Sensation And Perception

Question 0

Perception

Answer 0

The process in which we understand sensory information. Illusions are powerful examples of how we misinterpret sensory information and perceive information incorrectly.

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

Sensation can be defined as the neural synaptic firing of our receptors and our brain’s interpretation of these firings. But how about an example to make this a little more clear….when you touch something, receptors send impulses that travel to the spinal cord and then into the brain for interpretation. Without both parts (the signal being sent or the interpretation), there is no sensation. The signals being sent and interpreted are what we call sensation.

Question 2

Bottom-up processing

Answer 2

Bottom-up processing is also known as “small chunk” processing and suggests that we attend to or perceive elements by starting with the smaller, more fine details of that element and then building upward until we have a solid representation of it in our minds.

If you’re the type of person who understands concepts and ideas by starting with the details and then working your way up to the main idea of overall concept, then you’re a bottom-up processor.

The opposite of this is Top-Down Processing.

Question 3

Top-down processing

Answer 3

Top-Down Processing is also known as “large chunk” processing and states that we form perceptions (or focus our attention) by starting with the larger concept or idea (it can even be the concept or idea of an object) and then working our way down to the finer details of that concept or idea. If you’re the type of person who learns new ideas and concepts (or forms impressions) by starting first with the high-level aspects and then working your way down to the fine details, then you’re a top-down processor.

This is the opposite of Bottom-Up Processing.

Question 4

Psychophysics

Answer 4

Fechner started this area of psychology that addresses the relationship between psychological experiences and physical energy. A psychophysicist might look at the speed at which electrical impulses travel from the brain to the limbs, or how we perceive different light waves.

Question 5

Absolute threshold

Answer 5

One formal definition is that absolute threshold is the smallest intensity of a stimulus that has to be present for the stimulus to be detected. Let’s use an example to clear this up. Think of an electric burner on a stove. Imagine turning that burner on and then placing your hand directly on it. At first you won’t feel much heat because is takes time for the burner to heat up. But at some point it will get hot enough for you to detect…meaning, there is some temperature that is just hot enough for you to notice it. This isn’t the point at which you get burned, but the point at which it is just hot enough for you to detect the presence of the heat.

Question 6

Signal detection theory

Answer 6

Signal Detection Theory holds that the detection of a stimulus depends on both the intensity of the stimulus and the physical and psychological state of the individual.” And that’s really all it is….Your ability or likelihood to detect some stimulus is affected by the intensity of the stimulus (e.g., how loud a noise is) and your physical and psychological state (e.g., how alert you are).

For example, when you walk to your car that is parked in an empty parking lot late at night all by yourself, you might be much more aware of noises because the situation is somewhat threatening (you are primed and listening carefully to hear anything and everything). In this case, you may hear some slight noises that you might otherwise not hear if you were in a different situation that was not as threatening. Thus, your ability to detect signals or noises has been affected by these factors. See what I mean?

Question 7

Priming

Answer 7

Priming is an acuteness to stimuli because of exposure to a certain event or experience.

For example, an individual who has just purchased a new car may now start to notice with more frequency other people driving her same make and model. This person has been primed to recognize more readily a car like hers because of the experience she has driving and owning one.

Question 8

Difference threshold

Answer 8

The difference threshold, also known as the just noticeable difference (jnd), is the minimum difference in stimulation that a person can detect 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference.

For example, let’s say I asked you to put your hand out and in it I placed a pile of sand. Then, I add tiny amounts of sand to your hand and ask you to tell me when you notice any change in the overall weight. As soon as you can detect any change in the weight, that difference between the weight of the sand before I added that last bit of sand and the amount of sand after I added it, is the difference threshold.

Question 9

Weber’s law

Answer 9

Weber’s Law is related to the Just Noticeable Difference (also known as the difference threshold), which is the minimum difference in stimulation that a person can detect 50 percent of the time. But Ernst Weber noted that for people to really perceive a difference, the stimuli must differ by a constant “proportion” not a constant “amount”.

