Task 1: Measuring Experiences

Question 1

Detectors?

Answer 1

eyes, ears, skin receptors and nasal and mouth receptors

Question 2

Computer?

Answer 2

brain

Question 3

Sensation

Answer 3

ability to detect a stimulus and turn that detection into a private experience

Question 4

Perception

Answer 4

act of giving meaning to a detected sensation

Question 5

Name the 7 steps involved in the perceptual process

Answer 5

1. Attended stimulus (i.e. environmental stimulus)
2. Light is reflected and transformed
3. Receptor processing
4. Neural processing
5. Perception
6. Recognition
7. Action

Question 6

Name the 2 principles involved in step 1 and 2 of the perceptual process

Answer 6

1. Principle of transformation

2. Principle of representation

Question 7

Principle of transformation

Answer 7

= stimuli and responses created by stimuli are transformed between the environmental stimulus and perception

Question 8

Principle of representation

Answer 8

= everything a person perceives is based not on direct contact with stimuli but on representations of stimuli that are formed on the receptors and on activity in the person’s nervous system

Question 9

Name the 2 optics of the eye and their locations

Answer 9

1. Cornea: front of eye

2. Lens: directly behind it

Question 10

Sensory receptors

Answer 10

cells specialized to respond to environmental energy, with each sensory system’s receptors specialized to respond to a specific type of energy

Question 11

Visual receptors respond to …

Answer 11

light

Question 12

Auditory receptors respond to…

Answer 12

pressure changes in air

Question 13

Touch receptors respond to …

Answer 13

pressure transmitted through the skin

Question 14

Smell and taste receptors respond to …

Answer 14

chemicals entering the nose and mouth

Question 15

Name the 2 receptor processes of step 3

Answer 15

1. Transduction

2. Shape perception

Question 16

Define transducion

Answer 16

when visual receptors of the retina receive light, they transform light energy into electrical energy, as the receptors contain a light-sensitive chemical called visual pigment which reacts to light

Question 17

Define shape perception in relation to receptor processes

Answer 17

the way visual receptors of the retina they respond to stimuli because the ability to see dim light depends on having a high concentration of pigment in the receptors and because there are different types of pigments (some pigments respond better to light in the blue-green part of the spectrum and others respond better to the yellow-red part of the spectrum)

Question 18

Define neural processing (step 4)

Answer 18

processing continues the process of transformation that began when the stimulus was transformed into a small image inside the eye, which was then transformed into a small image inside the eye -> electrical signals in the visual receptors

Question 19

Electrical signals from each sense arrive at the _____ in the ____

Answer 19

primary receiving area, cerebral cortex

Question 20

Electrical signals from each of the follow arrive at what lobe of the cerebral cortex (primary receiving are)

a. vision
b. hearing
c. skin senses

Answer 20

a. occipital lobe
b. temporal lobe
c. parietal lobe

Question 21

What does the frontal lobe do after electrical signals reach the primary receiving area?

Answer 21

plays an important role in perceptions that involve coordination of information received through two or more senses

Question 22

Recognition (step 6)

Answer 22

placing an object in a category, that gives it meaning

Question 23

Visual form agnosia, give an example

Answer 23

inability to recognize objects e.g. prosopagnosia i.e. face blindess

Question 24

Knowledge/cognitive influences on perception (step 5-6)

Answer 24

information that the perceiver brings to the situation e.g. memories, expectations etc

Question 25

Bottom-up processing

Answer 25

(or data-based processing) is based on the stimuli reaching the receptors

Question 26

Top-down processing

Answer 26

(or knowledge-based processing) refers to processing based on knowledge. -> As stimuli become more complex, the role of top-down processing increases

Question 27

Name the 2 approaches to studying perception

Answer 27

1. Psychophysical | 2. Physiological

Question 28

Psychophysical approach

Answer 28

measures the relationship between the stimuli and perception

Question 29

Oblique effect

Answer 29

better detail for verticals and horizontals compared to slanted lines (stimuli) -> brain response (physiological) was larger when detecting horizontals than slanted (perception)

Question 30

Physiological approach (2 relationships)

Answer 30

a. stimuli and physiological responses | b. physiological responses and perception

Question 31

Psychometric function

Answer 31

an inferential model applied in detection and discrimination tasks. It models the relationship between a given feature of a physical stimulus, e.g. velocity, duration, brightness, weight etc., and forced-choice responses of a human test subject.

Question 32

Absolute Threshold

Answer 32

minimum stimulus intensity that can just be detected e.g. for seeing light, the threshold would be the intensity at which the light can just barely be seen or hearing where the intensity of sound can barely be heard.

Question 33

How do thresholds differ?

