Unit 4- Sensation and Perception Flashcards
Sensation
the way we take in information from the world around us
Perception
the way that we can process the information taken in through our senses
Bottom up processing
small details to big picture
top down processing
big picture and ignore small details
ex. scrambled letters
Selective Attention
the idea that our brain focuses its perception on what it believes to be most important at the time
Cocktail Party Effect
in a crowded space we will switch our attention to alert us to information that pertains to us
ex. name call
psychophysics
study of science behind how our senses work
Absolute Threshold
smallest amount of sensory stimulus that we can perceive
ex. candle 30 miles out
signal detection theory
idea that absolute threshold is dependent on many factors
e. experience, motivation, attention
subliminal messages
pieces of sensory information that exists below threshold
ex. primes but doesnt force
difference threshold
smallest amount we need to increase or decrease of a sense in order to notice the difference
ex. change in volume of music
Weber’s Law
The difference depends on a percentage range of the overall sensory stimulant
ex. by 10%
Sensory Adaptation
after perceiving a sense for an extended period of time we no longer notice it
ex. house no longer smells
Wavelength
effects the color visible to the eye
Optic Nerve
branch of neurons that connect our eye to our brain
Fovea
center for cones
retina
reflective covering of the back of the eye that contains rods and cones
Iris
- muscle
- colored
- contracts and expands to light
pupil
hole that allows the light and image to enter the eye
cornea
protective covering of the eye
Lens
disk that changes shape to reflect the image into our eye
Blind Spot
where the optic nerve connects to the retina
small gap with no nerves
Rods
Receptors on ur Retina that help u see
Black & White/ Dark/ Peripheral
Cones
Color/ Light/ Central
Feature Detectors
neurons in the occipital lobe that allows us to see angles, shapes, and movement
Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory
we see color because of 3 main color cones in our retina
Opponent Process Theory
color vision depends on opposing sets in the OCCIPITAL LOBE
Pinna
- outer ear
- collects sound
Ear Canal
passageway
Ear Drum
membrane that vibrates to amplify sound
3 tiny bones
hammer, anvil, stirrup
hammer, anvil, stirrup purpose
amplify sound
frequency of sound waves determines
the pitch
Semi circular canal
balance
auditory nerve
connects to brain
transduction
when a sensory message is turned into a neural message
Cochlea
filled with fluid and hair
transduce sound
Frequency Theory
perception of pitch is determined by the speed that the sound waves travel down the auditory nerve
cant explain high pitch because neuron cant fire fast enough
Volhelmholtz place theory
the pitch that we hear is determined by the sound waves striking the cochlea
cant explain low pitch
location hitting is hard to measure
Conduction Hearing Loss
damage to the outer or middle ear, thus causing sound to not be loud enough
(after born-damage, etc)
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
problems with the inner ear (cochlea and auditory never)
born with
Cochlear inplants can fix what type of hearing loss
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Inner ear
chochlea and auditory nerves
Coetaneous and Tactile
touch
touch receptors respond to
pressure
pain
temp
Gate Control Theory
needs to have a certain amount of small fibers, sensory receptors r activated to open the large sensory receptors (brain, spine)
Taste
Gustatory Sense
5 tastes and reasons
sweet- energy (glucose) sour-spoiled salty- sodium (neuron firings) bitter- poison umami-protein
Smell
Olfactory Sense
Sensory Interaction
when 2 sense r strongly impacted by one another
taste/smell….smell/memory
Kinesthesis sense
sense of where body parts r when in relation to eachother
vestibular sense
overall sense of body position and balance
Proprioceptors
special neurons that allows us to sense our body position
illusions
mistakes in perception usually because of our expectations, experience, or top down processing
Perceptual Set
when our experience or expectation affects what we perceive
(mouse or face)
color constancy
we tend to assume that colors remain constant, even when they appear differecnt b/c of the lighting
Gestalt
idea that our brains will create an image that makes sense or looks complete
ex. horse
Similarity
grouping together similar things
column
closure
brain tends to finish images
open triangles
proximity
tends to group things that are similar to one another
vertical lines
connectedness/ continuity
our brain understands that an object continues
Visual Cliff
BABIES CAN PERCEIVE DEPTH
Monocular cues
need one eye
Interposition
when we know an object is closer to us because it blocks all other objects behind it
visual texture
objects that r closer to us have greater amounts of visual detail
Binocular Cues
needs 2 eyes
Retinal Disparity
when one eye percieve an image slightly different then the other, but then they blend the 2 together = greater depth perception
ex. thumb
what helps with depth perception
retinal disparity
Eleanor Gibson and richard walk
visual cliff
Ernest Weber
WEBER’s LAW
Herman von Helmholtz
Young–Helmholtz theory
phi phenomenon
optical illusion of perceiving a series of still images, when viewed in rapid succession, as continuous motion.
Perceptual constancy
tendency to perceive an object you are familiar with as having a constant shape, size, and brightness despite the stimuli changes that occur
extrasensory perception
sixth sense or second sight
parapsychology
study concerned with the investigation of paranormal and psychic phenomena
ex. near death
hearing
auditory
middle ear
3 bones
parallel processing
the ability of the brain to simultaneously process incoming different stimuli
cornea
outermost layer
Accommodation
changes optical power to maintain a clear image or focus on an object as its distance varies
