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Psychology > Sensing And Perceiving > Flashcards

Sensing And Perceiving Flashcards

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1
Q

Sensation

A

Response of our sense organs to stimulation by the outer worl

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2
Q

Perception

A

Act of organizing and interpreting sensory experience

How our psychological world represents out physical world

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3
Q

Sensory adaption

A

Sensory sensitivity diminishes when our senses are constantly stimulating

Ensures that we notices changes in stimulation more than stimulation itself

Acts as a filter to direct our attention to most relevant sensory information

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4
Q

Transduction

A

Conversion of physical into neural information

Once we know that a physical stimulus is something to attend to, the sense organs convert it into action potentials

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5
Q

Psychophysics

A

Study of how people psychologically perceive physical stimuli

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6
Q

Absolute threshold

A

Lowest intensity level of a stimulus we can detect half of the time

-smallest object you can see from a distance or softest sound you can hear etc

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7
Q

Signal detection theory

A

Takes into account both stimulus intensity and the decision making processes people use in detecting stimulus

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8
Q

Difference thresholds

A

Smallest amount of change between two stimuli that a person can detect half of the time

Aka just noticeable differences, where the size of the JND is a constant fraction of the intensity of the stimulus - Weber’s law

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9
Q

Bottom up processing

A

Building a perceptual experience from basic elements of sensation

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10
Q

Top down processing

A

Perception of the whole guides perception of smaller elemental features

Eg. Our frame of mind, which is ultimately coded in the brain can impact how we perceive things

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11
Q

Perceptual set

A

The effect of frame of mine on perception

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12
Q

Function of the eye

A

Bends light, converts light energy to neural energy, and sends that info to the brain for further processing

Most of our visual experience happens not in the eye, but in the brain

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13
Q

Cornea

A

A clear hard covering that protects the lens

Where light enters the eye

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14
Q

Pupil

A

Where light entered the interior of the eye

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15
Q

Iris

A

Coloured part of the eye

Adjusts the pupil to control the amount of light entering the eye

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16
Q

Lens

A

Light passes through

Bends the light rays to allow the large area of visual space to be represented in the much smeller area of the eye

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17
Q

Retina

A

Thin layer of nerve tissue that lines the back of the eye

Muscles around the lens alter its shape depending on the distance of an object to allow it to focus light on the retina

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18
Q

Accommodation

A

Process by which the muscles control the shape of the lens to adjust to viewing objects at different distances

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19
Q

Eye and receptor cells

A

Light hits the retina and is processed first by the photoreceptors (rods and cones) the deepest layer

Then by the bipolar cells, which send it to the ganglion cells

Horizontal and a machine cells modulate the activity of the other cell types

Transduction occurs in the retina which is made up of neurons

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20
Q

Photoreceptors

A

Convert light energy into neural impulses and are located in the deepest cell layer

Only retinal cell responsive to light; other cell types are responsive to neurotransmitters

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21
Q

Ganglion cells

A

Most superficial layer

Ganglion cell axons form the optic nerve that carry information from the eye to the brain

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22
Q

Bipolar cells

A

2nd deepest layer

Form synapses with both ganglion cells and photoreceptors

Link the cells that transduce light stimulus with those that transit the information to the brain

23
Q

Horizontal and amacrine cells

A

Located in an orientation perpendicular to the other cell types

Integrate the activity of the other cells

Horizontal cells located between photoreceptors and bipolar

Amacrine cells located between bipolar and ganglion

24
Q

Rods

A

More numerous
Located mainly in the outer periphery of the retina
More sensitive to light (work well under low illumination)
Do not allow for finely detailed colour vision

25
Q

Cones

A

Less numerous than rods
Mainly located in the fovea (area in the centre of th retina that corresponds to our central focus of visual space)
Allow for visual acuity

26
Q

Visual acuity

A

Ability to see clearly

Depends on our cones

27
Q

Light interacting with photoreceptors

A

Embedded in the cell membranes of rods and cones are proteins with light sensitive photo chemicals

When light interacts with these photo chemicals it results in a change in the shape of the protein

This in turn alters the flow of sodium across the photoreceptors membrane and alters release of neurotransmitter at the canapés with bipolar cells

