Unit 8 - Sensation and Perception Flashcards
1
Q
synesthesia
A
increased communication between sensory regions that results in synesthetes experiencing the world differently
2
Q
sensation
A
occurs when receptors in sense organs are activated allowing stimuli to become neural signals in brain
3
Q
transduction
A
process of converting outside stimuli into neural impulse
4
Q
sensory receptors
A
eyes - light
ears - vibrations
touch - pressure/temperature
taste/smell - chemical substances
5
Q
Ernst Weber
A
- study to determine smallest difference between two weights
- Weber’s Law of Just Noticeable Difference
6
Q
Just Noticeable Difference
A
smallest difference between two stimuli that’s detectable 50% of the time
7
Q
Weber’s Law
A
as stimulus increases, the JND increases
8
Q
Gustav Fechner
A
created absolute threshold
9
Q
absolute threshold
A
lowest level of stimulation a person can consciously detect 50% of the time stimulation is present
- ## low threshold means person has high detection
10
Q
subliminal stimuli
A
stimuli below level of conscious awareness –> just strong enough to activate sensory receptors
11
Q
subliminal perception
A
subliminal stimuli act on unconscious mind –> influencing behavior
12
Q
Vicary
A
man who did fake subliminal perception ad in movie theater
13
Q
habituation
A
brain filters sensory stimulation and “ignores”/prevents conscious attention to stimuli that doesn’t change
- pay less attention to constant stimulus
- brain decides it isn’t important so stops paying attention
- can “snap out of it” instantly
14
Q
sensory adaptation
A
process by which constant/unchanging information from sensory receptors is ignored
- pay less attention to constant stimulus
- physical change to sensory receptors
- body adapts physically
- there’s a delay in “snapping out of it”
15
Q
microsaccades
A
tiny eye vibrations that keep eyes from adapting to what they see
16
Q
coding
A
changing each impulse into the right impulse and sending it to correct place
17
Q
change blindness
A
don’t notice changes in environment; selective environment causes this
18
Q
3 aspects to our perception of light
A
brightness - determined by amplitude of wave (higher = brighter)
color/hue - determined by length of wave (long wavelengths red, short wavelengths blue)
saturation - purity of color people perceive (highly saturated red has only red wavelengths and less saturated red can have mixture of wavelengths)
19
Q
refraction
A
light bends as it passes through substances of different densities
20
Q
cornea
A
covers surface of eye; protects eye; focuses light coming into eye
21
Q
aqueous humor
A
continually replenished and supplies nourishment to eye
22
Q
pupil
A
light enter interior of eye through pupil
23
Q
iris
A
changes size of pupil, depending on how much light should be let in; helps focus image with pupil size
24
Q
lens
A
using visual accommodation it changes its shape from thick to thin, focusing on close/far objects
25
presbyopia
lose ability to change lens thickness because of age
26
myopia
shape of eye causes focal point to fall short of retina (nearsighted)
27
hyperopia
focus point behind retina (farsighted)
28
vitreous humor
nourishes eye and gives its shape
29
retina
light-sensitive area containing layers: ganglion cells, bipolar cells, rods and cones
30
cones
- center
| - color
31
rods
- light, dark
- black, white, gray
- periphery
- brightness
- motion
32
blindspot/optic disk
axons of ganglion cells leave retina to become optic nerve; no rods/cones; if stare at one spot with one eye long enough objects that slowly cross visual field may disappear because "hole" in retina
33
temporal retinas
retina halves toward temples of head; axons project to visual cortex on same side of brain
34
nasal retinas
retina halves toward nose; axons project to visual cortex on opposite side of brain
35
left visual field
information goes to right visual cortex
36
right visual field
information goes to left visual cortex
37
dark adaptation
occurs as eye recovers its ability to see when going from brightly lit to dark; brighter lights take longer to adapt; rods allow eyes to adapt to low light (takes a while to completely adapt)
38
night blindness
person has difficulty seeing well enough to drive at night/get around in darkened area
39
light adaptation
cones adapt to increased level of light (adapts completely almost immediately)
40
trichromatic theory
Thomas Young
- red, blue, green
- mixing direct light results in lighter colors and creates white when mixing red, blue, green
- mixing reflected light results in darker colors
- different shades of colors correspond to different amounts of light received by the cones (rate at which combination of cones fire determines color that's seen
```
red/green = yellow
red/blue = magenta
blue/green = cyan
```
Brown and Wald
- found that wavelengths correspond to color
short (420 nm) blue/violet
medium (530 nm) green
long (560 nm) green/yellow
41
afterimage
occurs when visible sensation persists for brief time even after OG stimulus is removed
42
opponent-process theory
Hering
- 4 primary colors {red, green} {blue, yellow}
