Biological [Sensation And Perception] (Psychology Subject) Flashcards
(106 cards)
1
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Sensation and perception
A
*sensation is the feeling that results from physical stimulation, perception is the way we organize or experience the sensation
2
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Reception
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*takes place when receptors for a particular sense detect a stimulus
3
Q
Receptive field
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*the distinct region of sensory space that can produce a response when stimulated
- found on the body surface and in muscles, joints, eyes, and internal organs
4
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Sensory transduction
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*the process in which physical sensation is changed into electrical messages that the brain can understand
- is at the heart of the senses
- signal —> collection —> transduction —> processing —> action
5
Q
Neural pathways
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*path in which electrical information travels to the brain, where the information is understood
6
Q
Nativist theory
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*asserts that perception and cognition are largely innate and genetically based
- humans are born with all their perceptual capacities, though some abilities are not present at birth and develops through maturity
7
Q
Empiricist theory
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*perception is basically learned and develops as the individual adapts to their environment
8
Q
Structuralist theory
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*perception is the sum total of sensory input: one can understand the mind by understanding its basic components
- bottom-up processing—starts with sensory data and works upward to brain’s integration of that data
9
Q
Gestalt psychology
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*people tend to see the world in terms of organized wholes rather than constituent parts
- top-down processing—starts with higher-level cognitive processes and works downward to sensory information
10
Q
Absolute threshold
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*minimum amount of a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time
11
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Differential threshold
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*minimum difference that must occur between two stimuli, in order for them to be perceived as having different intensities
- also known as just noticeable difference (JND)
- E. H. Weber
12
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Terminal threshold
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*upper limit above which the stimuli can no longer be perceived
- i.e., lowest pitch sound that a human can hear is absolute threshold, the highest pitch is the terminal threshold
13
Q
Psychophysics
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*the study of the quantitative relations between psychological sensations and physical stimuli
- Gustav Fechner’s “Elements of Psychophysics”
14
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Weber’s law
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*a stimulus needs to be increased by a constant fraction of its original value in order to be perceived as noticeably different
- applies to all senses but only to a limited range of intensities
- K (the constant fraction) = Δ I (increase in intensity needed for jnd) / I (original intensity)
15
Q
Fechner’s law
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*the strength of a stimulus must be significantly increased to produce a slight difference in sensation
- S (sensation strength) = k log R (a logarithm of the original intensity)
16
Q
J. A. Swet’s Theory of Signal Detection (TSD)
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*subjects detect stimuli not only because they can but also because they want to
- factors in motivation
- explains why subjects respond inconsistently; partly motivated by rewards and costs in detection (response bias)
17
Q
False alarm
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*you detect a stimulus that is not there
18
Q
Hit
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*correctly sensing a stimulus
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Miss
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*failing to detect a present stimulus
20
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Correct rejection
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*rightly stating that no stimulus exists
21
Q
Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves
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*graphical representations of a subject’s sensitivity to a stimulus
22
Q
Light
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*composed of photons and waves measured by brightness and wavelengths
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Hue
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*the dominant wavelength of light
- also known as color
24
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Brightness
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*the physical intensity
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Cornea
*the clear protective coating on the outside of the eye
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Lens
*located behind the cornea
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Ciliary muscles
*Allows lens to bend (accommodate) in order to focus an image of the outside world onto the retina
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Retina
*receives light images from the lens
- located on the back of the eye
- composed of about 132 million photoreceptor cells and of other cell layers that process information
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Receptor cells
*responsible for sensory transduction (converting image into an electrical message the brain can understand)
— occurs through chemical alteration of photopigments
- rods and cones
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Rods
*sensitive to dim light and used for night vision
- concentrated along sides of the retina, important for peripheral vision
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Cones
*concentrated in the center of the retina (area called the fovea)
- sensitive to color and daylight vision
- sees better than rods because there are fewer cones per ganglion cell than rods per ganglion cell
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Fovea
*the area of the retina with the greatest visual acuity (best at seeing fine details)
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Horizontal, bipolar, and amacrine cells
*after light passes through receptors, travels through cells till information heads to the ganglion cells, which make up the optic nerves
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How eyes connect to the cerebral cortex
- through a visual pathway
— consists of one optic nerve connecting each eye to the brain
— along pathway is an optic chias in which half of the fibers from the optic nerve of each eye cross over and join the optic nerve from the other eye; pathways are 50% crossed
- a stimulus in the left visual field is processed in the right side of the brain, and vice versa
- after optic chiasm, info travels through the striate cortex to the visual association areas of the cortex
