Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Cornea?

Answer 1

Transparent tissue where light enters the eye and helps focus the image

Question 2

Iris?

Answer 2

Muscle that expands and contracts to change the size of the opening (pupil) for light

Question 3

Lens?

Answer 3

Focuses the light rays on the retina to make a clearer image

Question 4

Retina?

Answer 4

Contains sensory receptors that process visual information and sends it to the brain

Question 5

Rods?

Answer 5

Detect black and white vision
Necessary for peripheral and twilight vision
Function in dim light
Outer region of retina

Question 6

Cones?

Answer 6

Near center of retina (fovea)
Function in bright or day light
Detect fine detail
Enable color perception

Question 7

What is the fovea?

Answer 7

The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye’s cones cluster

Question 8

Why do our eyes jiggle (i.e., produce microsaccades)?

Answer 8

If images on the retina were to be stabilized, they would fade from view, therefore microsaccades cause the retina to be able to receive the information

Question 9

What is the optic chiasm?

Answer 9

The part of the brain where the optic nerves partially cross
Sends info to the correct side of the brain
Below the hypothalamus

Question 10

What are feature detector cells?

Answer 10

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle or movement

Question 11

Supercells?

Answer 11

Cluster’s that allow one to process many visual stimuli and respond accordingly

Question 12

Which area of the brain processes face perception?

Answer 12

Temporal Lobe, fusiform gyrus

Question 13

What is prosopagnosia?

Answer 13

Face blindness, when someone cannot recognize faces, but other sense remain intact

Question 14

What does gestalt mean?

Answer 14

Form or Whole in German

People organize sensations into a meaningful whole

Question 15

What are some of the major Gestalt organizational principles discussed in class?

Answer 15

Figure and ground - Visual field is set up into 2 components
Grouping effects - Organize stimuli into coherent groups, based upon spacing and proximity
Similarity - Things which share visual characteristics will be seen as belonging together
Proximity - Close form groups
Closure - Filling in missing details to form a complete image
Continuity - Continue rather than form new objects
Symmetry - In order

Question 16

What is top-down processing?

Answer 16

Previous experience and expectations affect the detection and analysis of information from the senses
Explains Visual Illusions

Question 17

What is a perceptual set?

Answer 17

Discerning an object in a set based off other objects in the set (ABC 12 13 14)

Question 18

What is change/inattentional blindness?

Answer 18

When a change in a visual stimulus goes unnoticed by an observer

Question 19

What is the cochlea?

Answer 19

A coiled, bony, fluid filled tube in the inner ear that transforms sound vibrations to auditory

Question 20

What are hair cells?

Answer 20

Located on the basilar membrane, when the cochlea vibrates, they vibrate, then they trigger impulses in adjacent nerve cells

Question 21

What inner ear organs are associated with our vestibular sense?

Answer 21

Balance

Semicircular canals, vestibular sacs

Question 22

What does it mean when we say that someone is a supertaster?

Answer 22

35% of women and 15% of men. They have a far greater intensity of taste

Question 23

What is synesthesia?

Answer 23

The perceptual experience some people have in which their sensory experiences overlap. One sensation will evoke another simultaneous sensation

Question 24

What are the two types of nociceptors (pain receptors) we discussed and what are their functions?

Answer 24

C Fibers - Transmit longer lasting duller pain

A-delta Fibers - Fast acting, transmit sharp pain