Answer 33

e.g. damaged hearing - lower threshold

Question 34

Name 3 methods of determining the threshold

Answer 34

1. method of limits 2. method of adjustment 3. method of constant stimulus

Question 35

Method of limits

Answer 35

experimenter presents stimuli in either ascending order (intensity is increased) or descending order, indicates results of an experiment that measures a person’s threshold for hearing a tone - > changes from hearing (Y) to not hearing (N) aka crossover point - > error of preservation - > mean of crossover point = threshold

Question 36

Method of adjustments

Answer 36

stimulus intensity is either increased or decreased until the stimulus can just be detected by the participant not by the experimenter (more accurate) e.g. turning a knob

Question 37

Advantage of method of adjustments

Answer 37

less time-consuming

Question 38

Method of constant stimuli

Answer 38

experimenter presents five to nine stimuli with different intensities in random order - > experimenter chooses light intensities so that the lowest intensity is never detected and the highest one is always detected - > threshold is defined as the intensity that results in detection on 50 percent of the trials - > no error of preservation

Question 39

Advantage of method of constant stimuli

Answer 39

most accurate as it involes many observtions and stimuli presented in a random order which minimizzes order effect

Question 40

Adaptive testing

Answer 40

first present entire range of loudness, then only present sounds around the threshold

Question 41

Difference threshold/just noticeable difference

Answer 41

the difference required for detecting a change in weight

Question 42

Webers law

Answer 42

principle describing the relationship between stimulus and resulting sensation that says the just noticeable difference (JND) is a constant fraction of the comparison stimulus

Question 43

Webers law formula

Answer 43

``` S = DL/K S= sensation of stimulus DL = just noticeable difference L = the constant ```

Question 44

Fechner's Law

Answer 44

a principle describing the relationship between stimulus and resulting sensation that says the magnitude of subject sensation increases proportionally to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity -> response compression

Question 45

Describe the graph of webers law

Answer 45

perfect positive correlation

Question 46

Describe the graph of fechners law

Answer 46

increase rapidly, increase slows down, levels off

Question 47

Fechener's law formula

Answer 47

S = the psychological sensation Log R = the logarithm of the physical stimulus level K = the constant

Question 48

Psychophysics

Answer 48

the science of defining quantitative relationships between physical and psychological (subjective) events

Question 49

Magnitude estimation

Answer 49

experimenter presents ‘standard’ stimulus to the subject and assigns it a value, then presents lights of different intensities, and subject is asked to assign a number to each of these lights that is proportional to the brightness of the original light -> number for "brightness" is the perceived magnitude

Question 50

Response compression

Answer 50

increase in perceived magnitude is smaller than the increase in stimulus intensity (light)

Question 51

Response expansion

Answer 51

intensity increased, perceptual magnitude increases more than intensity (electric shocks)

Question 52

Cross-modality matching

Answer 52

ability to match the intensities of sensations that come from different sensory modalities; allows insight into sensory differences e.g. listener might adjust the brightness of a light until it matches the loudness of a tone

Question 53

Steven's power law

Answer 53

relationship between the intensity of a stimulus and our perception of its magnitude

Question 54

Steven's power law formula

Answer 54

P = KS to the power of n P = perceived magnitude K = constant S = stimulus intensity raised to a power n n tells us something about the way perceived magnitude changes as intensity increases -> greater than 1 (response expansion) -> less than 1 (response compression)

Question 55

What does Steven's law take into account?

Answer 55

rating data are qualitatively different e.g. electric shock vs length

Question 56

Phenomenological method

Answer 56

person is asked to describe what he or she is perceiving or to indicate when a particular perception occurs

Question 57

Visual search

Answer 57

observer’s task is to find one stimulus among many, as quickly as possible e.g. everyday example: looking for a friends face in a crowd

Question 58

Reaction time

Answer 58

the time between presentation of the stimulus and the observer’s response to the stimulus

Question 59

Response criterion

Answer 59

o E.g. Julie’s response criterion is low (she says “yes” if there is the slightest chance a light is present), whereas Regina’s response criterion is high (she says “yes” only when she is sure that she sees the light).

Question 60

If the internal response is below criterion, the observer responds ____

Answer 60

no I hear nothing

Question 61

Name 3 ways of classifying sense other than the five

Answer 61

1. each sensor = different sense therefor 5 senses have subcategories e.g. taste (sweet, sour etc) 2. 3: Mechanical (touch, hearing), chemical (taste, smell), light 3. Perceptual experience e.g. echo location

Question 62

Proprioception

Answer 62

the awareness we have of where each of our body parts is located in space - possible due to spindles

Question 63

Name 2 other potential senses

Answer 63

1. sensation of how you body's position was changes in relation to gravity - fluid-filled vestibular system 2. sense providing us info about our body's inner state e.g. hunger, need to empty bladder etc

Question 64

Electrophysiology

Answer 64

relationship between the stimulus and brain process (present a stimulus and measure brain activity e.g. have a subject click a button when they see a pear- neural firing)

Question 65

Neuropsychology

Answer 65

the relationship between brain process and stimulus (study the effects of brain damage on behaviour e.g. seeing a glove but not being able to identify it)

Question 66

Cognitive neuroscience

Answer 66

relationship between stimulus, brain processes and perception finish (present a stimulus and measure both brain activity and perceptual responses)

Question 67

Name 3 methods from body and behavior task 4 that can meeasure perception

Answer 67

1. EEG 2. fMRI 3. TMS