Sensation And Perseption

Question 0

Transduction

Answer 0

process by which sensory systems convert physical and chemical stimuli into electrical signals that the nervous system can use

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

the process by which physical and chemical energy are detected from the environment and transduced for the purpose of neural transmission; includes psychophysics, the study of the relationship between physical energy and one’s psychological experiences (sensation and perception)

Question 2

Attention

Answer 2

State of awareness in which someone is able to process stimuli,

Question 3

Selective attention

Answer 3

 state of awareness in which one’s focus is upon one particular stimuli
• multi-tasking is impossible
• most sensations are never perceived

Question 4

Inattentional blindness

Answer 4

 focusing upon a particular stimulus so that…

 one is “blind” to any other stimuli

Question 5

Cocktail-party effect

Answer 5

 while selectively attending to one particular stimuli, such as listening to someone talking to you, you suddenly change your focus when you hear your name mentioned by someone across the room

Question 6

Bottom-up processing

Answer 6

Process of sensation

Senses send info to the brain

Question 7

Absolute thresholds

Answer 7

The weakest level of a stimulus that can be correctly detected at least half the time

Question 8

Signal detection theory

Answer 8

 addresses how and when an individual detects a particular stimuli in the midst of much other stimuli
 absolute threshold varies from person to person
 factors influencing signal detection include:
• fatigue • level of attention • expectations • motivation • emotional distress • experience • age

Question 9

Subliminal stimulation

Answer 9

 receiving messages below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness
 the reality of this experience is debated

Question 10

f. Difference thresholds or Just Noticeable Difference (JND):

Answer 10

 minimum difference between any two stimuli that a person can detect 50% of the time
 Weber’s Law: our ability to detect the difference between stimuli is dependent upon the stimuli changing by a constant proportion

Question 11

Sensory adaption

Answer 11

 when someone “gets used to” a stimulus; ex. teacher’s voice
 attention is no longer focused upon repetitive, unchanging stimuli

Question 12

Vision

Answer 12

Process of receiving, transduction the communicating light to the brain

Question 13

Light

Answer 13

a. physical energy
b. comprises the electromagnetic spectrum
c. the visible spectrum:
 the light we can “see”
 only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum; characteristics of light include:
• Color, or hue
 determined by wavelength, i.e., the distance from one wave peak to the next wave peak
• Brightness or intensity
 amount of energy in a wavelength
 determined by amplitude, the height of a wave
d. rays of light, when reflected off an object, pass from the object through the cornea
e. then through the pupil, or opening in the iris
f. then are focused by the lens onto the cones and rods of the retina

Question 14

Anatomy of the eye

Answer 14

Pupil, iris, lens, retina, acuity, rods, cones, fovea, optic nerve, blind spot, optic chasm

Question 15

Pupil

Answer 15

 opening in the iris
 smaller in bright light
 larger in dim light
 affected by arousal
 affected by psychoactive drug use

Question 16

Iris

Answer 16

 colored muscle surrounding the pupil:

 regulates the size of the pupil opening

Question 17

Lens

Answer 17

 structure behind the pupil
 changes shape (see accommodation) in order to focus incoming rays onto the retina
• accommodation:
 process of changing the curvature of the lens to focus light rays onto the retina
• nearsightedness:
 too much curvature of the cornea and/or lens
 focuses the image in front of the retina
 nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant objects
 farsightedness:
• too little curvature of the cornea and or/lens
• focuses the image behind the retina
• distant objects are seen more clearly than nearby objects

Question 18

Retina

Answer 18

 area in the back of the eye
 contains rods and cones that transduce light
 has layers of bipolar cells and ganglion cells that transmit visual information to the brain

Question 19

Acuity

Answer 19

Ability to detect fine details, sharpness of vision

Question 20

Rods

Answer 20

 photoreceptor cells in the retina
 detect black, white, and gray and movement
 necessary for peripheral and dim-light vision when cones do not respond
 distributed throughout the retina, except in the fovea

Question 21

Cones

Answer 21

 photoreceptor cells in the retina
 detect color and fine detail in daylight or in bright-light conditions
 most are concentrated at the fovea of the retina
 none in the periphery

Question 22

Fovea

Answer 22

 small area in the retina
 in the direct line of sight
 incorporates the highest concentration of cones
 produces highest visual acuity in bright light

Question 23

Optic nerve

Answer 23

the nerve pathway which carries data from the eye to the brain
 carries the neural impulses from the eye to the thalamus
 formed by ganglion cell axons

Question 24

Blind spot

Answer 24

 region of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye  no receptor cells here, therefore…  creates an area with no vision

