Unit 2: Sensory and Perception Flashcards
Sensation
Process when sensory receptors and nerves receive and represent stimuli energies
Perception
Organizing sensory information
Bottom-up Processing
Starts at sensory receptors and gives up to brain’s higher processing
Top-down Processing
Builds perceptions from sensory input by using experiences and expectations
Selective attention
Focusing on one stimulus
Intentional Blindness
Can’t see visual objects when focused on something else
Change Blindness
Don’t notice a change in the environment
Transduction
Convert one form of energy into another
Psychophysics
Studying relationship between physical things and our psychological reaction
Absolute Threshold
Minimum amount of stimuli to detect it 50% of the time
Signal detection theory
Prediction of when we can detect weak signals
Subliminal
Below the absolute threshold
Prime
Activation of the associations you might need later- priming the nerves
Difference Threshold
Minimum change to notice a noticeable difference in stimuli
Weber’s Law
Stimuli have to differ by a constant % to be ‘different’
Sensory Adaptation
Adapting to the senses around you so you have diminished sensitivity to them
Perceptual Set
Set of mental assumptions that affects what we perceive
Extrasensory Perception (ESP)
Claim that perception can be separate from sensory input (telepathy, etc)
Parapsychology
Study of the paranormal mind events
Wavelength
Determines color - distance between start of each wave
Hue
The ‘color’ of the wavelength
Intensity
Perceived as brightness - wave’s amplitude
Pupil
Opening of eye where light enters
Iris
Muscle tissue around pupil that controls it’s size
Lens
Behind the pupil - focuses light rays
Retina
Tissue on inner surface of eye (has receptor rods and cones and neurons)
Accommodation
When the lens changes it’s shape to focus light rays
Rods
Receptors that detect shades of grey (when cones don’t respond)
Cones
Near center of retina = color and details
Optic Nerve
Nerve that connects eye and brain
Blind Spot
Where optic nerve connects to eye - no receptor cells there
Fovea
Where cones cluster - center focus of retina
Feature Detectors
Cells in brain that respond to specific things of the stimuli (shape, angle, or movement)
Parallel Processing
Processing many parts of a problem at the same time
Yang-Helmholtz Trichromatic (three-color) theory
Retina has three different color receptors (red, blue, and green)
Opponent-Process Theory
Opposite retinal processes allow seeing in color
Gestalt
Organized whole
Figure-Ground
What objects stand out from the background
Grouping
Organize things into groups
Depth Perception
3D Vision
Visual Cliff
Test depth perception in infants and animals
Binocular cues
Perceive depth - depends on both eyes
Retinal Disparity
Different between the images each eye sees indications an object’s distance
Monocular Cues
Depth perception with just one eye
Phi Phenomenon
Illusion of continuous movement when it is really stroboscopic
Perceptual Constancy
Perception of object as unchanged when environment changes
Color Constancy
Perceiving objects as having the same color even as wavelengths change
Perceptual Adaptation
Adjust to an artificially altered field of vision
Audition
Hearing
Frequency
Number of wavelengths per unit of time
Pitch
Highness or loudness
Middle Ear
Contains hammer, anvil, and stirrup - concentrate vibrations
Cochlea
In inner ear - fluid-filled tube - send waves trigger nerve impulses
Inner Ear
Cochlea, semicircular canals and vestibular sacs
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Damage to cochlea cells or auditory nerve cells
Conduction hearing loss
Damaged mechanical system that gets waves to cochlea
Cochlear implant
Converts sound into electrical signals and stimulates auditory nerve through the cochlea
Place theory
Different sound waves trigger activity at different places at cochlea’s basilar membrane
Frequency theory
Rate of nerve impulses matches frequency of tune
Gate-Control theory
Spinal cord can block or let through pain messages
Kinesthesia
Sensing your body movement
Vestibular sense
Monitors your head and body position and movement
Sensory interaction
One sense can influence another
Embodied Cognition
How bodily sensations can influence our judgements and preferences
