Unit 5 Sensation and Perception Test Flashcards
Sensation
hearing, taste, touch, vision, smell: the body detecting stimuli from the environment around us
perception
the body organizing and interpreting the stimuli you are receiving from the word around you.
Sensory receptors
these are the cells that translate and environmental stimulus into a neural message
transduction
translation of an environmental stimulus into a neural message
psychophysics
the study of how environmental stimuli translate into psychological experience
absolute threshold
the minimum amount of of stimulus that can be affected 50% of the time (the pen clicking in the hallway)
difference threshold
(the Just Noticeable difference) the smallest amount of change in an existing stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time (the audio that we listened to in class)
sensory adaptation
when a stimulus is unchanging, your sensory neurons stop sending that information to the brain
cocktail party phenomenon
we can focus on a single stimulus among many stimulus and filter out what is not important.
sensory deprivation
lack of stimulation to one or more of your senses
sensory overload ex) a concert
excessive stimulation to one or more senses
signal detection theory
detection of stimuli based on
- experience,, have you seen this stimulus before?
- motivation,, is there an incentive to noticing the stim?
- expectations,, are you anticipating the stim?
- level of fatigue,, are you tired or awake?
hit
yes signal,, yes response (phone rings, and you pick it up)
miss
yes signal,, no response (phone rings, and you do not pick it up)
false alarm
no signal,, yes response (the phone does not ring, and you pick it up anyways)
correct rejection
no signal, no response (the phone does not ring, and you do not pick it up)
cornea
clear outermost area of your eye
pupil
hole through which light enters
iris
colored part,, determines how much light enters
lens
clear structure behind the iris,, focuses the light
accommodation
change in thickness of the lens as the eye focuses
myopia
near sighted (flat horizontal) you have myopia
hyperopia
far sighted (flat vertically)
astigmatism
slightly misshapen cornea
retina
the final stop for light in the eye TRANSDUCTION
photoreceptors
responds to various light waves,, transduce light into a neural message
rods
visual sensory receptors at the periphery of the retina (sees light and dark (non color), movement, and contrast)
cones
visual sensory receptors at the back of the retina (color vision, and sharpness)
fovea
concentration of cones
optic disc
(the blind spot) transduction cannot happen because there are no photo receptors in this part of the eye
bipolar cells
transmit info from the rods and cones to the ganglion cells
ganglion cells
from the optic nerve, sends images to the brain
optic nerve
bundle of ganglion cell axons
optic chiasm
optic nerve visual fields crossing over to process in the occipital lobe
thalamus
brain sensory switchboard ( no smell)
occipital lobe
the lobe that processes vision,, in the back of the brain
feature detectors,, hubel and wiesel
mechanisms within our human info processing system that distinguishes features
prosopagnosis
photoreceptors used in facial recognition are not there or damaged
synesthesia
the layering of different sense,, ie associating colors with sounds
wavelength
measure from crest to crest or trough to trough
shorter= close to blue/violet,, longer=red
Properties of light
wavelength, hue, complexity (combo of waves), saturation (strength of a color), amplitude (height of wave),brightness (dictated by amplitude
trichromatic theory (young theory)
neural processing of color happens in the retina and it uses cones
opponent process theory (hering)
neural processing of color happens in the retinas and the visual cortex (lateral inhibition)
after image
visual illusion in which retinal impressions persist after removal of the stimulus
lateral inhibition
neurons response to a stim. is inhibited by the excitation of a neighboring neuron
integrated explanation
both young and hering theories are true
visual dominance
we believe what we see over what we hear
properties of sound
amplitude (loudness, height), loudness (high and loud), frequency (pitch and length in between), pitch, complexity, timbre (quality of sound)
frequency theory
we perceive pitch bc of the cilia vibrate at the same taste as the sound waves
place theory
there are specific areas along the basilar membrane that that are sensitive to pitches
pinna
the cartilage covered in skin
tympanic membrane
aka eardrum,, vibrates to amplify sounds
bones
malleus incus and stapes vibrate to amplify sounds
chochlea
wound up fluid filled tube (containes the basilar membrane and cilia)
basilar membrane