Question 25

Optic chasm

Answer 25

 point, at the base of the brain, where neural messages from the left and right fields of vision from each eye cross over to the opposite hemispheres

Question 26

Visual information processing (Hubel and Wiesel, 1979):)

Answer 26

a. Feature detectors (Hubel and Wiesel, 1979):  individual neurons in the primary visual cortex/ occipital lobes Respond to specific features of a visual stimulus No

Question 27

Parallel processing (Livingston and hubel 1988)

Answer 27

```  simultaneously analyzing different elements of sensory information, such as: • color • brightness • shape Yes ```

Question 28

4. color vision | a. Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic (three-color) Theory:

Answer 28

 retina has three types of color receptors |  each especially sensitive to either red, green, or blue

Question 29

Color vision: opponent-process theory

Answer 29

 involve opposing retinal processes for red-green, yellow-blue, white-black  some retinal cells are stimulated by one of a pair and inhibited by the other

Question 30

Color vision: color consistency

Answer 30

 experience of color |  perception of colors will remain the same with shifts of lighting

Question 31

hearing (audition)

Answer 31

changing waves of air pressure (sound), gathered by the outer ear, are: 1. funneled through the auditory canal 2. strike the mechanisms of the middle ear 3. transduced by the cochlea of the inner air 4. sent to the thalamus via the medulla and pons

Question 32

Sound

Answer 32

```  changing waves of air pressure  physical energy  characteristics include: • Loudness:  determined by amplitude  the height of a wavelength  measured in decibels • Pitch:  high and low sounds  determined by frequency  how often a complete wavelength (cycle) occurs  measured in hertz • Timbre:  complex mixture of sound waves  characterizes most sounds  differentiation enables appreciation and recognition involved with a myriad of experiences, for example:  music appreciation  voice recognition  strange or exotic sounds ```

Question 33

Loudness is determined by

Answer 33

 determined by amplitude  the height of a wavelength  measured in decibels

Question 34

Pitch is determined by

Answer 34

high and low sounds determined by frequency how often a complete wavelength (cycle) occurs measured in hertz

