Term test 2 Flashcards
Psychophysics
states that sensation is the stimulation of sense organs and perception is organizing these stimulations
ophthalmology
study of eye structure and function
audiology
science concerned with hearing
neurology
study of nervous system
sensation
process of receiving stimuli and transforming them into action potentials. Refers to raw material of experience.
what do sensory systems have in common
- specialized receptor cells
- transduction
- multiple subsystems
what do they do
the specialized receptor cells are what allow the sensory systems to receive/detect the stimulus, and then transduction takes place which is when the stimulus is converted to action potentials that relay information to the brain. The information travels to the cerebral cortex and each sensory has its own multiple subsystems.
perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense. Refers to the experience itself.
bottom up
taking in information from the environment and interpreting it
top-down
applying already known observations or interpretations to make sense of what is happening
do sensation and perception improve a species’ chance of survival?
yes
afferent nerves
bring information from the world to the brain
main categories of sensory organs
- photoreceptors: detect light
- mechanoreceptors: detect pressure and vibration
- chemoreception: detects chemical stimuli
what is synaesthesia?
an experience in which one sense induces an experience in another sense
what organ do sensory organs go through?
the thalamus
thresholds
the minimum amount of stimulus that a sensory system requires for activation. It is the point at which an individual detects a stimulus 50% of the time.
JND (just-noticeable difference)
the minimum difference in which a difference in the stimulation is noticeable
Weber
noted that the JND is a fraction of the original stimulus. His principle is that two stimuli must be differ by a constant proportion to be perceived as different
noise
given to any distracting stimuli for the senses
subliminal perception
refers to the detection of information below the level of conscious awareness
difference threshold
smallest difference in stimulation required to discriminate one stimulus from another 50% of the time
signal detection theory
focuses on decision-making about stimuli under conditions of uncertainty
signal detection theory has 2 main components
- information acquisition
- criterion
2 important factors in perceiving stimuli
- attention
- perceptual set
attention
process of focusing awareness on a specific aspect of environment
perceptual set
predisposition to perceive something in a particular way
sensory adaptation
the ability of a sensory system to adjust to changes
visual system
the sensory system that detects light and three of the 4 cortical lobes are involved
why is vision important
It allows us to detect prey and color, if we look back in time individuals were able to survive if they were able to detect their prey and when picking foods they needed to know whether something was spoiled or rotten and they could do that by looking at the color. these are important for human survival.
why is light detection useful?
because light travels extremely fast and in a straight line, and light interacts with surfaces in the environment
EM spectrum
white light is what we see. The wavelength is one peak to another peak and it gives the color. The height of the wave is the amplitude and it gives the intensity. The purity determines the saturation.
3 parts of eye
- sclera: the white part of the eye that protects us
- iris: colored part of eye
- pupil: black part of eye, at night it dilates to bring in more light and in bright conditions it becomes smaller to let less light in.
2 structures that bring an image into focus
- cornea: keeps in eye water (aqueous humor)
- lens: transparent disk-like structure
these two work together to bend light just enough to focus it at the back of the eye, the cornea does the bending and the lens fine tunes it
Fovea
allows us to see fine details, is in the center of the retina
Retina
where EM waves are recorded, has rods that are sensitive to movement but not fine detail, has cones that are used for color perception and small details
optic nerve
bundle of axons of ganglion cells
where does light travel to?
the retina to impinge on photoreceptors at the back of the eye, and it bleaches a pigment, this causes action potentials in ganglion cells
blindspot
an area that has no cones or rods
optic chiasm
point where optic nerves separate, this causes things we see in our left side get processed in the right side of the brain and vice versa
feature detectors
neurons in the brains visual system that respond to particular features of a stimulus
primary visual pathway
includes eye, retina, occipital, temporal and parietal lobe
secondary visual pathway
includes lens, pupil, and retina
parallel processing
the simultaneous distribution of information across different neural pathways, this is why sensory information is processed quickly.