For example, if you are buying a new computer that costs $1,000 and you want to add more memory that increases the and the price $200 (a 20% increase), you might consider this too much additional money to spend. However, if you were buying a $300,000 house a $200 feature may seem like nothing. It might take an additional $10,000 to make you stop and think if it’s too much to spend. In this example, the amount stays the same ($200), but the proportion changes and that’s what makes the perceptual difference.

Question 10

Sensory adaptation

Answer 10

We get used to things. This goes for lots of things in life including smells, sounds, sights, games, people, situations…seems like after a while we get used to everything.One reason we get used to everything is because of sensory adaptation, which is reduced sensitivity to stimulation that results from repeated presentations of that stimulation.

For example, my car was in for service recently and the dealer gave me a rental to use while the car was being serviced. As soon as I got into the car I was overwhelmed by the smell of smoke (even though I asked for a non-smoking car). It stunk! But after driving the car for 30 minutes or so, I didn’t really notice the smell. I got used to it because I was immersed in it. I experienced sensory adaptation.

Question 11

Transduction

Answer 11

transduction refers to changing physical energy into electrical signals (neural impusles) that can make their way to the brain.

For example, your ears receive energy (sound waves) and transduce (or convert) this energy into neural messages that make their way to your brain and are processed as sounds.

Question 12

Wavelength

Answer 12

The way we measure sound waves, audio waves, and other types of waves is by their length and their height (amplitude). The length of a wave (or wavelength) refers to the distance between the peak of one wave and the peak of the next wave. simply use the distance between these points to identify the length of the wave.

Question 13

Hue

Answer 13

Defining hue can be a bit confusing since we have another name for hue; color. Essentially, hue refers to the aspect of color that is determined by the wavelength of light. So, the way humans see and categorize colors is actually hue (blue, green, etc.).

Question 14

Intensity

Answer 14

Intensity refers to light and sound waves, and is defined as the amount of energy in a light or sound wave. This exact amount is determined by amplitude (the size or height) of the sound or light wave. So, the higher the amplitude (the larger the wave), the greater the intensity.

Question 15

Pupil

Answer 15

The opening in your eye that allows light to enter. The light then hits your neural receptors which transforms the stimulus into neural impulses which can be interpreted by your brain (mainly, the occipital lobe).

Question 16

Iris

Answer 16

it is a ring of muscle tissue that not only forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil, but also is responsible for controlling the size of the pupil opening.

Question 17

Accommodation

Answer 17

The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Question 18

Lens

Answer 18

The transparent structure behind the people that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

Question 19

Retina

Answer 19

The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye containing the receptor rods and cones and plus layers of neurons that begin the process of visual information

Question 20

Acuity

Answer 20

Sharpness of vision that can be affected by small distortions in the shape of the eye

Question 21

Nearsightedness

Answer 21

An eye condition where one cannot see objects clearly from afar. For example, if you are nearsighted you will be able to read these words without any difficulty but you may have trouble seeing a stop sign a block away.

Question 22

Farsightedness

Answer 22

Farsightedness, medically known as hyperopia or hypermetropia, is a condition that is the result of the eye’s physical inability to focus an image correctly on the retina at the back of the eye. Farsightedness is the result of the eyeball being too short, and/or the lens of the eye not being flexible enough, for proper focus to occur.

Farsightedness causes a person to have little trouble seeing things that are at a distance, but having difficulty seeing things that are close up. This problem is easily corrected through the use of corrective lenses (glasses).

Question 23

Audition

Answer 23

Audition is the formal phrase for hearing. Audition is important in providing feedback for the mind, as well balance of the body.

Question 24

Frequency

Answer 24

Frequency is the number of complete wavelengths that occur within a specific time. A wave with high frequency means it occurs more rapidly or often and is also considered shorter. Frequency is used to measure all sorts of wavelengths, such as light waves, sound waves, and brain waves.

