Session 5 - Sensation and perception

Question 1

The conversion of energy from the environment into a pattern of response by the nervous system is known as what?

Answer 1

Sensation

Question 2

Selection, organisation, and interpretation of sensory input is known as what?

Answer 2

Perception

Question 3

The study of the relationship between physical stimuli and sensations they evoke in a human observer is known as what?

Answer 3

Psychophysics

Question 4

The minimum amount of physical energy necessary to produce a sensation is known as what?

Answer 4

Absolute threshold

Question 5

A device that converts one kind of energy into another is known as what?

Answer 5

Transducer

Question 6

Converting important features of the world into messages understood by the brain is known as what?

Answer 6

Sensory coding

Question 7

What is the minimal difference between two stimuli required before the two stimuli can be coded as different called?

Answer 7

Difference threshold

Question 8

Process by which the senses divide the world into important perceptual features is known as what?

Answer 8

Sensory analysis

Question 9

Basic stimulus patterns are known as what?

Answer 9

Perceptual features

Question 10

Not smelling burning toast after a while would be an example of what?

Answer 10

Sensory adaptation: reduction in sensory receptor activity in response to unchanging stimuli

Question 11

Being able to focus on one person talking to you in a group of people is an example of what?

Answer 11

Selective attention: Giving priority to a particular incoming sensory message, based on brains ability to select and divert incoming sensory messages

Question 12

A failure to notice a stimulus because attention is focused elsewhere is known as what?

Answer 12

Inattention blindness

Question 13

Process by which irrelevant stimuli are separated from meaningful ones is known as what?

Answer 13

Sensory gating

Question 14

Which parts of the eye controls:

• amount of light entering the eye
• lets light pass through
• focuses light rays

Answer 14

Iris
Pupil
Lens

Question 15

What are photoreceptors?

Answer 15

light-sensitive cells in the retina (rods and cones)

Question 16

What is the difference between rods and cones?

Answer 16

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)

Question 17

What is the name of the spot in centre of retina containing only cones that produces the sharpest image?

Answer 17

Fovea

Question 18

What is myopia?

Answer 18

• Having difficulty on distant objects (near-sightedness)

* Caused by eyeball that is too long

Question 19

What is Hyperopia?

Answer 19

• Difficulty focusing on nearby objects (farsightedness)

* Caused if eye is too short

Question 20

Defects in the cornea, lens, or eye that cause some areas of vision to be out of focus is known as what?

Answer 20

Astigmatism

Question 21

Farsightedness caused by aging is called?

Answer 21

Presbyopia

Question 22

What is the difference between colour blindness and colour weakness?

Answer 22

weakness: An inability to distinguish some colours
Blindness: A total inability to perceive colour

Question 23

Which colour vision theory states that we have three cone types (red, green, blue)?

Answer 23

Trichromatic theory, explains what is happening in cones

Question 24

Which colour theory is based on three systems: red or green, blue or yellow, black or white?

Answer 24

Opponent process theory, explains what is happening when image has left cones

Question 25

What is dark adaptation and how long does it usually take?

Answer 25

Increased light sensitivity of the eye under low-light conditions (full dark adaptation takes 35mins)

Question 26

What is anosmia and what are the causes?

Answer 26

Smell blindness to single odour | causes: infections, allergies, blows to the head (tear olfactory nerves), exposure to chemicals and solvents

Question 27

A complete loss of taste is known as what?

Answer 27

Ageusia

Question 28

What is the condition where a person's perception of taste is altered?

Answer 28

Dysgeusia

Question 29

What is the reduced ability to taste sweet, sour, bitter, or salty things called?

Answer 29

Hypogeusia

Question 30

Poor transfer of sounds from the eardrum/tympanic membrane to the inner ear is known as what?

Answer 30

- Conductive hearing loss | - hearing aids will help.

Question 31

Loss of hearing caused by damage to the inner ear hair cells or auditory nerve is known as what?

Answer 31

- Sensorineural hearing loss | - Cochlear implants stimulate auditory nerves directly and can be used

Question 32

Damaged caused by exposing the hair cells to excessively loud sounds is known as what?

Answer 32

- Noise induced hearing loss | - 85db or more can contribute to hearing loss

Question 33

Name the 6 Gestalt organizing principles

Answer 33

1. Nearness 2. Similarity 3. Continuation 4. Closure 5. Common region 6. Contiguity

Question 34

Which gestalt organizing principle states that Stimuli that are near each other tend to be grouped together

Answer 34

nearness

Question 35

Which gestalt organizing principle states that stimuli that are similar in size, shape, colour, or form tend to be grouped together

Answer 35

Similarity

Question 36

Which gestalt organizing principle states that perceptions tend toward simplicity and continuity

Answer 36

Continuation

Question 37

Which gestalt organizing principle has a tendency to complete a figure, so that is has consistent overall form

Answer 37

Closure

Question 38

Which gestalt organizing principle states that stimuli that are found within a common area tend to be seen as a group

Answer 38

Common region

Question 39

Which gestalt organizing principle states that nearness in time and space causes the perception that one thing has caused another

Answer 39

Contiguity

Question 40

Pre-existing ideas and expectations that guide our interpretation of sensations are known as what?

Answer 40

Perceptual hypothesis

Question 41

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?

Answer 41

Gate control theory

Question 42

What is the pain control technique used by applying electrical current to skin to produce small pain to relieve bigger pain?

Answer 42

Counter irritation

Question 43

What is the theory explaining motion sickness as the result of a mismatch among information from vision, the vestibular system, and kinesthesis?

Answer 43

Sensory conflict theory

Question 44

Why is phantom pain felt?

Answer 44

* 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

Question 45

What type of pain occurs when receptors in the pelvis, abdomen, chest, or intestines are activated?

Answer 45

Visceral pain

Question 46

What type of pain is perceived at a location other than the site of the painful stimulus/ origin?

Answer 46

Referred pain

Question 47

Putting together a puzzle you have never seen before is what type of processing?

Answer 47

Bottom-up processing: Organizing perceptions by beginning with small sensory units and build up to complete the perception

Question 48

Putting together a puzzle you have seen before is what type of processing?

Answer 48

Top-down processing: Perception guided by prior knowledge or expectations

Question 49

What is the study of extrasensory perception and other psi phenomena, events that seem to defy accepted scientific laws?

Answer 49

parapsychology

Question 50

What are types of parapsychology

Answer 50

1. Clairvoyance: purported ability to perceive events at a distance or through physical barriers 2. Telepathy: purported ability to read minds 3. Precognition: purported ability to accurately predict the future 4. Psychokinesis (mind over matter): purported ability to influence inanimate objects by willpower