binding
bringing together what is processed by different pathways, this is what allows us to visualize things
trichromatic theory
color perception is produced by 3 types of cone receptors in the retina. we detect red, blue, and green wavelengths and these are combined to see other colors. this could not account for negative color afterimages. colorblindness supports this theory
opponent-process theory
cells in the visual system respond to red-green and blue-yellow colors. a given cell might be excited by red but inhibited by green
figure-ground relationship
principle by which we organize the perceptual field into stimuli that stand out and those that are left over
gestalt psychology
school of thought interested in how people organize their perceptions according to certain patterns
3 main principles of gestalt
- closure: when we view disconnected figures we fill in the space.
- proximity: when we view objects near each other we see them as one.
- similarity: when we view objects similar to each other we see them as one.
depth perception
ability to perceive objects in 3D and their distance from us
2 cues to see depth
- binocular
- monocular
binocular
derive from images in the left and right eyes, convergence is apart of these depth cues, if an object is near our pupils might move closer together
monocular
same as binocular but only requires one eye.
what takes on role of detecting movement
brain
apparent movement
when we perceive something s moving when it is stationary
perceptual consistency
recognition that objects are constant even though sensory input about them is changing
3 types of perceptual consistency
- size stays the same
- shape stays the same
- color stays the same
sound waves
vibrations that travel through the air
amplitude
decibels
wavelength
frequency
purity
timbre
ear divided into three parts
- outer ear
- middle ear
- inner ear
outer ear
consists of pinna and eardrum
middle ear
consists of hammer, anvil, and stirrup. sound vibrates through them and they send the sound to the fluid-filled inner ear
inner ear
the cochlea, oval window, and basilar membrane. converts sound waves to neural impulses to send to the brain, the stirrup is connected to the oval window which is a membrane that transmits sound to cochlea
basilar membrane
has hair cells that create action potentials that the brain perceives as sound
theories explaining hearing
- place theory
- frequency theory
place theory
states that each frequency produces vibrations at a particular spot on the basilar membrane. explains high-frequency sounds but not low-frequency sounds
frequency theory
states that the perception of sound frequency depends on how often the auditory nerves fire. this theory had a limitation which was that a single neuron had a maximum firing rate of 1000 times per second.
volley principle
states that a cluster of nerve cells can fire neural impulses in rapid succession, producing a volley of impulses
biggest sensory system
skin, it has receptors for touch, temperature, and pain, which form the cutaneous senses, it detects mechanical energy
thermoreceptors
sensory nerve endings under the skin that respond to temperature changes
pain receptors
they have a much higher threshold for firing than receptors for temperature
fast pathway of pain
connected to myelinated fibers that are connected to thalamus
slow pathway of pain
connected to unmyelinated fibred that transmit pain through limbic system
endorphins
involved in turning pain signals on and off
gustatory system
taste
taste buds
bumps on our tongue called papillae contain them, they get replaced every 2 weeks
primary tastes
sweet, sour, bitter and salty
papillae
involves circumvallate, foliate and fungiform
olfactory system
smell involves Olfactory cilia, Olfactory nerves and Olfactory bulb
what sensory system does not pass through thalamus
smell
pain
can be force, heat, or chemical. it is influenced by emotional states, cultural beliefs, drugs, and internal transmitter
kinesthetic senses
provide information about movement, posture and orientation
vestibular senses
provide information about balance
consciousness
our ability to be self aware humans with the knowledge of our past and future, refers to our awareness of our own thoughts and feelings
metacognition
used to describe process by which we think about thinking
cortex and consciousness
the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is activated during conscious control tasks
Stroop interference task
people were asked to name ink color and they found it difficult to name it when the word and color were different, reading is an automatic process, and in this activity, there is interference happening between the two hemispheres, the right picks up color, not language that happens in left so this causes interference. can be used to identify cognitive bias
cognitive schema
tells us what to pay attention to in the world
depression
people who have depression have affected cognitive schema
consciousness is split into two parts
- attention
- arousal
awareness
our awareness is limited in capacity and we are aware of only small amount of stimuli around us. it includes awareness of the self and thoughts
qualia
can be describes as the way it feels to experience mental states such as pain
functions of attentional process
- directing function to environment
- control of the content of consciousness
- maintaining alertness
arousal
state of being engaged with environment
reticular activating system
includes brainstem, medulla and thalamus
theory of mind
refers to individuals understanding that they and others think and have private experiences
subliminal perception
notion that brief exposure to sub-threshold stimuli can influence awareness
the study
a study was conducted where some people were flashed aggressive pictures and some were flashed a neutral picture and then they were asked to describe a picture that had no action and the people shown the aggressive one rated the picture negatively as compared to the other group.
