Wk 4 Intro to sensation and perception

Question 1

Rods:

Answer 1

Photoreceptors of the retina sensitive to low levels of light as well as black, white, grey; Located around the fovea.

Question 2

Cones:

Answer 2

Photoreceptors of the retina sensitive to normal lighting and colour. Located primarily in the fovea.

Question 3

Trichromatic theory:

Answer 3

Theory proposing colour vision as influenced by three different cones responding preferentially to red, green and blue.

Question 4

Opponent-process theory:

Answer 4

Theory proposing colour vision as influenced by cells responsive to pairs of colours.
(Responsible for after images)

Question 5

Somatosensation:

Answer 5

Ability to sense touch, pain and temperature.

Question 6

Primary somatosensory cortex:

Answer 6

the part of the brain where we perceive touch, temperature and pain.

Question 7

Nociception:

Answer 7

ability to sense pain.

Question 8

Multimodal perception:

Answer 8

• The effects that a combination of stimulation in more than one of our senses at the same time has on the perception of events and objects in the world.
  When a stimulus that affects more than one sense at once.
• Information from one sense may influence how we perceive information from another sense.

Question 9

Superadditive effect of multi-sensory integration:

Answer 9

responses to multimodal stimuli (a stimulus affecting multiple senses at once) are typically greater than the sum of the independent responses to each unimodal component (just smell, or just taste etc) if it were presented on its own.

Question 10

Loudness:

Answer 10

• Sound intensity (sound pressure)
• Measure in decibels (dB)
• Frequency, Duration, Context of the sound

Question 11

Pitch:

Answer 11

• Highness / lowness of a sound.
• Faster waveform = higher pitch
• Lower waveform = lower pitch
• Harmonic complex tones: most common pitch-evoking sounds.

Question 12

Timbre:

Answer 12

• Quality of sound (bright / dull / hollow / harsh etc.)
• Anything that distinguishes two sounds that have the same loudness, pitch, duration.
• High frequency = brighter / more harsh.
• Low frequency = deep / rich / dull

Question 13

Cutaneous senses:

Answer 13

• The senses of the skin: tactile, thermal, pruritic (itchy), painful, and pleasant.

Question 14

Interoception:

Answer 14

• The sense of the physiological state of the body.

ex: Hunger, thirst, temperature, pain, and other sensations relevant to homeostasis.

Question 15

Exteroception:

Answer 15

The sense of the external world, of all stimulation originating from outside our own bodies.

Question 16

Placebo:

Answer 16

• Effects from a treatment that are not caused by the physical properties of a treatment but by the meaning ascribed to it.
• Triggered by positive expectation or desire for a successful treatment.

Question 17

Analgesia:

Answer 17

Pain relief