Unit 3 Flashcards
Sensation
The senses collect some kind of information from the environment and convert it to a signal that can travel to the brain
Transduction
The transformation of stimulus energy to electrochemical energy of neural impulses (except smell)
Perception
Process by which we select, organize, and interpret sensory information in order to recognize meaningful objects and events
Synesthesia
To “perceive together”, is a condition in which two senses are sensed at the same time,
Bottom up processing
build up from the smallest pieces of sensory information
Top down processing
brain applies what it knows and expects to perceive sensory information
Absolute Threshold
the point where you notice that a stimulus is present. The minimum stimulation required for a particular stimulus to be detected 50% of the time
Signal detection theory
States that minimum threshold varies with fatigue, attention, expectations, motivation, emotional distress, and from one person to another
Subliminal sensation
When stimuli are below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness
Difference threshold
the point where you can detect the difference between stimuli
Weber’s law
The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)
Sensory adaptation
Reduction in sensitivity to a stimulus after constant exposure to it
Selective attention
We center our attention on certain important elements of our environment while other things blend into the background
Divided attention
Occurs when mental focus is on multiple tasks or ideas at once
Cocktail party effect
Ability to focus on a particular sound while partial filtering out other sounds
Intentional blindness
When our focus is directed at one stimulus (relevant to us), leaving us blind to other stimuli
Change blindness
The tendency people have to miss changes in their immediate visual environment
Cornea
A transparent, dome-like structure, on the front part of the eye, gives the eye focusing or refracting power
Pupil
The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters, controls the amount of light that enters into the eye
Iris
A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening (colored part of eye)
Crystalline lens
The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina, focus the eye on near or far objects
vitreous humor
La parte Blanquita del ojo :)
Retina
light-sensitive surface in the back of the eye containing rods and cones
Photoreceptors
(rods and cones) Convert light energy to electrochemical neural impulses that are conducted to our brain
Cones
Light-detecting cells that are concentrated in the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions, directly involved in our ability to perceive color
(concentrated on the fovea)
Rods
Specialized photoreceptors that work well in low light conditions, involved in our vision in dimly lit environments as well as in our perception of movement on the periphery of our visual field
Macula
The most sensitive part of the Retina. Responsible for your central vision. Let’s you see what is directly in front of you
Fovea
small indent within the Macula that has a major concentration of cones.
It lets you produce the highest definition images possible of things in front of you.
Optic nerve
The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain (send it to the opposite side of the brain)
Blind spot
area in eye with no receptor cells
Feature detectors
specialized nerve cells in the visual cortex that respond to particular elements like shape, movement, edges, and angles
Parallel processing
simultaneously analyzing different elements of sensory information
Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic (three-color) Theory
here are three receptors in the retina responsible for the perception of color (green, blue, red)
Color deficient vision
They simply lack functioning red-or green-sensitive cones or sometimes both, missing cones that response to a specific color
Opponent process theory
the retina has receptors for three opposing pairs of colors: white-black, red-green, and yellow-blue
After image
images that remain visible after viewing an object. A negative afterimage reverse the colors in the original image
Audition
The biological process by which our ears process sound waves
Sound waves
Vibrations of molecules that travel through the air
Amplitude
Height of the sound wave (greater compression), the psychological quality of loudness
Frequency
The number of wavelength cycles in a unit of time, measured using hertz, determines the highness or lowness of the sound (Pitch)
Pitch
The highness or lowness of a sound.
-The shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency, the higher the pitch.
-The longer the wavelength, the lower the frequency, the lower the pitch
Sound localization
the process by which you determine the location of a sound
Pinna
outer ear, specially the vissible part of the ear
Tympanic membrane
part of the outer ear. The eardrum and auditory cannal, Sound waves make the eardrum vibrate.
Middle ear
-includes three tiny bones: the hammer(or malleus), anvil(or incus), and stirrup( or stapes)
- Sound waves travel to vibrate the bones (auditory ossicles) of the ear.
These bones concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window.
Inner ear
The innermost part of the ear.
includes the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs
cochlea
snail shaped fluid filled tube in the inner war with hair cells on the basilar membrane that transduce mechanical energy of vibrating molecules to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses
Auditory nerve
send auditory signals from the ear to the brain
Frequency theory
We hear pitch based on HOW FAST the hair cells vibrate
Conduction hearing loss
Hearing loss caused by structural damage (eardrum is punctured) to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea
Sensorineural Hearing Loss/ Nerve Deafness:
Occurs when the inner ear, cochlea or auditory nerve itself is not functioning properly
Place theory
the position on the basilar membrane at which waves reach their peak depends on the frequency of a tone. Accounts well for higher-pitched sounds
Gate control theory
pain is experienced only if the pain messages can pass through a gate in the spinal cord on their route to the brain
Kinesthesis
body sense that provides information about the position and movement of individual parts of your body with receptors in muscles, tendons, and joints
Vestibular sense
body sense of equilibrium with hairlike receptors in semicircular canals and vestibular sac in the inner ear
Gustation
The chemical sense of taste with receptor cells in the taste buds
Somesthetic senses
The senses of the skin, allow us to feel light touch, pressure, pain, cold, and warmth
Olfaction
the chemical sense of smell with receptors in a mucous membrane to the roof of the nasal cavity
Olfactory bulb
the smell center of the brian, which receives and processes chemical information from the olfactory nerve
Gestalt psychology
a subfield of psychology that suggests that the brain forms a perceptual whole that is greater than the sum of its parts(integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes )
Figure-ground pattern
Tendency of the visual system to simplify a scene into the main object that we are looking at (the figure) and everything else that forms the background (or ground)
Grouping
Brains have a tendency to organize stimuli into groups in order to process the complexity of the world.
- it could be by law of similarity( similar in shape, size, color), closure(people will fill in blanks to perceive a complete object), area(items within a boundary are perceived as a group), symmetry, proximity, continuity
binocular cues
are those that require the use of both eyes (integrated by the brain) in order for us to perceive depth or distance
Retinal disparity
The difference between the visual images that each eye perceives because of the different angles in which each eye views the world
convergence
Our eyes move together to focus on an object that is close and that they would move farther apart for a distant object
Monocular cues
(with just one eyecan be used for depth perception that involves using only one eye. How we form 3D from 2D(more difficult to judge depth)
linear perspective
Depth cue that makes parallel lines appear to converge at a vanishing point on the horizon
Interposition
when one object overlaps another, the object that is partially obscured is perceived as being farther away
Relative size
If two objects are roughly the same size, the father away object will appear smaller even though the objects are still the same size
Relative high
We perceive objects higher in our visual field as being further away and those that are close should appear lower
Relative clarity
We perceive hazy objects as farther away than sharp, clear objects
The farther something is from us, the less detail it conveys
light and shadow
Objects that are darkened and obscured may appear further off in the distance than those that are brightly lit
Relative motion
As you’re moving, objects that are closer seem to zoom by faster than do objects in the distance
Perceptual set
Predisposition to perceive things in a certain way
perceptual constancy
The tendency to perceive an object you are familiar with as having a constant shape, size, and brightness despite the stimuli changes that occur
Color constancy
The tendency of objects to appear the same color even under changing illumination
Shape constancy
we perceive objects as having a constant size, even while our distance from them varies or despite differences in viewing angle
