Sensation and Perception Flashcards
James Gibson’s theory of perceptual development
Experience trains us in our ability to increasingly discriminate among stimuli
Optic array
Everything a person sees
What is light composed of?
Photons and waves
Edward hering
Proposed opponent-colour or opponent-process theory
Hubel and Wiesel’s experiment and their basic findings
Measured the firing of individual nerve cells in different parts of the visual cortex.
Found that certain cells respond specifically to lines of particular length and orientation in particular parts of the visual field.
McCollough effect
Another term for the afterimage effect
Dark adaptation
The process by which our eyes adapt to low-light conditions, caused by the regeneration of retinal pigment.
Mental sets
Analogous to schemas; they constitute perceptual expectations for the world
They help why we see what we expect to see in the world
Minimum principle
The tendency to see what is easiest or most logical.
Like Occam’s razor applied to vision.
Purkinje Shift
The way that colour brightness changes with the level of illumination in the room. With lower levels of illumination, colours at the extremes of the spectrum (especially red) are seen as relatively less bright.
How do we recognize patterns?
We detect features in the environments and match them to mental templates.
Weber’s Law equation
K = (increase in intensity needed for JND)/(original intensity
Fechner’s Law equation
(sensation strength) = k log (original intensity)
J.A. Swet
Originator of Signal Detection Theory
Response bias
In SDT, individuals are motivated by costs and rewards in detection, and so are not entirely subjective.
False alarm
In SDT, detecting a stimulus when none is present
Type I error
Hit
In SDT, correctly detecting a stimulus
Miss
In SDT, failure to detect a present stimulus
Type II error
Correct rejection
In SDT, rightly stating that no stimulus is present
Timbre
The unique “voice” of a sound wave. Stems from the complexity and layering of the wave.
Explains why instruments playing the same notes can still be distinguished.
Components of the outer ear
Pinna and auditory canal
Components of the middle ear
Tympanic membrane (eardrum) and ossicles (malleus, incus, stapes)
Components of the inner ear
Oval window, cochlea, basilar membrane, organ of Corti
Traveling wave
Movement on the basilar membrane caused by sound, which allows the sound to be transduced.
Vestibular sacs
Provide our sense of balance through a sensitivity to tilt
Place-resonance theory
Proposed by Hermann von Helmholtz
Different parts of the basilar membrane respond to different frequencies
Selective attention
The process of tuning into something specific, while ignoring most/all other stimuli in the background
Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall
Proposed the Gate Control Theory of Pain
Simulations
Use of perceptual cues to make artificial situations seem real.
Osmoreceptors
Deal with thirst.
