Session 5 - Sensation and perception Flashcards
The conversion of energy from the environment into a pattern of response by the nervous system is known as what?
Sensation
Selection, organisation, and interpretation of sensory input is known as what?
Perception
The study of the relationship between physical stimuli and sensations they evoke in a human observer is known as what?
Psychophysics
The minimum amount of physical energy necessary to produce a sensation is known as what?
Absolute threshold
A device that converts one kind of energy into another is known as what?
Transducer
Converting important features of the world into messages understood by the brain is known as what?
Sensory coding
What is the minimal difference between two stimuli required before the two stimuli can be coded as different called?
Difference threshold
Process by which the senses divide the world into important perceptual features is known as what?
Sensory analysis
Basic stimulus patterns are known as what?
Perceptual features
Not smelling burning toast after a while would be an example of what?
Sensory adaptation: reduction in sensory receptor activity in response to unchanging stimuli
Being able to focus on one person talking to you in a group of people is an example of what?
Selective attention: Giving priority to a particular incoming sensory message, based on brains ability to select and divert incoming sensory messages
A failure to notice a stimulus because attention is focused elsewhere is known as what?
Inattention blindness
Process by which irrelevant stimuli are separated from meaningful ones is known as what?
Sensory gating
Which parts of the eye controls:
- amount of light entering the eye
- lets light pass through
- focuses light rays
Iris
Pupil
Lens
What are photoreceptors?
light-sensitive cells in the retina (rods and cones)
What is the difference between rods and cones?
Cones: photoreceptors that produce colour sensation and fine detail (5 million/eye)
Rods: photoreceptors for dim light; only produce black and white (120 million in each eye)
What is the name of the spot in centre of retina containing only cones that produces the sharpest image?
Fovea
What is myopia?
- Having difficulty on distant objects (near-sightedness)
* Caused by eyeball that is too long
What is Hyperopia?
- Difficulty focusing on nearby objects (farsightedness)
* Caused if eye is too short
Defects in the cornea, lens, or eye that cause some areas of vision to be out of focus is known as what?
Astigmatism
Farsightedness caused by aging is called?
Presbyopia
What is the difference between colour blindness and colour weakness?
weakness: An inability to distinguish some colours
Blindness: A total inability to perceive colour
Which colour vision theory states that we have three cone types (red, green, blue)?
Trichromatic theory, explains what is happening in cones
Which colour theory is based on three systems: red or green, blue or yellow, black or white?
Opponent process theory, explains what is happening when image has left cones
What is dark adaptation and how long does it usually take?
Increased light sensitivity of the eye under low-light conditions (full dark adaptation takes 35mins)
What is anosmia and what are the causes?
Smell blindness to single odour
causes: infections, allergies, blows to the head (tear olfactory nerves), exposure to chemicals and solvents
A complete loss of taste is known as what?
Ageusia
What is the condition where a person’s perception of taste is altered?
Dysgeusia
What is the reduced ability to taste sweet, sour, bitter, or salty things called?
Hypogeusia
Poor transfer of sounds from the eardrum/tympanic membrane to the inner ear is known as what?
- Conductive hearing loss
- hearing aids will help.
Loss of hearing caused by damage to the inner ear hair cells or auditory nerve is known as what?
- Sensorineural hearing loss
- Cochlear implants stimulate auditory nerves directly and can be used
Damaged caused by exposing the hair cells to excessively loud sounds is known as what?
- Noise induced hearing loss
- 85db or more can contribute to hearing loss
Name the 6 Gestalt organizing principles
- Nearness
- Similarity
- Continuation
- Closure
- Common region
- Contiguity
Which gestalt organizing principle states that Stimuli that are near each other tend to be grouped together
nearness
Which gestalt organizing principle states that stimuli that are similar in size, shape, colour, or form tend to be grouped together
Similarity
Which gestalt organizing principle states that perceptions tend toward simplicity and continuity
Continuation
Which gestalt organizing principle has a tendency to complete a figure, so that is has consistent overall form
Closure
Which gestalt organizing principle states that stimuli that are found within a common area tend to be seen as a group
Common region
Which gestalt organizing principle states that nearness in time and space causes the perception that one thing has caused another
Contiguity
Pre-existing ideas and expectations that guide our interpretation of sensations are known as what?
Perceptual hypothesis
What is the theory proposing that pain messages pass through neural gates in the spinal cord and that if the gate is closed by one pain message, the other may not be able to pass through?
Gate control theory
What is the pain control technique used by applying electrical current to skin to produce small pain to relieve bigger pain?
Counter irritation
What is the theory explaining motion sickness as the result of a mismatch among information from vision, the vestibular system, and kinesthesis?
Sensory conflict theory
Why is phantom pain felt?
- Brain creates body image called the neuromatrix where the internal model of the body generates our sense of bodily self
- An amputated limb still exists where the neuromatrix is concerned
What type of pain occurs when receptors in the pelvis, abdomen, chest, or intestines are activated?
Visceral pain
What type of pain is perceived at a location other than the site of the painful stimulus/ origin?
Referred pain
Putting together a puzzle you have never seen before is what type of processing?
Bottom-up processing: Organizing perceptions by beginning with small sensory units and build up to complete the perception
Putting together a puzzle you have seen before is what type of processing?
Top-down processing: Perception guided by prior knowledge or expectations
What is the study of extrasensory perception and other psi phenomena, events that seem to defy accepted scientific laws?
parapsychology
What are types of parapsychology
- Clairvoyance: purported ability to perceive events at a distance or through physical barriers
- Telepathy: purported ability to read minds
- Precognition: purported ability to accurately predict the future
- Psychokinesis (mind over matter): purported ability to influence inanimate objects by willpower
