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PSY1022 > Week 9 > Flashcards

Week 9 Flashcards

1
Q

steps in sensing

A
  1. accessory structures

2. transduction

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2
Q

specific energy doctrine

A

discovery that stimulation of a particular sensory nerve provides codes for that sense, no matter how the stimulation takes place

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3
Q

temporal code

A

reflects changes in the timing pattern of nerve firing

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4
Q

spatial code

A

reflects the location of neurons that are firing and those that are not

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5
Q

psychophysics

A

Psychophysics: an area of research focusing on the relationship between the phsyical characteristics of environmental stimuli and the psychological experiences those stimuli produce

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6
Q

absolute threshold

A

the smallest amount of light, sound, pressure or other physical energy we can detect

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7
Q

subliminal stimulation

A

stimulation that is too weak or brief to be perceived

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8
Q

supraliminal stimulation

A

stimulation that is strong enough to be consistently perceived

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9
Q

signal detection theory

A

a mathematical model of what determines a person’s report of a near-threshold stimulus

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10
Q

sensitivity

A

ability to detect a particular stimulus from a background of competing stimuli
Influenced by internal noise, the intensity of the stimulus, and the capacity of your sensory systems

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11
Q

just noticeable difference JND

A

smallest detectable difference in stimulus energy

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12
Q

Weber’s law

A

a law stating that the smallest detectable difference in stimulus energy is a constant fraction of the intensity of the stimulus
Weber’s law says that JND=KI
K= Weber’s constant for a particular sense; I= amount, or intensity, of the stimulus

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13
Q

Weber’s constant

A

K; different for each of the senses

Smaller k is, the more sensitive a sense is to stimulus differences

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14
Q

Fechner

A

used Weber’s law to study the relationship between the physical magnitude of a stimulus and its perceived magnitude
If just-noticeable differences get progressively larger as stimulus magnitude increases, then the amount of change int he stimulus required to double or triple its perceived intensity must get larger too

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15
Q

Fechner’s law

A

Constant increases in physical energy will produce progressively smaller increases in perceived magnitude

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16
Q

Steven’s power law

A

formula for magnitude estimation that works for a wider array of stimuli

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17
Q

loudness

A

determined by the amplitude of sound wave
Decibels; dB
0dB= minimum detectable sound for normal hearing

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18
Q

pitch

A

how high or low a tone sounds

Humans hear from 20 to 20,000 Hz

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19
Q

Relative pitch

A

almost everyone; tell whether one note is higher than or lower than or equal to another note

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20
Q

Absolute pitch

A

ability to identify the musical notes associated with specific sound frequencies

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21
Q

timbre

A

the mixture of frequencies and amplitudes that make up the quality of sound
Determined by complex wave patterns that are added onto the lower, or fundamental, frequency of a sound

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22
Q

pinna

A

crumpled part of the outer ear; funnels down through ear canal

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23
Q

tympanic membrane

A

a membrane in the middle ear that generates vibrations that match the sound waves striking it

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24
Q

cochlea

A

auditory transduction occurs

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25
Q

basilar membrane

A

floor of the fluid-filled duct that runs through the cochlea

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26
Q

acoustic nerve

A

bundle of axons that carries stimuli from the hair cells of the cochlea to the brain
Tells the brain about amplitude and frequency of the incoming sound waves

27
Q

conduction deafness

A

problems with bones of middle ear
Over time fuse together, preventing accurate conduction of vibrations from one bone to the next
Surgery or hearing aids

28
Q

nerve deafness

A

acoustic nerve or hair cells damaged
Gradually with age
Happens more quickly with extended exposure to loud noises

29
Q

place theory

A

von Bekesy; a theory that hair cells at a particular place on the basilar membrane respond most to a particular frequency of sound (characteristic frequency)

30
Q

Frequency matching theory

A

for lower frequencies than place theory
Certain neurones in the acoustic nerve fire each time a sound wave passes
So a sound wave whose frequency is 25 cycles per second would cause those neutrons to fire 25 times per second

31
Q

volley theory

A

the view that some sounds are coded by matching the frequency of neural firing

32
Q

cornea

A

curved, transparent, protective layer through which light rays enter the eye

33
Q

pupil

A

an opening in the eye, just behind the cornea, through which light passes

34
Q

iris

A

the colourful part of the eye, which constricts or relaxes to adjust the amount of light entering the eye