Question 25

Pitch

Answer 25

Pitch is a musical term that refers to the sound quality; highness or lowness (frequency) of a sound or musical tone. All sounds have a measurable frequency, whether they are classified as music, sounds or noise and pitch refers to a sound’s place on the frequency scale of human hearing.

Question 26

Cochlea

Answer 26

The cochlea (from the Greek word meaning “snail”) is a bony, spiral-shaped, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves travel and trigger nerve impulses. The cochlea looks very much like a snail and is a vital component in hearing. Nerve impulses that send auditory signals to the brain for interpretation are sent from it.

Question 27

Inner ear

Answer 27

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea (the spiral shape part that has lots of neural receptors for picking up auditory stimuli), semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs. Sorry, but there isn’t much more to say about this one.

Question 28

Place theory

Answer 28

Place theory is a term that refers to how sound is received and perceived by the human ear. It refers to how sound waves affect different areas of the tympanic membrane, or eardrum, to create the perception of different types of sounds. A similar effect can be seen by hitting a tamborine in different spots; hitting near the side gives a flatter sound that hitting it in the center.

Question 29

Frequency theory

Answer 29

This theory of how we hear sounds states that there are pulses that travel up the auditory nerve, carrying the information about sound to the brain for processing, and that the rate of this pulse matched the frequency of whatever tone you are hearing exactly. We thus hear the tone because the pulse traveling up the auditory nerve matches the actual tone. Essentially, we are getting a copy of the real sound.

Question 30

Conduction hearing loss

Answer 30

Conductive Hearing Loss occurs when there is a physical problem conducting sound waves through the ear mechanisms (outer ear, eardrum, middle ear). This is different from “sensorineural” hearing loss which refers to problems with the nerve connections between the eardrum and brain.

Question 31

Cochlear implant

Answer 31

A Cochlear Implant is a small electronic device surgically implanted in and behind the ear to help deaf people hear. The implants do not restore hearing completely, but they allow sound to bypass damaged cells in the inner ear and stimulate the auditory nerve directly, thereby helping people with profound to severe hearing loss perceive sound. Both children and adults can benefit from a cochlear implant.

Question 32

Gate-control theory

Answer 32

Gate-Control Theory of pain perception was developed by Melzack and Wall’s who indicated that the spinal cord contains a type of neurological “gate” which opens and closes to either allow or block pain signals to travel to the brain. This gate does not actually open and close like the gate on a fence, but simply allows pain signals to pass onto the brain when they are traveling on the small nerve fibers, and does not allow pain signals to pass when they are traveling on the larger fibers. In this case, there doesn’t really need to be anything physical to produce pain; you only need to have the small nerve fibers send signals onto the brain to feel pain. This is why, for example, some people who are missing a limb often indicate that they can feel the missing limb, have pain in the missing limb, etc. Pretty amazing, eh?

Question 33

Sensory interaction

Answer 33

Sensory interaction refers to the interaction of the senses to each other and how they influence each other. Taste and smell are two senses that work together. Food tastes more bland when a person has a stuffy nose and can’t smell it properly. Some senses even overrule others if information seems contradictory. For instance, if someone hears speaking but the sounds of the speaking do not match the movements of the speaker’s lips, the person will pay more attention to what they see. Vision dominates all the other senses.

Question 34

Kinesthesis

Answer 34

Imagine this…you drive into a parking lot, get out of the car, and start to walk toward your destination. You decide to cut through a bunch of parked cars and notice that some of them are close together, so when you get to them, you have to turn and adjust your body in order to get through the tight spaces. The reason you are able to sense whether you can fit, what type of movements you need, how to adjust your body position, etc., is because you have kinesthetic sense, or an ability to sense body position and the movement of muscles, tendons, and joints.

Question 35

Vestibular sense

Answer 35

Vestibular Sense refers to the body’s set of mechanisms that monitor and adjusts the body’s sense of balance and orientation to the world. This sense is what keeps the body upright while standing, sitting or walking and is primarily located in the inner ear. This is why inner ear infections can result in problems with balance.