35
Opponent-color or opponent-process
*theory for color vision; suggests that two types of color-sensitive cells exist: cones that respond to blue-yellow colors and cones that respond to red-green
- when one color of the pair on a cone is stimulated, the other is inhibited
- Ewald Hering
- seems to be at work in the lateral geniculate body
36
Trichromatic theory (component theory)
*there are three types of receptors in the retina: cones that respond to red, blue, or green
- Thomas Young and Herman von Helmholtz
- seems to be at work in the retina
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Lateral inhibition
*allows the eye to see contrast and prevents repetitive information from being sent to the brain
- once one receptor cell is stimulated, the others nearby are inhibited
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David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel
- discovered that cells in the visual cortex are so complex and specialized that they respond only to certain types of stimuli
- I.e., some cells responsive only to vertical lines, some respond only to right angles, etc
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Visual field
*refers to the entire span that can be perceived or detected by the eye at any given moment
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Figure and ground relationship
*refers to the relationship between the meaningful part of a picture (the figure) and the background (the ground)
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Depth perception
*has monocular and binocular cues
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Binocular disparity
- our eyes view objects from two slightly different angles, which allows us to create a three-dimensional picture
- the most important depth cue
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Apparent size
*gives us clues about how far away an object is if we know about how big the object should be
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Interposition
*shows which objects are closer
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Linear perspective
*gained by features we are familiar with, such as two seemingly parallel lines that converge with distance
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Texture gradient
*the way we see texture or fine detail differently from different distances
- the closer the object, the more coarse and distinct the features appear
- more distant objects appear finer and smoother in texture
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Motion parallax
*the way movement is perceived through the displacement of objects over time, and the way this motion takes place at seemingly different paces for nearby or faraway objects
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Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk
*developed the visual cliff apparatus to study whether depth perception is innate
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Afterimages (McCollough effect)
*perceived because of fatigued receptors
- explains dark afterimage after staring at a white light
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Dark adaptation
*the result of regeneration of retinal pigment
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mental set
*framework for assessing a problem and identifying solutions based on our experience: we tend to try what has worked in the past
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Pragnanz
*overarching Gestalt idea that experience will be organized as meaningful, symmetrical, and simple whenever possible
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Closure (Gestalt)
*tendency to complete incomplete figures
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Proximity (Gestalt)
*tendency to group together items that are near each other
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Continuation or good continuation (Gestalt)
*tendency to create a whole or detailed figures based on our expectations rather than what is seen
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Similarity (Gestalt)
*tendency to group together items that are alike
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Symmetry (Gestalt)
*tendency to group together items that are alike
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Constancy (Gestalt)
*tendency of people to perceive objects in the way that they are familiar with them, regardless of changes in the actual retinal image
- size constancy—knowing that an elephant is large no matter how it might appear
- color constancy—knowing the color of an object even with tinted glasses on
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Minimum principle
*tendency to see what is easiest or logical to see
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Ambiguous figures
*can be perceived as two different things depending on how you look at them
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Figure-ground reversal patterns
*ambiguous figures; can be perceived as two different things depending on which part you see as the figure and which part you see as the background
- I.e., the Rubin vase
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Impossible objects
*objects that have been drawn and can be perceived but are geometrically impossible
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Multistability
*perception of an object can alternate between two or more possible interpretations
- I.e., our perception of an object flips from one “stable” interpretation to another
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Moon illusion
*shows how context affects perception
- moon looks larger over the horizon because the horizon contains visual cues that make the Moon appear more distant
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Phi phenomenon
*the tendency to perceive smooth motion
- explains why motion is inferred when there actually is none
— use of flashing lights or rapidly shown still-frame pictures, such as in the perception of cartoons (apparent motion)
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Müller-Lyer illusion
- two horizontal lines of equal length appear unequal because of the orientation of the arrow marks at the end
- inward facing arrowheads make a line appear shorter than another line of the same length with outward facing arrowheads
- the most famous visual illusion
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Ponzo illusion
*occurs when two horizontal lines of equal length appear unequal because of two vertical lines that slant inward
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Autokinetic effect
*the way that a single point of light viewed in darkness will appear to shake or move due to the constant movements of our own eyes
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Purkinje shift
*the way that perceived color brightness changes with the level of illumination in the room
- with lower levels of illumination, extremes of the color spectrum (i.e., red) appear less bright
70
Pattern recognition
- explained by template matching and feature detection
- to pick the letter O out of a page of letters, we would concentrate only on letters with rounded edges and then look for one to match a typical O
71
Robert Frantz
- found that infants prefer relatively complex and sensical displays
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Amplitude
*physical intensity of a sound wave
- determines loudness
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Frequency