35
Q

lens

A

the part of the eye behind the pupil that bends light rays, focusing them on the retina

36
Q

retina

A

surface at the back of the eye onto which the lens focuses light rays
Light rays from the top of an object are focused on the bottom of the image on the retinal surface
Light rays from the right side of the objects end up on the left side of the retinal image

37
Q

ocular accomodation

A

ability of the lens to change its shape and bend light rays so that objects are in focus

38
Q

photoreceptors

A

specialised cells in the retina that code light energy into nerve cell activity

39
Q

photopigments

A

chemicals in photoreceptors that respond to light and assist in converting light into nerve cell activity
Light strikes a photopigment, photopigment breaks apart, changing the membrane potential of the photoreceptor cell; generates a signal that can be transferred to the brain
New photopigment molecules are created

40
Q

rods

A

highly light-sensitive but colour insensitive photoreceptors in the retina that allow vision even in dim light
rhodopsin

41
Q

cones

A

photoreceptors that help us distinguish colours

have one of three kinds of iodopsin

42
Q

fovea

A

region in the centre of the retina where cones are highly concentrated

43
Q

visual acuity

A

visual clarity, which is greatest in the fovea because of its large concentration of cones

44
Q

optic nerve

A

bundle of fibres composed of axons of ganglion cells that carries visual information to the brain

45
Q

feature detectors

A

cells in the cortex that respond to a specific feature of an object

46
Q

hue

A

essential colour determined by the dominant wavelength of light

47
Q

colour saturation

A

purity of a colour
Colour is more saturated if just one wavelength is relatively more intense than others
If many wavlelengths added to a pure hue, desaturated

48
Q

brightness

A

overall intensity of all the wavelengths that make up light

49
Q

additive colour mixing

A

If lights of two different wavelengths but of equal intensity are mixed, the colour you sense is at the midpoint of a line drawn between the two original colours on the colour circle
This process is called additive colour mixing as the effects of the wavelengths from each light are added together

50
Q

subtractive colour mixing

A

Subtractive colour mixing: when paints are combined
Lights reflected from paints or other coloured object is seldom a pure wavelength, so predicting the colour resulting from mixing paints is not as easy as combining pure wavelengths of light

51
Q

trichromatic theory of colour vision

A

Young-Helmholtz theory
A theory of colour vision identifying three types of visual elements (cones), each of which is most sensitive to different wavelengths of light
Short wavelength: most sensitive to light in the blue range
Medium wavelength: green range
Long wavelength: reddish-yellow range
It is the ratio of responses by the three types of cones that determine the colour you see

52
Q

Opponent process theory of colour vision

A

Trichromatic theory cannot explain afterimages
Opponent-process theory: colour-sensitive visual elements are grouped into red-green, blue-yellow and black-white elements
Hering
Members of each pair oppose, or inhibit each other
When one member of an opponent pair is no longer stimulated, the other is activated

53
Q

colour blindness

A

condition where the lack of certain photopigments leaves a person unable to sense certain colours; born with cones containing only two of the three possible colour-sensitive pigments

54
Q

synaethesia

A

a blending of sensory experience that causes some people to see sounds or taste colours etc.

55
Q

subliminal advertising

A

minimal effect on peoples’ thinking

56
Q

functions of attention

A

altering function
selective attention
divided attention
vigilance or sustained attention

57
Q

sclera

A

white part of the eye which maintains, protects and supports the shape of the eye and includes the cornea

58
Q

chloroid

A

provides oxygen and nourishment to the eye and includes the pupil, iris and lens

59
Q

size constancy

A

tendency to perceive an object as being the same size regardless of whether it is close or far away

60
Q

colour constancy

A

tendency to perceive colour of objects as remaining stable despite constant variation in illuminating conditions

61
Q

Wundt

A

structuralism; we build perception by creating and combining much smaller things or elements which he called sensations
Structuralism doesn’t explain why bottom up processing needs to be complemented by top down processing
Also cannot explain the illusory contour illusion; perceiving lines filling in gaps

62
Q

Gestalt approach

A

provides rules and regulations for top down processing and this influenced the bottom up ideas of structuralism
The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Came up with many principles of perceptual organisation

63
Q

sensory adaptation

A

process through which responsiveness to an unchanging stimulus decreases over time

PSY1022 (12 decks)

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