what does this study show
we prefer things that are familiar to us, since the most recent thing was aggressive the group responded negatively. another study showed when a picture of a puzzle piece was flashed randomly people picked up that puzzle piece out of a group of puzzle pieces.
how does the unconscious cognitive process work?
they work in parallel and some operate outside of level of consciousness
functional significance of the unconscious mechanism
- efficient and rapid
2.can operate simultaneously
3.operate in the absence of consciousness
neurology of consciousness
distributed through the brain, the hindbrain and midbrain are important for sleep and arousal. damage to our reticular formation can lead to a coma and the prefrontal cortex is key for conscious control
5 levels of awareness
- higher level consciousness
- lower level consciousness
- altered state of consciousness
- subconscious awareness
- no awareness
higher level consciousness
this is where we are the most alert and focusing our attention towards a goal, this requires selective attention and involves PFC
lower level consciousness
this is where we daydream and it involves automatic processes, these are states of consciousness that require little attention
altered state of consciousness
these states can be produced by meditation, religious experience, hypnosis, drugs or trauma, or fever, they are noticeably different than normal awareness
subconscious awareness
this refers to sleep and dream, and the break after conscious thought
no awareness
according to Freud, this state is like a reservoir of unacceptable wishes and thoughts that are beyond our conscious awareness. he saw this state as a storehouse for dark thoughts. it is a state of unconsciousness
why do we sleep
it is important for our survival. we also consolidate our memory during sleep, so if we don’t go through REM sleep we do not consolidate memory. it also conserves our energy, our body temperature drops so the energy is conserved. it also preserves us from predators, most crimes happen at night. It restored bodily functions, sleep deprivation can alter immune system and lead to death.
superchiasmatic nucleus
the SCN is a small brain structure that sends information to hypothalamus and pineal gland to regulate daily rhythms.
stages of sleep
- stage W or stage 1
- stage N1 or stage 2
- stage N2 and N3 or stage 3
- stage R or stage 4
stage w
w is for wake in this stage we can see two types of EEG waves, alpha, and beta, the beta waves show concentration and alertness and they are high in frequency, the alpha waves are associated with relaxation.
stage N1 or 2
we can experience sudden muscle jerks (myoclonic jerks) here, and there is an increase in theta waves, these are slower in frequency and greater in amplitude, it is very easy to wake up during this stage
stage N2 and N3 stage 3
muscle activity decreases, and theta waves continue but spindles are seen now, and delta waves are seen as well, involves sudden high frequency waves in N2 and high amplitude waves in N3 this is the deepest sleep.
stage 4 or REM
most vivid dreams occur here, dreaming can occur in other stages but is considered dangerous because we are only paralyzed during REM sleep. there is an increase in the autonomic nervous system and the EEG resembles the wake stage so it has beta waves and everything is paralyzed except your diaphragm.
