Unit 1.5 Psych Flashcards
Sensorineural deafness
Damage to nerves and cochlea, can still hear sound but not understand speech (muffled)
Conduction deafness
Damage to mechanical system (middle ear) that sends messages to cochlea
Wavelength (pitch)
Short wavelength = high frequency & pitched. Long frequency = low frequency & pitched.
Wavelength (amplitude)
Great amplitude = loud sounds. Small amplitude = soft sounds
Absolute threshold
Minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus (nothing to something)
Difference threshold
Minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection
Weber’s Law
To be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage rather than amount
Sensation
The process by which our sensory receptors & nervous system receive & represent stimulus energies from our environment (bottom-up)
Transduction
conversion of one form of energy, such as light waves, into another form, like neural impulses which our brain can interpret
Selective attention
Our tendency to focus on a single stimulus of the many being received
Cocktail Party Effect
One’s ability to attend to one voice among a sea of others
Perception
The process of organizing & interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects & events (top-down processing)
Change blindness
Failure to notice changes in the environment
Inattention blindness
Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
Perceptual set
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing & not another (do you see two people kissing or an hourglass)
Sensory adaptation
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of stimulation. Nerve cells fire less frequently
Opponent-process theory
Opposing retinal processes enable color vision. Ex. Some cells are stimulated by green & inhibited by red. If you stare at an image for a while, green receptors may get tired and red will have to kick in.
Trichromatic Theory
Retina contains three different color receptors, and when stimulated in combination can produce the perception of any color
Fovea
Where cones are located, center of retina
Occipital lobe
Thalamus sends visual signal to the occipital lobe
Context
13 vs B, depending on which row you start you’re reading on
Blind spot
Point at which optic nerve leaves eye, creating a blind spot because no cones or rods are located there
Afterimage
When you look at a particular image for a long period of time and then a neutral background the colors on the original image appear to switch. Blue/Yellow, Red/Green, & Black/White
Monochromatic/Dichromatic
Monochromatic - A person can’t see any colors. Dichromatic - a person can’t see a set of two colors, usually red/green (most common) or blue/yellow.
Accommodation
To focus the rays, the lens changes its curvature and shape
Rods
Night vision, black & white. Mostly concentrated on our Periphery
Cones
Daylight, helps us perceive color, fine detail (visual activity). Mostly concentrated around the Fovea
Colors of cones & wavelengths
Blue = short wavelengths. Green = medium wavelengths. Red = long wavelengths.
Myopia
Nearsightedness. Lens focuses on a point in front of retina.
Hyperopia
Farsightedness. When the lens focuses light past the retina.
Kinesthesis
Our movement sense; our system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts
Vestibular sense
Our balance sense; our sense of body movement and position that enables our sense of balance.
Olfaction vs Gustation
Olfaction = smell. Gustation = taste.
Thalamus (smell)
The thalamus is not involved in the traveling of smell to the brain
Pheromones
Chemical messengers that provoke a response from an organism. Secreted by certain bodily fluids.
Nontasters, medium tasters, and supertasters
Low, average, or high sensitivity to flavors. Cigarettes and alcohol can reduce this sensitivity
Umami
Pleasant, meaty, savory taste
Oleogustus
Unique taste of fat
How do we taste?
Food enters mouth, food receptors contain pores that are specialized for different tastes. Receptor activates, using taste nerves signals are transmitted to gustatory cortex. Taste is then identified there
How do we smell?
Odorants enter nose and bind to smell receptors. Smell receptors get activated and send electrical signals. Electrical signals enter Olfactory Bulb in axon pathways, & the olfactory bulb sends signals to brain.
Ganglion cells
Activated by bipolar cells (which receive action potentials from cones & rods), and communicate w/ optic nerve. Axons turn into optic nerve
Place Theory
High pitched noises. Brain determines sound’s pitch by recognizing specific place on membrane where neural signal is. High frequencies produce large vibrations near the beginning of cochlea’s membrane.
Frequency Theory
Basilar membrane vibrates, triggering neural impulses to fire at the same rate as the sound wave. Sound waves over 1000 waves per second need neurons firing in rapid succession (volley theory)
Locating sound waves
Sound waves strike one ear more intensely and sooner than the other depending on what side they’re coming from allowing us to detect the location of the sound
Synesthesia
When a person experiences blended sensations at once. Ex. associating classes w/ colors
Binocular Cue
Depth cue used by both eyes to judge distance of nearby objects. Includes convergence and retinal disparity
Convergence
The closer something is, the more inward your eyes have to go to see it, allowing you to detect the distance.
Retinal Disparity
The difference between the image that each eye sees allows the brain to compute distance.
Monocular cues
Relative clarity, size, and texture gradient
Relative clarity
Closer objects appear to be sharper, clearer, and more detailed since more light passes through objects farther away
Relative Size
Objects that are farther away appear to be smaller and higher
Texture Gradient
Texture becomes more defined with closer up objects
Interposition
If one object blocks our view of another we perceive it as closer.
Gestalt
Tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes
Figure-ground
The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)
Proximity
We see not six separate lines, but three sets of two lines.
Closure
Closure: we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object
Similarity
Objects that appear to be alike or appear to be similar, we group them together
Stroboscopic Motion
An illusion of continuous movement experienced when viewing a rapid series of slightly varying still images
Phi Phenomenon
A perceptual illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession
Autokinetic Effect
The illusory movement of a still spot of light in a dark room
Perceptual constancies
Shape, color, brightness, size
Size constancy
The perception of an object as having a constant size, regardless of changes in its distance from the observer.
Shape constancy
The perception of an object as maintaining its shape despite changes in the angle or perspective from which it is viewed.
Brightness constancy
The tendency to perceive an object as having a constant brightness, even when the lighting conditions change.
Color constancy
The ability to perceive an object as having a consistent color under varying lighting conditions.
Hot
Both warm and cold receptors are activated to make the feeling even more intense
Gate control theory
the spinal cord contains a neurological “gate” that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain.
Warmth vs. Cold
Warmth (with cold →heat sensation)
Cold (with pressure → sense of wetness)
Visual Cliff
Gibson and Walk found that most human infants, once they could crawl, hesitated to cross the glass portion of the table that appeared as a steep drop-off, indicating that they perceived the visual depth and associated it with danger.
Habituation
A decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated presentations
Prosopagnosia (face blindness)
A condition where you struggle to recognize faces or can’t interpret facial expressions and cues
Blindsight
A neurological condition where someone can perceive the location of an object despite being cortically blind.
Sensory interaction
When two or more senses work together to help you experience something. For example, when you eat food, your sense of taste works with your sense of smell
Closure and blindspot
Closure helps your brain “fill in” the missing part, so you don’t notice the blindspot in normal vision.
Schemas
A schema is a mental framework or idea that helps you organize and interpret information. It’s like a set of expectations or a “template” in your brain that helps you understand the world.