- if one member of pair is strongly stimulated, other is inhibited can't work
- this pairing causes afterimage b/c neurons are stimulated from specific part of visual spectrum and inhibited from somewhere else so area that stimulates becomes fatigued and then fatigued cell responds less than OG baseline
43
color blindness/color-deficient vision
caused by defective cones in retina
44
monochrome color blindness
people either have no cones or have cones that don't work; everything is shades of gray
45
dichromatic vision
caused by one cone that doesn't work properly so see everything in combos of 2 cones/colors
- red green color deficiency
- blue yellow color deficiency
46
red-green color deficiency
lack of functioning red or green cones; person confuses reds and greens; sees in blues, yellows, shades of gray
47
blue-yellow color deficiency
lack of functioning blue cones (rare); sees in reds, greens, grays
48
wavelength
pitch (how high/low sound is)
49
amplitude
volume
50
saturation/purity
timbre (richness)
51
pinna
visible, external part of ear that serves as concentrator, funneling sound waves from outside into ear; entrance to auditory canal/ear canal
52
auditory/ear canal
short tunnel that runs down to tympanic membrane/eardrum (when sound waves hit eardrum it causes 3 tiny bones in middle ear to vibrate)
53
ossicles
hammer (malleus)
anvil (incus)
stirrup (stapes)
- vibrations amplify vibrations from eardrum
54
oval window
membrane covering opening of inner ear; its vibrations set off chain reaction within inner ear
55
cochlea
filled with fluid; snail-shaped structure; when oval window vibrates, fluid in cochlea vibrates
56
basilar membrane
membrane running through middle of cochlea; when basilar membrane vibrates, the organ of Corti vibrates
57
organ of Corti
contains receptor cells for sense of hearing; is in basilar membrane; when organ of Corti vibrates it brushes against membrane above it
58
hair cells
located on organ of Corti; receptors for sound; when they're bent up against other membrane they send neural message through auditory nerve into brain to auditory cortex, and cortex interprets sounds (louder sound --> stronger vibrations --> more hair cells stimulated)
59
auditory nerve
contains axons of all receptor neurons
60
place theory
pitch person hears depends on where hair cells that are stimulated are located on organ of Corti
- high pitched sounds --> hair cells located near oval window are stimulated
- low pitched sounds --> hair cells located far away on organ of Corti are stimulated
61
frequency theory
pitch is related to how fast basilar membrane vibrates (faster vibrations = higher pitch)
all auditory neurons fire at same time
62
correct pitch theory
frequency theory works for low pitches and place theory works for moderate/high pitches
63
volley principle
groups of auditory neurons take turns firing
64
conduction hearing impairment/loss
problems with mechanics of outer or middle ear and sound vibrations can't be passed from eardrum to cochlea
65
nerve hearing impairment/sensorineural hearing loss
problem with inner ear or in auditory pathways and cortical areas of brain
66
tinnitus
ringing in one's ear
67
cochlear implant
sends signals from microphone worn behind ear to sound processor which translates signals into electrical stimuli that are sent to electrodes implanted in cochlea, allowing transduction to occur and stimulate auditory nerve; brain processes electrode information as sound
68
taste buds/taste receptor cells
special neurons found in mouth that are responsible for taste
69
papillae
bumps on tongue; taste buds line walls of papillae
70
5 basic tastes
```
sweet
sour
salty
bitter
umami
```
71
olfaction/olfactory sense
ability to smell odors
72
olfactory receptor cells
each have cilia that project into cavity; receptor sites on cilia that send signals to brain when stimulated by molecules of substances in air around them
73
olfactory bulbs
located on top of sinus cavity beneath frontal lobes
74
somesthetic senses
skin senses
kinesthetic senses
vestibular senses
75
skin senses
has to do with touch, pressure, temperature, pain
76
kinesthetic senses
has to do with location of body parts in relation to each other
77
vestibular senses
has to do with movement and body position
78
pacinian corpuscles
receptors that respond to changes in pressure
79
nerve ending wrapped around ends of hair follicles
sensitive to pain and touch
80
free nerve endings
respond to changes in temperature, pressure, pain
81
visceral pain
receptors that detect pain and pressure in organs
82
primary somatic pain
pain sensations in skin, muscles, tendons, and joints are carried on large nerve fibers; pain is sharp and fast
83
secondary somatic pain
carried on small nerve fibers and pain is slower and more general ache
84
CIPA
disorder that makes people unable to feel pain; can't cool off body by sweating; affect neural pathways that carry pain, heat, and cold sensations
85
congenital analgesia
disorder that makes people unable to feel pain; affect neural pathways that carry pain, heat, and cold sensations
86
phantom limb pain