neurotransmitters involved in sleep
serotonin, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine
insomnia
a sleep disorder where people have troubles falling asleep or waking up during the night
narcolepsy
involves sudden urges to sleep
somnambulism
term for sleepwalking, which occurs during deepest stages of sleep
sleep apnea
condition where windpipe fails to open during sleep so people stop breathing
psychoanalytic view of dreaming
freud believed dreams were the key to the unconscious, the latent content which is the hidden meaning can be inferred from the manifest content which is the dream itself
cognitive view of dreaming
dreams are constructed from the issues of the dreamer, it is viewed as a mental simulation very similar to our everyday thoughts
biological/activation view of dreaming
dreams are the brains way of making sense of random brain activity
evolutionary theory of dreaming
dreams are a virtual reality simulation that can help us solve problems. this view says that dreaming gives us an advantage and it is necessary for survival.
lucid dreaming
dreaming while being conscious of the fact that we are dreaming
ways to lucid dream
- dream journalling
- reality testing
- relaxation
- pre-sleep suggestions
5.sleep in different position
hypnosis
is a dissociative state where we are disconnected from our emotion but still connected to the world.
psychoactive drugs
they act on the nervous system to alter the consciousness, and using them continuously leads to tolerance and dependence, they increase dopamine transmission
3 main types
- depressants
- stimulants
- hallucinogens
depressents
they slow down mental and physical activity, they include alcohol, opiates and tranquilizers
stimulants
drugs that increase central nervous system activity, they include caffeine, nicotine and cocaine
hallucinogens
drugs that modify a persons percpetual experinces they include marijuana and LSD
waves in hypnotic states
beta and alpha waves
hypnotizability
refers to extent to which a persons responses are changed by being hypnotized
divided consciousness view of hypnosis
it says that we have a divided state of consciousness, one part follows the commands and one part observes
social cognitive behaviour view of hypnosis
we behave the way we do under hypnosis because of what we think a hypnotized person would act
lingual gyrus
involved in higher order visual processing
meditation
involves attaining a peaceful state of mind, this includes focusing on the pain and separating it from the emotional response.
meditation can improve wellbeing, increase creativity, decrease fatigue and stress.
lovingkindness meditation
development of loving acceptance of oneself and others grow.
learning
a change in behavior that results from cognitive experiences. it refers to an enduring change in the way an organsim responds based on experience. there are levels of cognitive awareness in learning
assumptions of learning
- it is adaptive
- responses are learned rather than innate
- experiments can uncover law of learning
innate
refers to reflexes like inherit fear of spiders
behaviorism
a systematic method to understanding changes in behaviour that focus on observable behaviours
three types of learning
- non-associative
- associative
- observational
non-associative
involves only a single event or stimulus without any reward or punishment, involves habituation which is a decrease in the response over time, involves sensitization, which is the increase in the response to a repeated stimulus and involves imprinting which takes place during a limited time and creates behavior towards a specific individual.
associative learning
includes classical and operant conditioning. it is when someone makes a connection between two stimuli. conditioning is the process of learning these associations.
observational
type of social learning that occurs when one person observes another persons behaviour. it is when we indirectly learn from observing rather than from experience.
classical conditioning
it is when a neutral stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus
pavlov and dog
Pavlov was a physiologist that was interested in how the body digested food but he found that the dog would salivate before even showing him the food. This made him curious so he would ring a bell before he would give him the food and over time the dog would just salivate after hearing the bell rather than just when seeing the food.
reflex
response that is reliably elicited by a stimulus such as salivating at the sight of food
neutral stimulus
something that does not elicit a response in pavlovs case this was the bell, also referred to as CS
US
it is a stimulus that elicits a response without learning
CS `
a neutral stimulus that elicits a response after being paired with the US
acquisition
amount of time for CS to pair with US, repeated pairings of CS with US
contiguity
when a CS and US are presented close in time
contingency
CS does not only precede US but it serves as a reliable indicator that the US is on the way.
extinction
the weakening of the CS, when a CS is presented on its own without the US it weakens
examples of CC
advertisements are examples of it
spontaneous recovery
when an extinct CR recurs after a time delay, it is not easy to get rid of the CS and CR it will always be there but sometimes it can spontaneously reoccur.
