Unit 2 - chapter 6 (sensation and perception)

Question 1

bottom up processing

Answer 1

information available within the stimulus

taking all the sensory info -> sort it -> assemble and integrate

Question 2

top down processing

Answer 2

experience driven

using previous experiences and schemas -> predicting and interpreting current sensory info

Question 3

thresholds

Answer 3

absolute:

• the minimum amount of stimulation to detect sensory information 50% of the time
• signal detection theory

difference:

• the minimum difference between the amount of stimulation from two stimuli to detect the difference 50% of the time
• Weber’s Law - for example being able to tell if there is a difference between slightly different colors

Question 4

perceptual sets

Answer 4

our brains use context clues based on past experiences.

• A 13 C versus 12 13 14
• expressions out of context versus with context

Question 5

how do we see

Answer 5

light travels in waves

long wavelengths give you red (closers to 700), short give you blue (closer to 400)
low amplitude gives you dull, high amplitude gives you bright

Question 6

eye to brain

Answer 6

light enters the eye and rods and cones in the retina are triggered -> bipolar cells are activated -> bipolar cells activate ganglion cells (which make up the optic nerve) -> optic nerve transmits visual input to the brain via the thalamus

Question 7

color processing theories

Answer 7

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory (Three Color Theory):

• primary colors
• the retina contains 3 types of color receptors which can combine and make any color be percieved

Opponent Process Theory:

• opposing retinal colors enable color vision
• red:green
• yellow:blue
• white:black

Question 8

visual processing

Answer 8

Hubel and Wiesel and the feature detectors

• nerves in the cell in the visual cortex respond and interpret very specific features
• supercell clusters respond to complex collections of patterns

Parallel processing:

• our brains are processing tons of things at one time
• motion, color, depth, form

Question 9

Gestalt

Answer 9

an organized whole; tendency to integrate information into meaningful wholes

Question 10

Form Perception

Answer 10

-figure to ground: how we organize things to distinguish between objects (tree versus sky)
-grouping
~proximity - grouping things that are close together
~continuity - linear grouping (based off direction)
~closure - closing off spaces

Question 11

Depth Perception

Answer 11

-visual cliff: how we judge distance
-binocular cues
~retinal disparity (has to be within close distance)
-monocular cues

Question 12

Motion Perception

Answer 12

rapid signals repeatedly

phi phenomenon

Question 13

Constancy Perception

Answer 13

• color and brightness

- shape and size

Question 14

auditory

Answer 14

frequency:
longer period = lower pitch

amplitude:
lower amplitude - quieter

Question 15

how do we hear?

Answer 15

1. sound waves hits eardrum
2. tight membranes vibrates
3. middle ear transmits vibrations to cochlea
4. cochlea fluid moves causing ripples in basilar membrane
5. hair cells bend triggering nerve cells whose axons form the auditory nerve
6. you hear

Question 16

hearing loss

Answer 16

conduction hearing loss: damage to the mechanical system that sends sound waves to the cochlea

sensorineural hearing loss: nerve damage to the cochlea’s hair receptors or the auditory nerve

Question 17

pitch

Answer 17

Place theory
-different pitches are a result of sound waves triggering different places along the cochlea’s basilar membrane
(only explains high pitched sounds

Frequency theory
-the brain interprets pitch by monitoring the frequency of neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve
(neuron cannot fire faster than 1000x/sec

Question 18

volume (loud versus soft)

Answer 18

How many hairs are activated

soft=few hairs
loud=lots of hairs

Question 19

pain

Answer 19

the sensory receptors are called nociceptors
-they detect harmful temperature, pressure or chemicals

Gate Control Theory

treatments:

• placebo
• distraction
• hypnosis
  
  • social influence theory: feelings and behaving in suggested ways
  • dissociation theory: dual processing: split between different levels of consciousness

Question 20

smell

Answer 20

aka olfaction

Question 21

taste

Answer 21

• taste map is not true

- each bump on your tongue has about 200 taste buds

Question 22

movement

Answer 22

shout out to our vestibular sense (in our ears) we can sense our body’s position and coordinated movement

Question 23

sensory interaction

Answer 23

reminder: our senses do not happen alone

our bottom-up sensations and top-down cognitions make up our perceptions

sensory and processing interacting with our cognition can result in embodied cognition

Question 24

summary of senses and the brain

Answer 24

vision - occipital lobe
hearing - temporal lobe
pain - somatosensory cortex
taste - frontal/temporal lobe border
smell - olfactory bulb
movement - cerebellum