*the pace of vibrations or sound waves per second for a particular sound
- determines pitch
- low frequency perceived as low pitch/tone, and vice versa
- measured in hertz (Hz)
— humans best hear frequencies around 1,000 Hz
74
Timbre
*comes from the complexity of the sound wave
75
Outer ear
*consists of the pinna and the auditory canal
- vibrations from sound move down canal to the middle ear
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Middle ear
*begins with the tympanic membrane (eardrum)
- behind membrane are the ossicles (three small bones), last of which is the stapes
- sound vibrations bump against the tympanic membrane, causing the ossicles to vibrate
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Inner ear
*responsible for hearing and balance
- begins with the oval window, which is tapped upon by the stapes
- cochlea (contains ear parts for hearing; basilar membrane, organ of corti) is then activated
— movement on the basilar membrane is called the traveling wave
- the vestibular sacs are sensitive to tilt and provide our sense of balance
- receptor cells activate nerve cells that change information into an electrical message the brain can process
— consists of the olivary nucleus, the inferior follicular, and the medial geniculate body
78
Herman von Helmholtz
- place-resonance theory of sound perception
— different parts of the basilar membrane respond to different frequencies
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Sound localization
*the degree to which one of our ears hears a sound prior to and more intensely than the other can give information about the origin of the sound
- high-frequency sounds are localized by intensity differences; low-frequency sounds are localized by phase differences
80
Dichotic presentation
*used in studies of auditory perception and selective attention
- subject is presented with a different verbal message in each ear; subjects asked to shadow (repeat) one of the messages to ensure that the other message is not consciously attended to
81
Olfaction
*sense of smell
- olfactory bulb lies at the base of the brain and takes messages from hair receptors in the nostrils
- connected to memory and perception of taste
82
Gustation
*act of tasting
- sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami
- saliva mixes with food so flavor can flow easily into the tongue’s taste receptors (taste buds, papillae)
83
Somatosenses
*gives info about the physical body apart from the major sensory organs
- provides sensory data concerning touch, heat, pain, pressure, balance, vibration, orientation, and muscle movement
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Cutaneous/tactual
*relating to touch
- human skin senses touch, pain, cold, and warmth
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Free nerve endings
*detects pain and temperature changes
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Meissner’s corpuscles
*receptors in skin that detect touch or contact
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Pacinian corpuscles
*touch receptors that respond quickly to displacements of skin
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Two-point threshold
*distance between two points at which the individual recognizes they are being touched by two objects rather than one
- size of threshold determined by the density and layout of nerves in the skin
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Physiological zero
*the temperature that is sensed as neither warm nor cold
90
Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall’s Gate Control Theory of Pain
*looks at pain as a process rather than a simple sensation governed in one center of the brain
- pain perception is related to the interaction of small and large nerve fibers that run to and from the spine
- pain may or may not be perceived depending on different factors, like cognition
91
Phantom limb pain
*occurs when amputees feel sensations of pain in limbs that have been amputated and no longer exists
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Endorphins
*neuromodulators that kick in to reduce or eliminate the perception of pain
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Orienting reflex
*the tendency to turn toward an object that has touched you
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Vestibular sense
*allows us to orient ourselves in space and maintain balance
- main components found in the inner ear in the vestibular labyrinth
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Vestibular labyrinth
*a series of interconnected structures continuous with the cochlea
- contains three tubes called semicircular canals, which detect head motion and help to maintain equilibrium
96
Kinesthetic sense
*involves awareness of the body’s movement
- deals with bodily movement
- behavioral component; allows us to learn complex physical actions like performing a dance routine
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Spindles
*tiny receptors in the muscles throughout the body
- provides “muscle memory”; allowing us to sense how our limbs are moving in space without visual confirmation
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Proprioception
*refers to the cognitive awareness of where our bodies are in space at any given time
- deals with sensing one’s own bodily position in space
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Selective attention
*the process of tuning in to something specific while ignoring all other stimuli in the background
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Spotlight model
*humans focus on one particular task while all other tasks remain in the background until the spotlight focuses on a different task
- William James; attention has a focus (primary area attended to), fringe (the periphery) , and a margin (the limit)
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Donald Broadbent’s filter model of attention
*any information not attended to is filtered out and decays
- explains why we’re not constantly bombarded with sensory inputs
- sensory input goes from our sensory stores through a selective filter, which blocks unattended messages
- only information attended to makes it into our working memory
- attended message—>sensory store—>selective filter—>higher-level processing—>working memory
102
Anne Treisman’s attenuation model of attention
- cocktail party effect; a person involved in a conversation can detect their name or something equally salient from across a crowded room
- sensory input flows into sensory stores and through an attenuating filter, turning the volume down or up on the information
- rather than decaying, unattended information goes through higher level processing and into working memory, so it’s available on this other channel if need be
103
Divided attention (multitasking)
*occurs when a person’s attention is split among multiple tasks
- when people multitask, they’re more likely to make mistakes and/or move more slowly through their task because of enormous cognitive load (amount of mental effort involved)
- addressed by resource model of attention (humans have a limited amount of attention at any given time)
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Simulations
*use perceptual cues to make artificial situations seem real
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Subliminal perception
*the perceiving of a stimulus that one is not consciously aware of
- I.e., the unattended message in dichotic presentation or visual information that is briefly presented
106
Osmoreceptors
*deals with thirst