generalization
when a new stimulus that similar to the original stimulus elicits the same response,
discrimination
process of learning to respond to certain stimuli and not others, the stimuli is distinguished
renewal
refers to recovery of CR when an organism is placed in new context
issued with CC
the order of the CS and US are important it is best to when the CS precedes the US and the worst is when the US precedes the CS
aversive conditioning
is a form of treatment that consists of repeated pairings of a stimulus with an unpleasant stimulus
placebo effect
classical conditioning could explain placebo effect
conditioned taste aversion
when a flavor is followed by an illness, people will avoid this flavor. we get these mostly for novel foods, because back in history if we were to develop a taste aversion for staple foods we would die.
drug habituation
for example the drug is the US, and it naturally produces a response in the body. the physical appearance of the drug and the room the person takes the drug in regularly is the CS. This produces a CR in which the body prepares itself for the effects of the drug, for example if the drug increases heart rate the CR might drop the heart rate. Drug overdoses can be seen as a failure of the CS
operant conditioning
focuses on association between behavior and stimuli, the consequences of a behavior changes the chance that the behavior might occur again. based on reinforcement and punishment
Why are some associations more easily learned than others?
for example we know to expect thunder after lightning because we associate it with death so seeing a light and avoiding it with shock makes sense.
if we link it back to taste aversions, we know what we ate or tasted made us sick, not what we saw or heard, because feeling nauseous is most commonly from eating something
reinforcement
stimuli that occurs after the response and increases the chances that the response will happen again
positive reinforcement
gives something good so that it happens again
negative reinforcement
taking away something bad so that it happens again (like taking an aspirin for a headache), this one is stronger than positive reinforcement
thorndike law of effect
states that behaviors followed by good outcomes are strengthened and ones followed by bad outcomes are weakened
skinner
he believed that the mechanism for learning was the same for all species
shaping
refers to rewarding good behavior
issues with negative reinforcement
it can cause avoidance learning, which is a response which prevent a potential aversive event from happening (for example a child cleans his room to avoid the nagging of his parents)
learned helplessness
when a person has learned that is has no control over negative outcomes
generalization
preforming the reinforced behavior in a different situation
discrimination
responding differently to stimuli that signal that a behavior will or will not be reinforced
extinction
happens when a behavior is no longer reinforced and decreases
schedules of reinforcement
there is continuous which is when the behavior is reinforced every time. there is partial which can be divided into fixed and variable. a fixed ratio one happens every nth time and a variable ratio one happens on average of nth time. a fixed interval happens every n minutes and ratio interval happens on average every n minutes.
punishment
a consequence that decreases the chances that a behaviour will happen again
positive punishment
also known as aversive stimuli is inflicting something bad like hitting a child for a bad behavior
negative punishment
includes taking something away so that behavior is not done again like taking away a childs phone privileges because of a bad mark. it is more impactful than positive
difficulties in punishment
the person may not understand what behavior is being punished. it has to be done close in time so that the person understands what is being punished. the person might fear the person punishing them instead of learning an association. it may also not undo behavior because the person is so used to being punished they do not care anymore. or using punishment when the person is angry. or showing them that being aggressive is okay
observational learning
most of the learning that we do is observational, the chances of us doing something that we have already seen is higher
cognitive social learning theory
combines cognitive theory and sociocultural aspects. tolman emphasized the purpose of behavior and said it was necessary to study it to understand why we engage in certain actions
latent learning
unreinforced learning that is not immediately shown in behavior
insight learning
form of problem solving in which the organism develops a sudden inside of a problem
biological factors in learning
our physical makeup influences what we can learn
instinctive drift
tendency of animals to revert to instinctive behavior that interferes with previous learning
preparedness
species specific biological predisposition to learn in a certain way
mindset
can describe the way our beliefs about ability dictate what goals we set for ourselves
how can learning improve our health and wellness
lack of control over aversive stimuli can be stressful, and having an outlet can decrease stress.
