Week 3 Flashcards
Define: Sensation
the process detecting external events with sense organs and turning those stimuli into neural signals
Define: Perception
the process of attending to organizing and interpreting sensations
What is transduction?
the process between sensation and perception when specialized receptors transform outside energy into neural impulses
What is an absolute threshold regarding stimulus detection?
the minimum amount of energy or quantity of stimulus required for it to be detected at least 50% of the time
What is a difference threshold?
the smallest difference between stimuli that can be reliably detected at least 50% of the time
What is weber’s law?
states that the noticeable difference between two stimuli changes as proportion to those stimuli
Briefly describe Gesalt psychology.
states that the individual parts of an image have little meaning but can be combined to form a significant meaning
What is polysomnography?
a set of objective measurements used to examine physiological variables during sleep
What is the difference between the photoreceptors rods and cones?
Robs are sensitive to low light and cones are sensitive to different wavelengths
What is the trichromatic theory?
the idea that colour vision is determined by three different cone types that are sensitive to short, medium, and long wavelengths of light
What is the opponent-process theory?
which states that we perceive colour in their complementary pairs
What is the ventral stream?
extends from the visual cortex to the lower end of the temporal lobe and main function is object recognition
What is the dorsal stream?
extends from the visual cortex to the lower end of the parietal lobe and facilitates movement and vision
What is the psychoanalytic approach to dreaming?
dreams can either be of manifest content (images and stroylines) or latent content (symbolic meaning built of aggression)
What is the activation synthesis theory of dreams?
dreams arise from brain activity in the pons organized by the cortex
What are the three types and functions of insomnia?
onset: can’t fall asleep, maintenance: cannot return to sleep, and terminal: wake up too early
What are the three types and functions of hypnotic suggestion?
ideomotor (preforming actions), challenge (inability to preform actions), and cognitive-perceptual (changing information)
What is the dissociation theory?
explains hypnosis as a unique state in which consciousness is divided into two parts: a lower-level system involved with perception and movement and an “executive” system that evaluates and monitors these behaviours
What is locked-in syndrome?
a disorder in which the patient is aware and awake but, because of an inability to move his or her body, appears unconscious
What does the phrase “doctrine of specific nerve energies” mean?
the idea that different senses are separated in the brain
What is signal detection theory?
the idea that a stimulus being perceived depends on individual judgement
What is subliminal perception?
information that you receive from your senses that you are not constantly aware of
What is priming?
when previous exposure to a stimuli can influence response to the same or different stimuli later on
What is top-down processing?
when perceptions are influenced by prior knowledge
What is bottom-down processing?
when we gather bits of senses together to achieve a more complex perception
What is inattentional blindness?
failure to notice obvious events because attention is directed elsewhere
What order does light enter the eye in?
cornea, pupil, lens, retina, fovea, ganglion cells, bipolar cells, photoreceptors, optic nerve
What is the ratio of cones and rods ganglion cells?
cones: 1 to 1
rodes: 10 to 1
What are feature detection cells?
eye cells that respond to certain stimuli such as angles or edges
What is prosopagnosia?
face blindness
What are binocular depth cues?
distance cues that are based off of combined perspective from both eyes
What is retinal disparity?
the difference in the relative position of an object as seen by both eyes
What happens during the first stage of sleep?
breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure all decrease as theta waves develop
What happens in the second stage of sleep?
sleep spindles and K complexes signal slower waves but with burst of energy
What happens during the third stage of sleep?
brain waves become delta waves
What happens during the fourth stage of sleep?
deepest sleep in which waking will be difficult
What is the order of sleep stages?
1,2,3,4,2,REM,4
What is the difference between a vegetative state and a minimally conscious state?
vegetative state - eyes open, sleep-wake cycles, no sign of consciousness
MCS - shows some partial conscious behaviours inconsistently