occurs when person who has limb removed sometimes "feels" pain in missing limb
87
gate-control theory
pain signals pass through "gate" located in spinal cord; gate represents relative balance in neural activity of cells in spinal cord that receive information from body and them send information to brain
88
endorphins
body's natural morphine; psychological aspects can influence its release; can inhibit transmission of pain signals and substance P
89
substance P
neuromodulator released from stimulation of pain receptor cells
90
proprioceptors
joint movement and muscles stretching/contracting
91
vestibular sense
balance
otolith organs
- tiny fluid sacs above cochlea with crystals
- head moves and crystals make fluid vibrate, setting off cilia on inner surface of sac, which tells person which direction they're going
semicircular canals
- 3 tubes filled with fluid that stimulate cilia when rotated
- each tube is in a plane of motion
92
motion sickness
caused by disagreement between what eyes and body are saying
93
sensory conflict theory
normally vestibular sense coordinates with other senses but for some people the eyes conflict too much and it causes motion sickness
94
retinal disparity
each eye has own perspective on world (farther objects have similar image)
95
retinal convergence
eyes cross to focus on object coming closer
96
bottom-up processing
sensation first then perception
97
top-down processing
perception first then sensation
98
perceptual set
```
expectations
prior knowledge
situation
age
culture
emotion
```
99
stroop color
name of color in a different color
100
cocktail party effect
ability to focus attention on specific stimulus while filtering out other stimuli
101
seize constancy
tendency to interpret objects as always being same size regardless of its distance from the viewer
102
shape constancy
tendency to interpret shape of object as constant, even when changes on retina
103
brightness constancy
tendency to perceive apparent brightness of object as same even when light conditions change
104
figure-grounds relationships
tendency to perceive objects/figures as existing on background
105
reversible figures
figure and ground switch back and forth
106
proximity/nearness
tendency to perceive objects that are close together as part of same grouping
107
similarity
tendency to perceive things that look alike as being part of same group
108
closure
tendency to complete figures that are incomplete
109
continuity
tendency to perceive things as simply as possible with a continuous pattern rather than with a complex broken up pattern
110
contiguity
tendency to perceive two things that happen close together in time as being related (seen as first event caused the second)
111
common region
tendency to perceive objects that are in same region as being in a group
112
depth perception
capability to see the world in 3-D
113
visual cliff
used table with big drop on one side to test if babies have depth perception --> they do
114
monocular cues
cues using one eye for perceiving depth in the world
115
binocular cues
cues using both eyes for perceiving depth in the world
116
linear perspective
tendency for parallel lines to seem to converge on each other
117
relative size
objects that people expect to be of certain size appear smaller and are assumed to be farther away
118
overlap/interposition
when 1 object seems to block another object, people assume that blocked object is behind first object and is farther away
119
aerial/atmospheric perspective
farther away object is, hazier it appears because particles of dust/dirt/pollutants in air
120
texture gradient
objects that are closer look very distinctly textured, and objects father away look blurry/not detailed
121
motion parallax
when in moving vehicle, objects close to vehicle seem to be moving very fast and objects far from vehicle seem to move very slowly
122
accommodation/muscular cue
tendency of lens to change shape/thickness in response to objects near of far away
123
Hubel and Wiesel
discovered simple cells (neurons), complex cells (orientation/movements), end-stopped cells (corners/curvatures/sudden edges)
124
hermann grid
matrix of squares where gray blobs are at intersections until you focus on intersection and they disappear
125
feature detectors
simple cells, complex cells, end-stopped cells
126
muller-lyer illusion
line are same length but with arrows pointing in different directions on the ends of the lines
127
horizontal-vertical illusion
vertical line is perceived to be larger than horizontal line
128
moon illusion
moon on horizontal appears to be much larger than moon in sky
129
apparent distance hypothesis
cues for depth allow people to know when objects are far away
130
autokinetic effect
small/stationary light in dark room appears to move because there's no cues to indicate light isn't moving
131
stroboscopic motion
rapid series of still pictures seem to be in motion
132
phi phenomenon
lights turned on in sequence appear to move
133
rotating snakes illusion
eye movements play significant role in perceiving the snakes rotating in circles
134
enigma painting
rings sparkle or rotate
