Unit 4- Senses and Perception Flashcards
sensation
sensory receptors receive/represent stimulus energies from env.
perception
organizing/interpreting sensory info, recognize meaningful objects/events
bottom-up processing
sensory receptors -> higher level processing (assembling and integrating information) (What am I seeing?)
top-down processing
construct perceptions from experience and expectations (Is that something I’ve seen before?) (Brain can start to see things when given hints at what they are looking at)
selective attention
focusing conscious on particular stimulus
inattentional blindness
cant see visible objects when attention directed elsewhere
change blindeness
fail to notice changes in environment
transduction
converting one form of energy into another
psychophysics
study of relationship between physical characteristics of stimuli vs psychological experience on them
absolute threshold
minimum stimulation needed to detect stimulus 50% of the time (candle viewed from 30 miles away on clear night, 1 tsp of sugar dissolved in 2 gallons of water)
signal detection theory
predicting how/when we detect presence of faint stimulus and background stimulation
sublimal
below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness
priming
activation of certain associations, often unconscious
difference threshold
minimum difference between 2 stimuli required for detection 50% of the time (The smallest amount by which two stimuli can differ in order for an individual to perceive them as different.)
Weber’s Law
to be perceived as different, 2 stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (not constant amount)
sensory adaptation
diminished sensitivity as consequence of constant stimulation
perceptual set
mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another, what we expect to see, which influences what we do see (old lady or young woman picture, bunny or duck picture) (top-down processing) (flying saucers or clouds?)
extrasensory perception (ESP)
claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input (telepathy, psychics)
parapsychology
study of paranormal phenomena (ESP/telekinesis)
wavelength
distance from peak of one light/sound wave to peak of next (short wavelength=high frequency, determines color/hue of waves)
hue
color determined by wavelength of light
intensity
amount of energy in light/sound wave, perceive as brightness/loudness, determined by wave’s amplitude (height), bright or dull colors
pupil
center of eye, light enters
iris
colored portion “ring” of eye, controls size of pupil opening
lens
transparent, behind pupil, changes shape to help focus images on retina
retina
light-sensitive inner surface of eye, receptor rods/cones, neurons processing visual info
accomodation
eye’s lens change shape to focus near or far objects on retina
rods
retinal receptors, detect black/white/grey, necessary for peripheral/night vision when cones don’t respond
cones
retinal receptor cells, center of retina, function in well-lit conditions, detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations
optic nerve
carries neural impulses from eye to brain
blind spot
point where optic nerve leaves eye, creating blind spot because no receptor cells there
fovea
central focal point in retina, eye’s cones cluster