Unit 8 - Sensation and Perception Flashcards

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1
Q

synesthesia

A

increased communication between sensory regions that results in synesthetes experiencing the world differently

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2
Q

sensation

A

occurs when receptors in sense organs are activated allowing stimuli to become neural signals in brain

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3
Q

transduction

A

process of converting outside stimuli into neural impulse

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4
Q

sensory receptors

A

eyes - light
ears - vibrations
touch - pressure/temperature
taste/smell - chemical substances

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5
Q

Ernst Weber

A
  • study to determine smallest difference between two weights

- Weber’s Law of Just Noticeable Difference

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6
Q

Just Noticeable Difference

A

smallest difference between two stimuli that’s detectable 50% of the time

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7
Q

Weber’s Law

A

as stimulus increases, the JND increases

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8
Q

Gustav Fechner

A

created absolute threshold

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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
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10
Q

subliminal stimuli

A

stimuli below level of conscious awareness –> just strong enough to activate sensory receptors

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11
Q

subliminal perception

A

subliminal stimuli act on unconscious mind –> influencing behavior

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12
Q

Vicary

A

man who did fake subliminal perception ad in movie theater

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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
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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”
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15
Q

microsaccades

A

tiny eye vibrations that keep eyes from adapting to what they see

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16
Q

coding

A

changing each impulse into the right impulse and sending it to correct place

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17
Q

change blindness

A

don’t notice changes in environment; selective environment causes this

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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)

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19
Q

refraction

A

light bends as it passes through substances of different densities

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20
Q

cornea

A

covers surface of eye; protects eye; focuses light coming into eye

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21
Q

aqueous humor

A

continually replenished and supplies nourishment to eye

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22
Q

pupil

A

light enter interior of eye through pupil

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23
Q

iris

A

changes size of pupil, depending on how much light should be let in; helps focus image with pupil size

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24
Q

lens

A

using visual accommodation it changes its shape from thick to thin, focusing on close/far objects

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25
Q

presbyopia

A

lose ability to change lens thickness because of age

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26
Q

myopia

A

shape of eye causes focal point to fall short of retina (nearsighted)

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27
Q

hyperopia

A

focus point behind retina (farsighted)

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28
Q

vitreous humor

A

nourishes eye and gives its shape

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29
Q

retina

A

light-sensitive area containing layers: ganglion cells, bipolar cells, rods and cones

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30
Q

cones

A
  • center

- color

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31
Q

rods

A
  • light, dark
  • black, white, gray
  • periphery
  • brightness
  • motion
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32
Q

blindspot/optic disk

A

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

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33
Q

temporal retinas

A

retina halves toward temples of head; axons project to visual cortex on same side of brain

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34
Q

nasal retinas

A

retina halves toward nose; axons project to visual cortex on opposite side of brain

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35
Q

left visual field

A

information goes to right visual cortex

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36
Q

right visual field

A

information goes to left visual cortex

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37
Q

dark adaptation

A

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)

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38
Q

night blindness

A

person has difficulty seeing well enough to drive at night/get around in darkened area

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39
Q

light adaptation

A

cones adapt to increased level of light (adapts completely almost immediately)

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40
Q

trichromatic theory

A

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

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41
Q

afterimage

A

occurs when visible sensation persists for brief time even after OG stimulus is removed

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42
Q

opponent-process theory

A

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
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43
Q

color blindness/color-deficient vision

A

caused by defective cones in retina

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44
Q

monochrome color blindness

A

people either have no cones or have cones that don’t work; everything is shades of gray

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45
Q

dichromatic vision

A

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
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46
Q

red-green color deficiency

A

lack of functioning red or green cones; person confuses reds and greens; sees in blues, yellows, shades of gray

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47
Q

blue-yellow color deficiency

A

lack of functioning blue cones (rare); sees in reds, greens, grays

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48
Q

wavelength

A

pitch (how high/low sound is)

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49
Q

amplitude

A

volume

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50
Q

saturation/purity

A

timbre (richness)

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51
Q

pinna

A

visible, external part of ear that serves as concentrator, funneling sound waves from outside into ear; entrance to auditory canal/ear canal

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52
Q

auditory/ear canal

A

short tunnel that runs down to tympanic membrane/eardrum (when sound waves hit eardrum it causes 3 tiny bones in middle ear to vibrate)

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53
Q

ossicles

A

hammer (malleus)
anvil (incus)
stirrup (stapes)

  • vibrations amplify vibrations from eardrum
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54
Q

oval window

A

membrane covering opening of inner ear; its vibrations set off chain reaction within inner ear

55
Q

cochlea

A

filled with fluid; snail-shaped structure; when oval window vibrates, fluid in cochlea vibrates

56
Q

basilar membrane

A

membrane running through middle of cochlea; when basilar membrane vibrates, the organ of Corti vibrates

57
Q

organ of Corti

A

contains receptor cells for sense of hearing; is in basilar membrane; when organ of Corti vibrates it brushes against membrane above it

58
Q

hair cells

A

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
Q

auditory nerve

A

contains axons of all receptor neurons

60
Q

place theory

A

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
Q

frequency theory

A

pitch is related to how fast basilar membrane vibrates (faster vibrations = higher pitch)
all auditory neurons fire at same time

62
Q

correct pitch theory

A

frequency theory works for low pitches and place theory works for moderate/high pitches

63
Q

volley principle

A

groups of auditory neurons take turns firing

64
Q

conduction hearing impairment/loss

A

problems with mechanics of outer or middle ear and sound vibrations can’t be passed from eardrum to cochlea