Question 35

Timbre

Answer 35

``` complex mixture of sound waves  characterizes most sounds  differentiation enables appreciation and recognition involved with a myriad of experiences, for example:  music appreciation  voice recognition  strange or exotic sounds ```

Question 36

Pinna

Answer 36

Outer ear, funnels sound to ear

Question 37

Auditory canal

Answer 37

Funnels sound to the eardrum, outer ear

Question 38

Eardrum

Answer 38

Vibrates with sound waves | Amplifies vibrations

Question 39

Middle ear

Answer 39

• transmits eardrum’s vibrations via mechanism of 3 tiny bones:  hammer  anvil  stirrup  further amplifies sound to inner ear • Conduction Hearing Loss:  loss of hearing that results when the eardrum is punctured or  when any of the 3 bones of the middle ear lose their ability to vibrate  hearing aid might compensate

Question 40

Cochlea

Answer 40

snail-shaped fluid-filled tube with hair cells on the basilar membrane, transduces vibrations via hair receptor cells, inner ear

Question 41

Sensorineural hearing loss

Answer 41

loss of hearing that results from damage to the cochlea, hair cells, or auditory neurons  almost always permanent  cochlear implants might restore hearing in some cases

Question 42

Auditory nerve

Answer 42

• sends transduced stimuli to the brain • Place Theory:  how pitch (high and low sounds) is perceived  vibrations at different locations of the basilar membrane correspond with different pitch • Frequency Theory:  frequency of nerve impulses to the brain match the frequency of a high or low pitch

Question 43

Touch

Answer 43

1. the sensation of warmth, cold, pain, and pressure 2. physical stimuli 3. skin receptors: a. present in differing levels of concentration all over the body Transduces stimuli ( see soma sensory cortex)

Question 44

Pain

Answer 44

a. experience of physical discomfort b. message that something is wrong c. involves neurotransmitter Substance P d. Gate-Control Theory:  small nerve fibers “open a gate” in the spinal cord, resulting in pain (in the brain)  however, the “gate” can be closed by neural activity of larger nerve fibers coming from the brain (ex. hypnosis aids brain-controlled pain)

Question 45

Taste

Answer 45

1. sensation of chemical stimuli 2. sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and possibly umami 3. taste buds: a. sensory receptors b. located on tongue and back of throat c. transduce stimuli 4. Sensory interaction: senses add to or change perception of another

Question 46

Smell (olfaction)

Answer 46

1. sensation of chemical stimuli 2. closely related to taste 3. olfactory receptors a. located in a mucous membrane on the roof of the nasal cavity b. molecules must reach membrane and dissolve to be sensed c. transduce stimuli d. messages are sent to the limbic system

Question 47

Kinesthetic sense

Answer 47

1. body sense that provides info about position and movement of individual part of body 2. receptors located in muscles, tendons, and joints

Question 48

Vestibular sense

Answer 48

sense of equilibrium hair-like receptors are located in semicircular canals in the inner ear, Transduce stimuli

Question 49

Perception

Answer 49

the subjective process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensations; creation of a personal reality

Question 50

Top-down processing

Answer 50

a. forming perceptions based upon personal experiences

Question 51

Perceptual set

Answer 51

• tendency to perceive sensory input on the basis of past experience; • perpetuates misperceptions b. knowledge and behaviors that have proven successful are selected as the measures by which we interpret and organize our world

Question 52

Visual capture

Answer 52

 vision usually dominates when there is a conflict of sense input (ex., vision vs. sound) (eg., movie theater)

Question 53

Perceptual organization

Answer 53

how sensory data is organized

Question 54

Gestalt

Answer 54

* German word for “form” or “whole” * name of cognitive theory, developed by Max Wertheimer in the early 1900s * the mind’s drive to see, or create, meaning from sensory data * follows a set of organizational rules or principles including:

Question 55

Figure and ground

Answer 55

 seeing any object (figure) relative to its background (environment)  sometimes the relationship reverses, but we always recognize a figure against a ground

Question 56

Law of pragnanz

Answer 56

Simplest possible way of grouping

Question 57

Proximity

Answer 57

Close objects and figures are grouped together

Question 58

Similarity

Answer 58

Similar object and figures are grouped together

Question 59

Continuity

Answer 59

Continuous patterns are perceived instead of discontinuous ones

Question 60

Connectedness

Answer 60

The tendency to link objects together

Question 61

Closure

Answer 61

The tendency to fill in gaps | To create a complete full object

Question 62

Depth perception

Answer 62

Ability to experience three-dimension Assists in judging depth and distance Visual cliff experiment: designed by Eleanor Gibson, tests whether or not depth perception is innate, results restricted to biological preparedness (infants couldn't participate)

Question 63

Binocular cues

Answer 63

 cues about distance which requires two eyes  Retinal disparity • the difference between images on each retina provides cues to the brain in judging distance  Convergence: • the inward movement, or convergence, of each eye when viewing an object • the greater the convergence, the closer the distance

Question 64

Monocular cues

Answer 64

 cues about distance which require one eye  Relative size: • comparing objects similar in size, the smaller one is perceived as farther away

Question 65

Interposition

Answer 65

An object that blocks the view of another is perceived as closer

Question 66

Relative clarity

Answer 66

Fuzzy hazy objects are perceived as father away

Question 67

Texture gradient

Answer 67

gradual change from coarse, distinct texture to a fine, indistinct texture signals increase in distance

Question 68

Relative height

Answer 68

objects higher in vision are perceived as farther

Question 69

Relative motion (motion parallax)

Answer 69

how distance from an object is perceived while in motion the speed with which stable objects move past a perceiver in the opposite direction signals the distance of the object from the perceiver

Question 70

Linear perspective

Answer 70

parallel lines appear to converge with distance | the more the lines converge, the greater the apparent distance

Question 71

Light and shadow

Answer 71

closer objects reflect more light to our eyes | dimmer objects seem farther away

Question 72

Phi phenomenon

Answer 72

when two stationary and adjacent lights blink in succession perceived as a single light moving back and forth Type of Motion perception

Question 73

Stroboscopic effect

Answer 73

• the perception of movement due to: a series of slightly different images, one replacing the next, used in film making Type of motion perception

Question 74

Perceptual consistency

Answer 74

 perception of an object as unchanging • even when the immediate sensation of the object changes Subject to illusions

Question 75

Shape and size consistencies

Answer 75

• perception of the form of an object remains constant |  even with change in angle/view point

Question 76

Size-distance relationship

Answer 76

• objects farther away can appear larger when compared to cues around them  ex., the moon illusion

Question 77

Lightness consistency

Answer 77

perception of an object as having a constant lightness even while its illumination varies

Question 78

Perceptual adaption

Answer 78

ability to adapt to changing sensory input (see sensory adaptation)

Question 79

Extra sensory perception

Answer 79

ESP; controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input

Question 80

Parapsychology

Answer 80

``` a. study of paranormal events, includes:  telepathy  clairvoyance  precognition  telekinesis/psychokinesis. ```