Unit 3 Flashcards
sensation
detect physical energy from environment and convert it into neural signals
perception
select, organize, interpret our sensations
bottom-up
no prior knowledge, just reaction
top-down
makes decision and judgment using prior knowedge
psychophysics
study of the relationship between psychological world and physical world.
Fechner
founder of psychophysics
Hubel and Wiesel
sewed kitten’s eye shut, that eye remained the weaker eye
✰Absolute Threshold
first moment you notice a stimulus
Difference threshold
moment you notice a change in stimulus you already recognized
Weber’s Law
when a change is noticed by a constant percentage or portion
Signal Detection theory
the ability to focus on one thing and ignore the background
Sensory Adaptation
diminished sensitivity due to constant stimulation
Transduction
transformation of stimulus energy into neural impulses
Phototransduction
conversion of light energy into neural impulses that the brain can understand
hue
color
wavelength
distance from peak of one wave to peak of another
intensity
brightness, taller the wave, the brighter the color
saturation
purity and clarity
accommodation
the lense will change shape to help focus objects onto the retina
nearsightedness
see close but not far
farsightedness
see far but not close
blind spot
point where optic nerve leaves the eye because there are no receptors there
fovea
central point of focus in the eye, in charge of color vision aka foveal vision
bipolar and ganglion cells
(order) photoreceptors, then bipolar cells then ganglion, then optic nerve
optic chiasm
connects optic nerve to the occipital love
feature detectors
ability to recognize things we are familiar with
parallel processing
processing of several aspects of a thing all at once
trichromatic theory aka young helmholtz theory
we have 3 main cones: Red, Green, and Blue
Color blindness
mostly in men, usually red and green color blindness
opponent process theory
after image: red-green, blue-yellow, black-white
color constancy
brain’s ability to know a color has not changed even if the background is different
gate control theory
spinal cord blocks pain from being recognized by the brain. Not permanent but will get a person through something
kinesthetic
movement of muscles, joints, tendons.
vestibular sense
balance
sensory interaction
when one sense affects another sense
olfactory bulb
(smell) signal does not go to thalamus, is only sense that goes straight to brain
Smell and memories
The brain region for smell is closely connected to the brain region for memory
Inattentional Blindness
Inability to see object or person that is right in front of you
Change blindness
Failure to notice a change in your environment
Perceptual illusion
Sometimes our mind is tricked by optical illusions
Visual capture
When vision competes with other senses and vision wins
Figure-ground
when we are looking at something, one thing will stand out, and the rest is background
proximity
physical nearness
similarity
when people or items look the same, we put them in one group
continuity
appearance that something continues, even when it does not
connectedness
when two people or things are often together, we seen them as one
Gestalt closure
seeing something as complete, even if it is missing a piece
depth perception
ability to see/recognize distance. babies get this before beginning to crawl
Gibson and Walk - Visual Cliff
crawling baby stops at fiberglass clear part
Phi phenomenon
when lights flash at a certain speed they present the illusions of motion
perceptual/shape/size constancy
our brain has the ability to understand what we see, even if items appear differently
sensory deprivation
often used in torture, deliberate elimnination of a sense
perceptual set
mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
✰Schema
concept - understanding of the world on a personal level
context effects
how the environment impacts our understanding of things around us
perception and human factors
IO psychologists help create user-friendly products
retinal disparity
finger sausage - images from the two eyes differ
convergence
touch neighbor’s nose - when two eves move inward to see near objects, and out to see far objects
relative size
fingers apart - if two objects are similar in size, we see the smaller one as further
interposition
tree in front of house - object that occludes other objects tend to be perceived as closer
relative clarity
fog - hazy objects appear to be further away than clearer objects
texture gradient
2 globes - indistinct (fine) texture signals and increasing distance
relative height
we perceive objects that are higher in our FOV to be farther away than those that are lower
relative motion
passenger in car - as you are moving, items close to you appear to go by fast, and objects further away come slowly
linear perspective
railroad tracks - parallel lines appear to converge in the distance
light & shadow
nearby objects reflect more light into our eyes than distant objects
anvil
tiny bone that passes vibrations from hammer to stirrup
cochlea
spiral-shaped inner ear structure lined with cilia (tiny hairs) that move when vibrated and cause nerve impulse to form
eardrum
thin membrane that vibrates when sound waves reach it
Eustachian tube
tube that connects middle ear to back of the nose; equalizes pressure between middle ear and the air outside.
hammer
tiny bone that passes vibrations from eardrum to anvil
nerves
carry electro-chemical signals from inner ear (cochlea) to the brain
outer ear canal
tube where sound travels to the eardrum
pinna
visible part of the outer ear. collects sound and directs it into the outer ear canal
semicircular canals
three loops of fluid-filled tubes attached to cochlea in the inner ear. help with balance
stirrup
tiny U shaped bone that passes vibrations from stirrup to cochlea. smallest bone in the human body
cornea
clear dome-shaped tissue covering the front of the eye
iris
colored part of the eye - controls amount of light that enters the eye by changing the size of the pupil
optic nerve
nerve that transmits electrical impulses from retina to brain
pupil
opening in center of iris, changes size as amount of light changes. more light = smaller the hole
retina
sensory tissue lining the back of the eye. contains photoreceptors (rods and cones) that convert light rays into electrical impulses relayed to brain by optic nerve
vitreous
thick transparent liquids that fills the center of the eye and give it its form and shape
photoreceptor
rods (black and white vision) and cons (color vision)
