Sensation and Perception

Question 1

transduction

Answer 1

process where signals are transformed into neural impulses

Question 2

sensory adaptation

Answer 2

decreasing responsiveness to stimuli due to constant stimulation

Question 3

sensory habituation

Answer 3

our perception of sensations is partially due to how focused on them

Question 4

What are the steps of vision?

Answer 4

First, light is reflected off objects and gathered by the eye. and enters through the cornea and pupil. The iris dilates to let more light in and is focused by the lens, which inverts the image onto the retina. Then, transduction occurs where if enough rods and cones fire, they activated the bipolar cells, then the ganglion cells, then sends them to the appropriate areas in the thalamus. Then, they are sent to the occipital lobe of the brain to be interpreted.

Question 5

cornea

Answer 5

protective covering of the eye and help focuses the light

Question 6

iris

Answer 6

muscles that control the pupil

Question 7

accomodation

Answer 7

light that enters the pupil is focused

Question 8

rods

Answer 8

cells that respond to black and white; outnumber cones

Question 9

cones

Answer 9

cells that respond to color; concentrated in fovea

Question 10

optic chiasm

Answer 10

spot where nerves cross each other when impulses from each hemisphere of the brain interfere

Question 11

trichromatic theory

Answer 11

theorizes that we have three types of cones in retina: blue, green and red. These combine to create all sorts of colors.

Question 12

opponent-process theory

Answer 12

sensory receptors arranged in pairs: red/green, yellow/blue, black/white. If one sensor is stimulated, the other is inhibited from firing. Explains color blindness and afterimages.

Question 13

amplitude

Answer 13

height of the wave and determines loudness of sound

Question 14

frequency

Answer 14

length of the wave and determines pitch

Question 15

How is sound collected by the ear?

Answer 15

waves travel down the ear canal until they reach the eardrum. Then, there are three sets of bones, the hammer, anvil and stirrup. The vibration of the eardrum is sent by these bones to the oval window, and to the cochlea which is filled with fluid. When the fluid moves, the hair cells connected to the organ of Corti move and transduction occurs.

Question 16

place theory

Answer 16

hair cells in cochlea respond to different frequencies of sound based on where they are located in the cochlea. Some bend in response to high pitches and some to low.

Question 17

frequency theory

Answer 17

lower tones are sensed by the rate at which cells fire; we sense pitch because the hair cells fire at different rates in the cochlea

Question 18

conduction deafness

Answer 18

occurs when something goes wrong with the system of conducting sound to cochlea

Question 19

sensorineural deafness

Answer 19

occurs when the hair cells in cochlea have been damaged by loud noise

Question 20

gate-control theory

Answer 20

some pain messages have a higher priority than others. The gate swings open for higher priority message and swings shut for lower priority message

Question 21

papillae

Answer 21

where taste buds are located

Question 22

What are the five types of tastes?

Answer 22

sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (meat)

Question 23

olfactory bulb

Answer 23

gathers messages from olfactory bulb cells and sends information to the brain. This is connected to the amygdala and hippocampus–responsible for emotion and memory.

Question 24

vestibular sense

Answer 24

indicates how body is oriented in space as the fluid in ears move when your head changes

Question 25

kinesthetic sense

Answer 25

gives feedback about position and orientation of specific body parts. Receptors in muscles and joints send information to brain about our limbs.

Question 26

absolute threshold

Answer 26

smallest amount of stimulus we can detect

Question 27

subliminal

Answer 27

anything below our absolute threshold

Question 28

difference threshold

Answer 28

the smallest amount of stimulus needed for us to detect a change

Question 29

Weber’s law

Answer 29

change is needed in proportion to the original intensity of stimulus

Question 30

signal detection theory

Answer 30

investigates effects of distractions and interference we experience while perceiving the world. It takes into account how motivated we are to detect certain stimuli and what we expect to perceive.

Question 31

false positive

Answer 31

when we think we perceive a stimulus that is not present

Question 32

false negative

Answer 32

not perceiving a stimulus that is present

Question 33

top-down processing

Answer 33

perceive by filling in gaps of what we sense

Question 34

schemata

Answer 34

mental representation of how we expect the world to be

Question 35

backmasking

Answer 35

supposed hidden messages in the background

Question 36

bottom-up processing

Answer 36

we use only the features of object itself to build a complete perception. This is longer but more accurate

Question 37

figure-ground relationship

Answer 37

figuring out what part is the object and what part is the background.

Question 38

What are the Gestalt Rules?

Answer 38

1. proximity
2. similarity
3. continuity
4. closure

Question 39

proximity

Answer 39

objects that are close together are more likely to be perceived as belonging in the same group

Question 40

similarity

Answer 40

objects that are similar in appearance are more likely to be perceived as belonging in the same group

Question 41

continuity

Answer 41

objects that form a continuous form are more likely to be perceived as belonging in the same group

Question 42

closure

Answer 42

similar to top-down processing; objects that make up a recognizable image are more likely to be perceived as belong in the same group

Question 43

size constancy

Answer 43

objects closer to our eyes will produce bigger images on our retina, but we take distance into account to estimate size

Question 44

shape constancy

Answer 44

objects viewed from different angles will produce different shapes on retina, but we know shape remains constant

Question 45

brightness constancy

Answer 45

we perceive objects as being a constant color even as the light reflecting off the object changes

Question 46

stroboscopic effect

Answer 46

a series of still pictures presented at a certain speed will appear to be moving

Question 47

phi phenomenon

Answer 47

a series of lightbulbs turned on and off at a particular rate will appear to be on moving light

Question 48

autokinetic effect

Answer 48

if a spot of light is projected steadily onto the same place of a wall in a dark room, people will report that it is moving

Question 49

monocular cues

Answer 49

depth cues that do not depend on having two eyes

Question 50

linear perspective

Answer 50

drawing two lines that converge together to indicate that the lines continue on

Question 51

relative size cue

Answer 51

objects closer are viewed as larger than objects in the distance

Question 52

interposition cue

Answer 52

objects that block the view to other objects are closer to us

Question 53

texture gradient

Answer 53

we can see details in texture close to us but not far away

Question 54

shadowing

Answer 54

implying where light source is to imply depth and position

Question 55

binocular cues

Answer 55

cues that depend on having two eyes

Question 56

binocular disparity

Answer 56

because our eyes see at different angles, the closer the image is, the more disparity there is

Question 57

convergence

Answer 57

as the object gets closer to our face, our eyes must move together to keep focused on object