65
Q

nerve hearing impairment/sensorineural hearing loss

A

problem with inner ear or in auditory pathways and cortical areas of brain

66
Q

tinnitus

A

ringing in one’s ear

67
Q

cochlear implant

A

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
Q

taste buds/taste receptor cells

A

special neurons found in mouth that are responsible for taste

69
Q

papillae

A

bumps on tongue; taste buds line walls of papillae

70
Q

5 basic tastes

A
sweet
sour
salty
bitter
umami
71
Q

olfaction/olfactory sense

A

ability to smell odors

72
Q

olfactory receptor cells

A

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
Q

olfactory bulbs

A

located on top of sinus cavity beneath frontal lobes

74
Q

somesthetic senses

A

skin senses
kinesthetic senses
vestibular senses

75
Q

skin senses

A

has to do with touch, pressure, temperature, pain

76
Q

kinesthetic senses

A

has to do with location of body parts in relation to each other

77
Q

vestibular senses

A

has to do with movement and body position

78
Q

pacinian corpuscles

A

receptors that respond to changes in pressure

79
Q

nerve ending wrapped around ends of hair follicles

A

sensitive to pain and touch

80
Q

free nerve endings

A

respond to changes in temperature, pressure, pain

81
Q

visceral pain

A

receptors that detect pain and pressure in organs

82
Q

primary somatic pain

A

pain sensations in skin, muscles, tendons, and joints are carried on large nerve fibers; pain is sharp and fast

83
Q

secondary somatic pain

A

carried on small nerve fibers and pain is slower and more general ache

84
Q

CIPA

A

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
Q

congenital analgesia

A

disorder that makes people unable to feel pain; affect neural pathways that carry pain, heat, and cold sensations

86
Q

phantom limb pain

A

occurs when person who has limb removed sometimes “feels” pain in missing limb

87
Q

gate-control theory

A

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
Q

endorphins

A

body’s natural morphine; psychological aspects can influence its release; can inhibit transmission of pain signals and substance P

89
Q

substance P

A

neuromodulator released from stimulation of pain receptor cells

90
Q

proprioceptors

A

joint movement and muscles stretching/contracting

91
Q

vestibular sense

A

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
Q

motion sickness

A

caused by disagreement between what eyes and body are saying

93
Q

sensory conflict theory

A

normally vestibular sense coordinates with other senses but for some people the eyes conflict too much and it causes motion sickness

94
Q

retinal disparity

A

each eye has own perspective on world (farther objects have similar image)

95
Q

retinal convergence

A

eyes cross to focus on object coming closer

96
Q

bottom-up processing

A

sensation first then perception

97
Q

top-down processing

A

perception first then sensation

98
Q

perceptual set

A
expectations
prior knowledge
situation
age
culture
emotion
99
Q

stroop color

A

name of color in a different color

100
Q

cocktail party effect

A

ability to focus attention on specific stimulus while filtering out other stimuli

101
Q

seize constancy

A

tendency to interpret objects as always being same size regardless of its distance from the viewer

102
Q

shape constancy

A

tendency to interpret shape of object as constant, even when changes on retina

103
Q

brightness constancy

A

tendency to perceive apparent brightness of object as same even when light conditions change

104
Q

figure-grounds relationships

A

tendency to perceive objects/figures as existing on background

105
Q

reversible figures

A

figure and ground switch back and forth

106
Q

proximity/nearness

A

tendency to perceive objects that are close together as part of same grouping

107
Q

similarity

A

tendency to perceive things that look alike as being part of same group

108
Q

closure

A

tendency to complete figures that are incomplete

109
Q

continuity

A

tendency to perceive things as simply as possible with a continuous pattern rather than with a complex broken up pattern

110
Q

contiguity

A

tendency to perceive two things that happen close together in time as being related (seen as first event caused the second)

111
Q

common region

A

tendency to perceive objects that are in same region as being in a group

112
Q

depth perception

A

capability to see the world in 3-D

113
Q

visual cliff

A

used table with big drop on one side to test if babies have depth perception –> they do

114
Q

monocular cues

A

cues using one eye for perceiving depth in the world

115
Q

binocular cues

A

cues using both eyes for perceiving depth in the world

116
Q

linear perspective

A

tendency for parallel lines to seem to converge on each other

117
Q

relative size

A

objects that people expect to be of certain size appear smaller and are assumed to be farther away

118
Q

overlap/interposition

A

when 1 object seems to block another object, people assume that blocked object is behind first object and is farther away

119
Q

aerial/atmospheric perspective

A

farther away object is, hazier it appears because particles of dust/dirt/pollutants in air

120
Q

texture gradient

A

objects that are closer look very distinctly textured, and objects father away look blurry/not detailed

121
Q

motion parallax

A

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
Q

accommodation/muscular cue

A

tendency of lens to change shape/thickness in response to objects near of far away

123
Q

Hubel and Wiesel

A

discovered simple cells (neurons), complex cells (orientation/movements), end-stopped cells (corners/curvatures/sudden edges)

124
Q

hermann grid

A

matrix of squares where gray blobs are at intersections until you focus on intersection and they disappear

125
Q

feature detectors

A

simple cells, complex cells, end-stopped cells

126
Q

muller-lyer illusion

A

line are same length but with arrows pointing in different directions on the ends of the lines

127
Q

horizontal-vertical illusion

A

vertical line is perceived to be larger than horizontal line

128
Q

moon illusion

A

moon on horizontal appears to be much larger than moon in sky

129
Q

apparent distance hypothesis

A

cues for depth allow people to know when objects are far away

130
Q

autokinetic effect

A

small/stationary light in dark room appears to move because there’s no cues to indicate light isn’t moving

131
Q

stroboscopic motion

A

rapid series of still pictures seem to be in motion

132
Q

phi phenomenon

A

lights turned on in sequence appear to move

133
Q

rotating snakes illusion

A

eye movements play significant role in perceiving the snakes rotating in circles

134
Q

enigma painting

A

rings sparkle or rotate