Question 36

Semicircular canals

Answer 36

The semicircular canals are three half-circular, interconnected tubes located inside each ear. The three canals are the horizontal semicircular canal, superior semicircular canal (aka anterior semicricular canal), and the posterior semicircular canal.

Question 37

Cocktail party effect

Answer 37

the ability to focus your hearing on one specific thing even though noise is all around you. It is named such because this occurs when you are at a party- you can focus on the conversation you are having with the person close to you and can ignore all of the other noise and conversation going on around you. Your brain helps you selectively focus on the person you are talking too and ‘mutes’ the other conversation, music, and general noise around you.

Question 38

Selective attention

Answer 38

Selective attention is purposely focusing your conscious awareness onto a specific stimulus. This means that if you are in a noisy place with lots of people and you purposely pay attention to the person you are speaking with, you are engaging in selective attention.

Question 39

Intentional blindness

Answer 39

also known as perceptual blindness, is an event where the effected person doesn’t see new and unexpected things that suddenly appear within their visual field. This phenomenon is believed to be a side-effect of excessive stimuli in the visual field (too many things to keep track of at the same time) and can cause a person to miss important, but unexpected, items in their vicinity.

Question 40

Change blindness

Answer 40

is a surprising perceptual phenomenon that occurs when a change in a visual stimulus is introduced and the observer does not notice it. For example, observers often fail to notice major differences introduced into an image while it flickers off and on agai

Question 41

Choice blindness

Answer 41

refers to a short-term memory phenomenon that causes people to be unable to accurately recall choices made. For example, several research projects have asked participants to look at pictures of people and to choose the one that they find most attractive. Once selected, it is frequently possible for the researcher to substitute a different picture for the one selected without the subject being aware of the substitution. Then, when asked to describe why they found their choice most attractive, to create lengthy explanations to explain their choice.

Question 42

Visual capture

Answer 42

tendency to allow visual images to dominate our perception. For example, when we watch a movie in a theater, we tend to think that the voices we hear come from the moving images on the screen, rather than from the speakers that could be located all around the theater. When watching a ventriloquist act, it also seems as if the voice is coming from the dummy rather than from the ventriloquist, because we see that it is the dummy’s mouth that moves.

Question 43

Gestalt

Answer 43

the study of how people integrate and organize perceptual information (information they perceive - things they see, hear, etc) into meaningful wholes.

Question 44

Figure ground

Answer 44

the ways that humans organize information about what they see. So when you look at a picture on a wall, the picture is the figure and you can distinguish it clearly from its surroundings, the wall (ground).

Question 45

Grouping

Answer 45

Humans have a tendency to organize stimuli into some coherent groups. We like to categorize things and maintain some organization with most stimuli. For example, we meet a new person, and immediately we group them into gender, height, weight, race, etc. This categorization process is done by “grouping” information into logical categories.

Question 46

Depth perception

Answer 46

the ability to judge the distances of objects, which also allows us to see them in three dimensions. Obviously, images that strike the retina are two dimensional, but because our visual systems have the capacity to interpret stimuli in terms of relative depth, we see these objects not as flat, but as having some depth.

Question 47

Visual cliff

Answer 47

The Visual Cliff is a test given to infants to see if they have developed depth perception. The way it works is there is a platform that is covered with a cloth that is draped all over the place (on the platform, down to the floor, all over…). Then, a piece of glass or other clear material is placed on top of the platform and extends well off of the platform, creating a sort of bridge. An infant is then placed on the platform, and the infant’s mother stands on the other side of the clear bridge. The mother calls for the child who, if it crawls off the platform and onto the clear bridge, it does not yet have depth perception. If it stops when it gets to the edge of the platform, looks down, and either is reluctant to cross or refuses to cross, then the child has depth perception. The reason is that the end of the platform looks like a cliff (the child doesn’t yet understand that there is some kind of bridge there) and going off the edge of the platform would have bad consequence

Question 48

Binocular cues

Answer 48

Humans are able to see things that are both far and near, and can actually identify where those objects are in space (meaning, they can determine if those objects are close or far away). This sort of depth perception requires both of our eyes, which is referred to as binocular cues (depth cues that requires both of our eyes).

