brainstem -> auditory nucleus of thalamus ->primary auditory cortex

78
Q

Frequency theory

A

brain uses frequency of hair cell firing to indicate pitch. Does not explain how we distinguish pitch and loudness

79
Q

Cilia firing

A

1000 times per second, alternate firing rate to achieve faster combined frequencies

80
Q

Place theory

A

Helmholtz. Different pitches from different places along basilar membrane. High Hz beginning narrow stiff hairs, low Hz to tip (wider/ floppier). Pitch depends on where, loudness depends on how much

81
Q

Frequency vs place theory

A

-low
-high

82
Q

Tonotopic organization

A

maps in primary auditory cortex, high. processed near back and low near front

83
Q

How does the brain use the contrast between ears

A

Timing and intensity to locate a sound, can detect 0.000027 second difference between ears. Better when we can see the objects

84
Q

Priming

A

Exposure to one stimulus or multiple stimuli influences response to another stimulus (e.g. ambiguous figures)

85
Q

Top-down processing

A

Sensory info plus other info from previous experience or larger context

86
Q

Multi sensory perception

A

Integration of info from different senses by the nervous system

87
Q

Visual dominance effect

A

When we get conflicting information from two senses, vision wins

88
Q

Speech perception

A

Need both auditory and visual modalities

89
Q

McGurk effect

A

Perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates the interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception (two pieces together make third perception)

90
Q

Bottom-up processing

A

What we perceive based on sensory inputs (perception without additional meaning)

Psych 101 (8 decks)

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