Unit 4 : Flashcards
sensation
Process of sensing something (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin)
Bottom up processing
perception
Brain takes sensory infor, organizes and interprets it. Based on prior experience
Top-down processing
bottom-up processing
Starts with sensory receptors and works up to higher level of processing
top-down processing
Info process guided by higher level mental processes constructing perceptions by experiences and expectations
selective attention
Can only consciously focus on one thing at a time
inattentional blindness
Focused on some thing that we become blind to something else
change blindness
Fail to notice things in environment
transduction
Conversion of one form of energy into another
Ex : sight, sound. Smell into neural impulses brain can interpret
psychophysics
Study of relationship between physical characteristics of stimuli
Sensations and the stimuli that produce them
absolute threshholds
Can detect 50% of the time
Hearing “ding” from phone
signal detection theory
method for measuring a system’s ability to detect patterns/stimuli/signals in information despite background noise
subliminal
Below absolute threshold awareness
Cant detect it half of the time
Getting your name called while listening to music
priming
Activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing ones perception, memory, response.
Activation of certain areas which change perception memory and response
Sees doctor»_space; easier to spot nurse than cat because of the theme
difference threshold
Can you detect the difference in 2 stimuli 50% of the time?
Wine tasters
webers law
2 stimuli must change by a constant %
Ex : 10 kg add 1 kg
10% change
100 add 1
1% change X
sensory adaptation
Dimished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation
perceptual set
tendencies and assumptions that affects (top-down) what we hear, taste, feel, and see.
Perceive 1 thing and not the other
Old lady vs young; which one you perceive first
wavelength
Distance from one peak of a wave to next
hue
Light wavelength
intensity
Amount of energy in a wave
Determined by height (amplitude)
Determins the brightness and loudness
pupil
Adjustable opening through which light enters
iris
Colored muscle around pupile, controls size of pupil opening
lens
Behind pupil, helps focus light on retina through accommodation
retina
Inner surface of eye. Contains receptor cells (rods abd cones) and where transductioin occurs
accommodation
Changing / adjusting shape to focus on retina
rods
Retinal receptors; detect black, white and gray for peripheral vision and twighlight vision
cones
Retinal receptors that are in center of retina, function in daylight/well lit areas. Detect fine detail
optic nerve
Carries neural impulses to thalamus in the brain
blind spot
Where optic nerve leaves the eye
fovea
Central focus point of retina; Cones are clustered here
Feature detectors
Nerve cells that respond to specific features like ahpe, angle, movement
parallel processing for vision
Processing of Many aspects of a problem simultaneously
See, smell, and hear a baker baking
young-Helmholtz trichromatic (3 color) theory
Cones that respond to 3 colors; red, green, blue from which we experience colors
gestalt
Organized whole
figure-ground
visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surrounding (ground)
grouping
Organize figures into meaningful groups
Proximity : images and objects in close proximity of each other (6 lines of? 2 sets of 2)
Continuity : 2 lines? 4 semi circles?
Closure : fills in gaps where pieces are missing
depth perception
Ability to see objects in 3D and judge distance
visual cliff
Lab device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals
binocular cues
2 eyes to perceive depth
retinal disparity
Each retina takes in images; brain uses images to compute distance
The closure the object the more differnt it looks like
monocular cues
One eye to perceive depth
phi phenomenon
Illusion of movement created when 2 or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession
perceptual constancy
Perceiving objects as unchanging (consistent shapes, size, brightness, and color) even as illumination and retinal images change
Doors
color constancy
Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by object
Different colored apples
perceptual adaptation
In vision the ability to adjust to artificially displace/inverted visual field
Upside down goggles, after a week people could ski and drive
audition
Sensation act of hearing
frequency
of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time
pitch
Lines experienced highness/lowness; depends on frequency
middle ear
Ossicles (bones of middle ear) hammer, anvil, stirrup
cochlea
Coiled, bony, fluid filled tube in inner ear. Sound waves travelling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses
inner ear
Cochlea (transduction occurs in ear)
Enter as sound waves —> exit as neural impulses
sensorineural hearing loss
Nerve deafness
Damage to cochleas hair loss or auditory nerve
Most common comes with heredity, aging, and loud noises
conduction hearing loss
Damage to mechanical system (eardrum, bones of middle ear)
cochlear implant
Device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve
place theory
Theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochleas membrane is stimulated
frequency theory
Rate of nerve impulses travelling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch
gate control theory
Block unimportant impulses from spinal cord
kinesthesia
Senses position and movement of indicidual body parts
sensory interaction
One sense may influence another as when the smell of food influences its taste
vestibular sense
Balance
Inner ear
Works with kinesthesia
Cerebellum
embodied cognition
Influence of sensations, gestures and other states on cognitive preferences and judgements
Cornea
Outer protective layer where light first enters
Eye structure mnemonic for sequence of how light enters eye
Can I Please Learn Reading Faster
Opponent process theory
3 opposite pairs Red/green Black/white Blue/yellow After images
Outer ear
Auditory canal border : eardrum
