chapter 6

Question 1

agnosia

Answer 1

failure or deficit in recognizing objects

Question 2

prosopagnosia

Answer 2

• disruption of face recognition
  
  • damage to the fusiform gyrus in the ventral stream (pathway)

Question 3

sensation

Answer 3

the perception of stimulus from the environment and it encoding into the nervous system

Question 4

perception

Answer 4

the process or interpreting and understanding sensory information

Question 5

bottom - up processing

Answer 5

sensory detectors detect stimulus, works up to higher levels or processing

Question 6

bottom - down processing

Answer 6

• use of experience and expectations to draw meaning from stimulus

Question 7

transduction

Answer 7

• converting one form of energy into another that our brain can recognize
• Light energy -> neural activity

Question 8

the 3 steps of transduction

Answer 8

1) receive sensory stimulation
2) transform that stimulation into neural impulses
3) deliver neural information to the brain

Question 9

absolute threshold:
sublimal:

Answer 9

• absolute: the minimum amount of energy needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time
  subliminal: below 50% threshold of detection

Question 10

signal detection theory

Answer 10

how we detect a stimulus in the presence of background information

Question 11

what is the influence of priming in detection

Answer 11

• unconscious activation of concepts

Question 12

difference thresholds

Answer 12

• just noticeable difference (JND)
• what the minimum difference needed is to detect a difference between 2 stimuli 50% of the time

Question 13

Weber’s law

Answer 13

detection of the difference depends on the percent change (not the absolute difference)

Question 14

Sensory adaptation

Answer 14

• diminished detection with constant stimulation
  
  • we see the world as it is important for perception, not as the world is

Question 15

Perceptual sets

Answer 15

Expectations influence perception

Question 16

Context effects

Answer 16

• the context of the stimulus can change the perceived information
• anchor of image alters perception

Question 17

Motivation and emotion

Answer 17

• top-down influence of perception
• your internal state alters perception or outside events

Question 18

Transduction of light

Answer 18

• perception of color
• wavelength = Hue (color)
  
  • distance from one wave pack to the next
• intensity = brightness
  
  • height of wave (amplitude)

Question 19

Photoreceptors

Answer 19

• the retina contains photoreceptors
  
  • rods and cones
• millions of cells send signals to the brain
  
  • the brain can then create images

Question 20

Photoreceptors - rods

Answer 20

• 120 million
• majority of photoreceptors
• sensitive enough for vision in the dark
• low acuity
• do not provide color vision

Question 21

Photoreceptors - cones

Answer 21

• 6 million
• enable color vision
  
  • green, blue, and red
• primarily found in the fovea of the retina

Question 22

Gathering visual information - Saccades

Answer 22

• movement of one fixation point to another
• 25-125ms
• suppression of visual processes during saccades

Question 23

Bothering visual information - fixations

Answer 23

• pauses where visual information is gathered

Question 24

How many saccade fixation cycles happen per second

Answer 24

• 3 to 4 saccade-fixation cycles occur per second