Question 49

Retinal disparity

Answer 49

If you cover your left eye and look straight ahead, you will not be able to see anything in the left peripheral area. In contrast, if you cover your right eye and continue looking straight ahead, you will not see in the right peripheral area. Each eye receives a slightly different perspective or image, however, a person does not see two seperate images. The images overlap in the center, and the brain connects these together into one seamless view.

Thus, Retinal Disparity is the difference between the visual images that each eye perceives because of the different angles in which each eye views the world. Retinal disparity is important for depth perception. Diplopia, meaning “double vision,” occurs if a person sees two images in their visual field instead of one seamless image.

Question 50

Convergence

Answer 50

binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object. the greater the inward strain, the closer the object. (basically going cross eyed basically going cross eyed)

Question 51

Molecular cue

Answer 51

Cues of depth that can be detected by one eye instead of two. For example, size is a monocular clue. One doesn’t need two eyes to tell how large an object is, and because of its size, how close it is perceived to be.v

Question 52

Phi phenomenon

Answer 52

lights next to each other blinking on and off in succession appear to actually move. For example, a string of lights across a house appear to “run” even though you know it’s just one light turning off and the one next to it turning on and so on down the line.

Question 53

Perceptual consistency

Answer 53

the ability to recognize that an object or organism has not changed (remained the same object or organism) even though other stimuli have changed. For example, when you go to a school reunion you will be able to recognize the other people from your class even though their physical characteristics may have changed such as increased weight, hair loss, etc. (change blindness)

Question 54

Ponzo illusion

Answer 54

the Ponzo Illusion is the mind’s tendency to judge an objec’s size according to the background. An example of this is a set of converging lines drawn upward with an equal set of parallel lines drawn horizontally (this diagram appears to be like railroad tracks that stretch off into the distance). The horizontal lines (the railroad tracks in our example) near the bottom where the converging lines are farther apart appear to be shorter, and the rungs near the top where the lines are closer together appear to be longer. At the bottom, the horizontal tracks stay inside the vertical lines while the top ones extend over them. It is this difference in background that makes the top tracks appear longer.

Question 55

Müller-Lyer illusion

Answer 55

The Mueller-Lyer Illusion is an optical illusion involving two lines and arrowheads at the ends of each line. When two lines and arrowheads of equal length are used, the one with ends pointing out is thought to be longer than the one with ends pointing in. See for yourself…

Which line looks longer (obviously they are the same length, but as you can see, they look to be different lengths)?

> ———-<

Question 56

Perceptual set

Answer 56

This is the expectation of a person to see or perceive something based on prior experience. Writers sometimes use this concept in movie scripts in a humorous scene. For example, people expect a large man to have a very low voice. This is a stereotype. If instead, the large man in a movie speaks in a very high pitched voice, the audience is surprised and therefore finds the scene funny.

Question 57

Human factors of psychology

Answer 57

Human Factors Psychology is the division of psychology that studies how the human mind and body interacts with its tools and environment. Unlike traditional psychology that seeks to understand human behavior and motivations, human factors psychology seeks to create ways in which humans can interact with the modern world in ways that are more psychologically and ergonomically friendly, rather than having to accommodate to the needs of machinery and technology.

For instance, early computers were not very user-friendly; they were large (building-sized) and used magnetic tape and punch cards to create monitor displays that were monochromatic and written in code. Now, through the combination of research and technological improvements PCs, tablets, laptops, etc. are a user-friendly, everyday feature of life.

Question 58

Extrasensory perception (ESP)

Answer 58

Extrasensory perception or ESP, also called sixth sense, includes reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses but sensed with the mind.