Unit 3: Reading and Notes

Question 1

Sensation vs. Perception

Answer 1

Sensation - the process of conducting mental representations of the external world by converting it to neural signals
Perception - how we select, organize, and interpret our sensations

Question 2

Bottom-up processing

Answer 2

Analysis of stimulus that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the level of the brain

Question 3

Top-down processing

Answer 3

Information processing guided by high level mental process as we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

Question 4

Selective attention

Answer 4

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Question 5

Transduction

Answer 5

Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret

Question 6

Psychophysics

Answer 6

The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them

Question 7

Inattentional blindness

Answer 7

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is somewhere else

Question 8

Three steps basic to all our sensory systems

Answer 8

1. Receive sensory stimulation (often using specialized receptor cells)
2. Transform that stimulation into natural impulses
3. Deliver the neural information

Question 9

Change blindness

Answer 9

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Question 10

Absolute threshold

Answer 10

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

Question 11

Signal detection theory

Answer 11

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation. Assumes that there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness

Question 12

Weber’s Law

Answer 12

The principle that to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage, rather than a constant amount

Question 13

Sensory adaptation

Answer 13

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Question 14

Perceptual set

Answer 14

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another because of our mental tendencies and previous experiences

Question 15

How does the human eye see?

Answer 15

Not using light particles itself, but by using wavelength to determine the hue and amplitude to determine intensity

Question 16

How do the brain and eye work together?

Answer 16

The retina’s receptor cells convert particles of light energy to neural impulses and send them to the brain. The brain reassembles them into an image

Question 17

Trichromatic Theory

Answer 17

The retina contains three receptor cones, sensitive to red, green, and blue

Question 18

Opponent Process Theory

Answer 18

Says that we process colors opposed in pairs, red-green, blue-yellow, white-black

Question 19

Wavelength

Answer 19

The distance from the peak of one wave to the peak of the next

Question 20

Accommodation

Answer 20

The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Question 21

Feature detectors

Answer 21

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement

Question 22

Parallel processing

Answer 22

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision.

Question 23

Gestalt

Answer 23

German word meaning organized whole. When given a cluster of sensations, people tend to organize them into a meaningful whole (example: Necker’s cube)

Question 24

Depth perception

Answer 24

How you perceive how far or close something is

Question 25

How does the brain perceive movement?

Answer 25

The brain computes motion based on its assumption that shrinking objects are retreating and enlarging objects are approaching. It perceived continuous movement in a rapid series of slightly varying images.

Question 26

Figure ground

Answer 26

The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surrounds

Question 27

Grouping

Answer 27

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Question 28

Binocular cues

Answer 28

Depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes

Question 29

Retinal disparity

Answer 29

By comparing retinal images from two eyes, the brain computes distance. The greater the disparity between two images, the closer the object

Question 30

Monocular cues

Answer 30

Depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Question 31

How do perceptual constancies help us organize our sensations into meaningful perceptions

Answer 31

Allow us to recognize objects, regardless of viewing angles, distance, and illumination. Therefore, we can take context into account to create meaningful perceptions

Question 32

Perceptual adaptation

Answer 32

The ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Question 33

Audition

Answer 33

The sense or act of hearing

Question 34

What do we hear best

Answer 34

Human voices (3000 to 4000 Hz)

Question 35

Frequency

Answer 35

Determined by wavelength of sound, measured in hertz (Hz)

Question 36

Pitch

Answer 36

A tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency

Question 37

Sensorineural hearing loss

Answer 37

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves, also called nerve deafness

Question 38

Conduction hearing loss

Answer 38

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sounds waves to the cochlea

Question 39

Cochlear implant

Answer 39

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea

Question 40

Place Theory

Answer 40

We perceive high and low pitch sounds because the soundwaves will cause the cochlea to vibrate at different places

Question 41

Frequency Theory

Answer 41

The rate of nerve impulses going through the auditory nerve matches the pitch of the tone

Question 42

4 ways we perceive touch

Answer 42

Pressure, warmth, cold, and pain

Question 43

Describe pain.

Answer 43

Varies by gender, triggered by both bottom-up sensations and top-down processing.

Question 44

How to control pain

Answer 44

Stimulate “gate-closing” activity. Use massage, electric stimulation, or acupuncture.

Question 45

Phantom limb sensation

Answer 45

When the brain misinterprets the spontaneous central nervous system activity that occurs in the absence of normal sensory input

Question 46

Olfaction

Answer 46

Odor enters the nasal cavity and stimulates 5 million receptor cells to sense smells. Humans can detect about 10,000 different odors

Question 47

Vestibular sense

Answer 47

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

Question 48

What tastes do we experience?

Answer 48

Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami

Question 49

Scent and memory

Answer 49

The part of the brain that processes smell is close to the part that processes memories