28
Q

Rhodopsin

A

Protein found in rod cells

Particularly sensitive to light

Under conditions of bright illumination, is is said to be bleached (inactivated protein) due to maximum stimulation

29
Q

Photopsins

A

Protein found in cones

Less sensitive to light and do not bleach under bright light

Under typical daytime conditions we rely on cones

Allow us to see colour

30
Q

Dark adaption

A

Process of adjustment to seeing in very dim light

Photochemicals in cones and rods readjusting to low illumination

31
Q

Light adaption

A

Opposite of dark adaption

Suddenly exposed to bright light

32
Q

Vision and the brain

A

Optic nerve transmits signals to the brain

Point at which the optic nerve exits the eye is called the optic disc (forms a blind spot on the retina)

33
Q

Optic chiasm

A

Where the strand of optic nerve crosses to the opposite side of the brain

34
Q

Lateral geniculate nucleus

A

A cluster of neuron cells bodies in the thalamus

Visual information creates a point by point representation on the tissue of the LGN

Fibres from LGN travel to the visual cortex in the occipital lobe

35
Q

Receptive fields

A

Neurons in the visual cortex that are highly specialized for detecting specific regions of visual space

36
Q

Feature detectors

A

Analyze the rental image and respond to specific aspects of shapes angles and movements

Simple cells: respond to very specific information such as a bar of light oriented at a particular angle

This Complex cells receive input from many different simple cells and are receptive to particular singular in different parts of the receptive field . Also sensitive to movement

Hypercomplex cells receive input from many complex cells and fire in response to patterns of lines

37
Q

Auditory pathways

A

Auditory neurons transmit sound impulses to the thalamus in the brain.

Auditory pathways go from the cochlea to the inferior colliculus in the brain steam and from there to the medial geniculate nucleus of the thalamus and from there to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe

38
Q

Right auditory cortex

A

More active in processing non-verbal stimuli

39
Q

Left auditory cortex

A

More active in processing speech and language

40
Q

Bodily senses

A

Senses based in the skin, body or any membrane surface

Touch, temperature, pain, position/motion, balance, and interoception (perception of bodily sensations)

41
Q

Mechanoreceptors

A

Receptor cells that are sensitive to different tactile qualities.

42
Q

Psychogenic or psychosomatic pain

A

Feeling pain with no apparent tissue damage

43
Q

Chronic pain or fibromyalgia

A

Sensitivity to tactile stimulation

44
Q

Nociceptive pain

A

Pain from tissue damage

Pain receptors sensitive to heat, cold, chemical irritation and pressure are all types of nociceptors

45
Q

Anterior cingulate cortex and insula

A

Active in both physical and emotional pain

46
Q

Gate control theory of pain

A

Proposes that the spinal cord regulates the experience of pain by either activating or inhibiting neural networks called gates involved in pain sensations that get sent to the brain.

47
Q

Opioids

A

Class of neurotransmitter that act as natural painkillers

48
Q

Endorphins

A

Type of neurotransmitter that suppresses pain by interfering with pain messages in the spinal cord as well as the brain

49
Q

Pain enhancement

A

Occurs under conditions of illness, when elevated pain signals are thought to be beneficial so that an organism can rest and recuperate.

Glial cells wrapped around axons enhance pain signals

50
Q

Olfactory sensory neurons

A

Small area high in the lining of the nasal cavity

Receptors for smell

Contain cilia which convert chemical information in odour molecules into neural impulses

51
Q

Olfactory bulb

A

When chemicals come in contact with receptors on the cilia, transduction occurs via changes in ion flow and the olfactory message travels to the olfactory bulb in the forebrain

Olfactory bulb sends info either directly to the smell processing area in the cortex or indirectly to the cortex by way of the thalamus

52
Q

Primary olfactory cortex

A

In temporal lobe

53
Q

Secondary olfactory cortex

A

Frontal lobe near the eyes

54
Q

Orbitofrontal cortex

A

Region of brain most involved in flavour perception

Receives input from brain areas involved in olfaction and taste as well as from areas involved in touch and vision.

This is where signals from taste and smell meet

Psychology (9 decks)

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