thin tube inside the cochlea that is lined with cilia
hair cells (cilia)
TRANSDUCTION finger looking things,, line basilar membrane
auditory nerve
sends auditory messages to the thalamus
order of hearing
ear to thalamus to temporal lobe
sensorineural hearing loss
damage or death of the cilia
conduction hearing loss
damage to the middle ear
olfaction
smell
mucus membrane
allows chemicals from the air to be disolved and more easily read by the cilia
cranial nerve
sends smell info to the olfactory bulb. Then to the brain
cilia (in the nose)
TRANSDUCTION pretty much same as the ear
olfactory bulb
the forebrain structure that processes s,ell
gustation
taste
taste receptors
tastebuds TRANSDUCTION
papillae
clump of taste receptors
taste qualities
sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami
additional influences on taste
actual taste,, olfaction, somatosensory input (texture), temp, vision
touch receptors
TRANSDUCTION sensory neurons at the surface of a cell
thermoreceptors
sensory neurons that sense temp
pain
unpleasant psychological of physiological sensation (pros and cons) keeps us safe but also can be useless
gate control theory
theory to minimize pain: add sensory stimulation to area of pain or provide a cognitive distraction
substance P
pain neurotransmitter
kinesthetic sense
awareness of the movements and location of body parts
proprioceptors
special sensory neurons in joints and muscles,, their purposes is to signal to the brain the position and location of your body
vestibular sense
awarenes of spatial orientation and balance
semicircular canals
provide vestibular sene
selective attential
singular focus on one stimulus that tends to result in change blindness
change blindness
tendency to miss change in the environment due to seletive attention
stroop test
the test that has the colors of the words
perceptual constancy
brains learned abilit to adapt the raw image to a logical interpretation of the environment
size constancy
objects farther away appear smaller and objects closer appear bigger
shape constancy
objects maintain shape regardless of angle
color constancy
color persists despite change in light
perceptual adaptations
a consistent shift in your perceptive field allows your brain to adjust and correctly view the stimulus
bottom up processing
circumstance in which you have no perceptive set to interpret stimulus (stepping on a lego in the dark) you see that understand
top down processing
when u use a perceptual set to interpret a stimulus (when your home alone every noise is a serial killer) you understand before you see or you do them at the sam e time
law of pragnanz
we naturally chunk stimuli
muller lyer illusion
the two arrows with the different end point designs
ponzo illusion
you see a higher line as longer because of the converging parallel lines that indicate depth to the brain
depth perception
the ability to determine how far away something is
monocular cues
understanding depth perception with 1 eye
relative size
larger= close smaller= far
relative heights
high= far low=close
overlap
when one object blocks another the brain assumes that the front object is closer
texture gradient
objects that appear more textured are perceived as closer than objects that are blurry and smoothed out
linear perspective
converging lines in the visual fiels are interpretted as parallel lines leading into the distance
motion parallax/relative motion
objects that appear to be moving more quickly are interpreted as close to the eye tan objects that appear to be moving more slowly
occulomotor cues
movement in the eye (in the lens) is required
accommodation
changing shape of the lens to focus
convergence
degree of movement to which the eye must turn in to a focal point
depth perception with 2 eyes
binocular cue
binocular/retinal display
our eyes see two different things
gestalt psychology
seeing and comprehending the bigger picture rather than seeing exactly what is there (closure, proximity, continuation, similarity, figure, ground)
similarity
grouping by sameness,, we see things that look a like to be a group
closure
the mind closes gaps in bits of info to make the group whole
proximity
perceive things that are near each ther to be in a group
continuity
we perceive continuous flowing lines where there may not be a full one in the visual field
figure ground relationship
the mind can perceive the difference between the focal point and the background
visual cliff
series of images that change slightly in rapid sequence perceived as motion
motion perception
relies on signals from multiple sources including the visual vestibular and proprioceptive systems
stroboscopic motion
images in quick secession give the illusion of movement
phi phenomenon
illusion of movement through blinking lights
