Sensation and Perception Flashcards
A-Delta Fibres
- Thick, myelinated axons that are used in the fast pathway for pain perception.
- These axons are responsible for sharp, instant pain, such as that when you first scrape your knee
Absolute Threshold
The smallest strength needed to detect a stimuli 50% of the time
Accommodation
Curvature of the lens adjusts to change your focus
ie. the lens changes to make it easier to focus on near or far objects
Additive Colour Mixing
Adding wavelengths of light to a mixture to produce colour
ie. Shining 3 different coloured spotlights onto a blank background
Afterimage
The image that persists after there is no more stimuli
ie. looking at a bright light and then seeing the splotchy after effects on the wall
Auditory Localization
The act of locating a sound in space
Basilar Membrane
- Found in the inner ear
- Houses hair-like structures (cochlea) that are sensitive to vibrations in the inner ear fluid
Binocular Depth Cues
- Clues about depth that are perceived with both eyes
- Uses retinal disparity and convergence
Blind Spot
An area in your visual field you cannot detect due to a hole in the retina called the “Optic Disk”
Bottom-Up Processing
- Interpreting visual stimuli beginning with lines, making them into shapes and then into meaningful objects
- This may be the type of processing used when looking at impossible figures, which is why they seem fine at first glance but become baffling later on
C Fibres
- Thin, unmyelinated axons used in the slow pathway in the regulation of pain
- Responsible for long-lasting pain such as aches and burns
Cochlea
Hair-like structures in the inner ear that send auditory stimuli to the brain
Colour Blindness
- Inability to differentiate certain colours
- More common in males
- Most colour blind people are dichromats
Comparitors
People, objects, events or other standards used to make judgments or comparisons
Complementary Colours
- Colours that when mixed together, form grey
- They are found at opposite ends of the colour wheel from each other
ie. yellow and purple
Complex Cells
Respond to stimulus in any position in their receptive fields
Cones
- Specialized visual receptors that are important in daylight vision and colour vision
- Provide better sharpness and precise detail
- Found in the centre of the eye
Convergence
- Cue in binocular depth
- Senses the eyes turning toward each other as they look at objects, hinting at their distance away
Cornea
Transparent window at the front of the eye where light travels through
Dark Adaption
The process of the eye becoming more sensitive to light to accommodate for the dark conditions
Depth Perception
The ability to sense where objects are using binocular and monocular clues
Dichromats
- Attributed to colour blindness
- Having only 2 colour channels and being insensitive to either red, green or blue
Distal Stimuli
Distant / external visual stimuli that your eye does not “touch”
Door-in-the-Face Technique
A manipulation tactic that works by making an offer that is likely to be refused in order to increase the chances of a more reasonable offer (that was wanted in the first place) being accepted.
Farsightedness
- Distant objects appear clear, but objects close appear blurry
- May come from the eye being too short
Feature Analysis
Detecting elements in visual stimuli and creating something meaningful out of them
ie. lines becoming a rectangle which becomes your phone
Feature Detectors
Specialized neurons that react to specific features of complex visual stimuli
Fechner’s Law
States that the intensity of a sensory experience is determined by the number of JNDs the stimulus is above the absolute threshold
Fovea
Tiny spot in the centre of the retina that is densely packed with cones, making it the best for sharp vision
Frequency Theory
States that the perception of pitch is determined by the frequency of which the entire basilar membrane vibrates
Gate-Control Theory
- States that pain signals must go through a gate at the spinal cord which can be closed, inhibiting pain signals to get to the brain
- Created by Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall
Gustatory System
- Sense of taste
- Gustatory receptors are clusters of cells in our taste buds that absorb the chemical stimuli of taste
- Stimuli is sent to the thalamus then to the insular cortex
- Sweet, bitter, salty, sour and umami
Hair Cells
Sensory receptors found in the inner ear for both the vestibular and auditory system
Impossible Figures
Figures that at first glance seem fine, then upon further inspection are geometrically and physically impossible
Inattentional Blindness
- The phenomenon of not seeing things in plain sight
- Illustrated by that video of a basketball being thrown around and a gorilla walking through the middle of it
Just Noticeable Difference (JND)
- The smallest amount of change needed to sense a stimuli
- Related to absolute threshold
ie. the absolute threshold is the JND from nothing