Chapter 8- Sensation & Perception Flashcards
(106 cards)
1
Q
Perception
A
How we recognize, interpret, and organize or sensations
2
Q
Detection thresholds
A
The act of sensing a stimulus
3
Q
Psychophysics
A
The branch of psychology that deals with the effects of physical stimuli on sensory response
4
Q
Absolute threshold
A
The minimal amount of stimulation needed to detect a stimulus and cause the neuron to fire 50% of the time
5
Q
Signal detection theory
A
Takes into consideration that there are four possible outcomes on each trial in a detection experiment: hit, miss, false alarm, correct rejection
6
Q
Hit
A
The signal was present, and the participant reported sensing it
7
Q
Miss
A
The signal was present, but the participant did not sense it
8
Q
False alarm
A
The signal was absent, but the participant reported sensing it
9
Q
Correct rejection
A
The signal was absent, and the participant did not report sensing it
10
Q
Discrimination threshold
A
The ability to distinguish the difference between two stimuli
11
Q
Just noticeable difference or difference threshold
A
The minimum amount of distance between two stimuli that can be detected as distinct
12
Q
Weber’s law
A
Created by Ernst Weber; the greater the magnitude of the stimulus, the larger the differences must be noticed
13
Q
Subliminal perception
A
A form of preconscious processing that occurs when we are presented with stimuli so rapidly that we are not consciously aware of them
14
Q
Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon
A
When we try to recall something that we already know is available but is not easily available for conscious awareness
15
Q
Receptor cells
A
Specialized cells found on sensory organs; designed to detect specific types of energy
16
Q
Receptive field
A
The area from which our receptor cells receive input
17
Q
Transduction
A
The processing of converting the input at the receptor level into the electrochemical form of communication used by the nervous system via rods and cones
18
Q
Contralateral shift
A
Occurs at thalamus; much of the sensory input from one side of the body travels to the opposite side of the brain
19
Q
Olfaction
A
The sense of smell, travels in a more direct path to the cerebral cortex, without stopping at or being relayed by the thalamus
20
Q
Sensory coding
A
The process by which receptors convey such a range of information to the brain
21
Q
Qualitative dimension
A
What the stimulus is
22
Q
Quantitative dimension
A
How much of the stimulus there is
23
Q
Single cell recording
A
A technique by which the firing rate and pattern of a single receptor cell can be measured in response to varying sensory input
24
Q
Visual sensation
A
Occurs when the eye receives light input from the outside world
25
Distal stimulus
Object as it exists in the environment
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Proximal stimulus
The image of that object on the retina
27
Cornea
First thing light passes through; a protective layer on the outside of the eye
28
Lens
Under the cornea; curvature changes to accommodate for distance
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Accommodations
Changes made by lens
30
Retina
At the back of the eye; serves as the screen onto which the proximal stimulus is projected; covered with rods and cones
31
Rods
Located on the periphery of the retina; sensitive in low light
32
Cones
Concentrated in the center of the retina, or fovea; sensitive to bright light and color vision
33
Bipolar and amacrine cells
Info passes these horizontal cells after light stimulates the receptors; low level info processing occurs here
34
Optic nerves
Crosses optic chiasm, sending half of the info from each visual field to the opposite side of the brain; each visual field includes info from both the left and right eye
35
Primary visual cortex
Where info travels for processing
36
Serial processing
Occurs when the brain computes info step-by-step in a methodical and linear matter
37
Parallel processing
Happens when the brain computes multiple pieces of info simultaneously
38
Feature detector
Neurons "see" different parts of the pattern, such as a line set at a specific angle to background
39
Young-Helmholtz or trichromatic theory
Process contributing to our ability to see; states that the cones in the retina of the eyes are activated by light waves associated with blue, red, and green
40
Opponent process theory
Contends that cells within the thalamus respond to opponent pairs of receptor sets - namely, black/white, red/green, and blue/yellow; if one color of the set is activated, the other is essentially turned off
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Afterimage
The opponent of color is activated when the other receptor is fatigued; can also describe color blindness
42
Color-blindness
Occurs in males which provides strong evidence that this is a sex linked genetic condition
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Dichromats
People who cannot distinguish along the red/green or blue/yellow continuums
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Monochromats
See only in shades of black and white; much more rare
45
Sensation
The process of taking in information from the environment
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Auditory input
In the form of sound waves; passes outer ear and into the ear canal
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Order of sound in ear
Outer ear; tympanic membrane; ossicles; oval window; cochlea; auditory nerve; temporal lobe of the auditory cortex
48
Outer ear
Collects and magnifies sound waves; vibrations enter the middle ear and vibrate the tympanic membrane
49
Tympanic membrane
Receives vibrations form outer and passes to the ossicles
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Ossicles
Three tiny bones that comprise the middle ear; last bone, stapes, vibrates against the oval window; received vibrations from tympanic membrane
51
Oval window
The beginning of the inner ear; receives vibrations from the stapes; vibrate the cochlea
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Cochlea
Receive vibrations from oval window; contain receptor cells which move in response to the vibrations and is called the basilar membrane; energy is transferred to the auditory nerve, and then to the temporal lobe of the auditory cortex
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Inner ear
Responsible for balance and contains vestibular sacs which have receptors sensitive to tilting
54
Volley principle
States that receptor cells fire alternatively, increasing their firing capacity; appears to account for the reception of sound in the lower ranges
55
Place theory
Asserts that sound waves generate activity at different places along the basilar membrane
56
Frequency theory
We sense pitch because the rate of neural impulses is equal to the frequency of a particular sound
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Deafness
Can occur from damage to the ear structure or the neural pathway
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Conductive deafness
Refers to injury to the outer or middle ear structures
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Sensorineural
Nerve deafness caused by impairment of some structure or structures from the cochlea to the auditory cortex
60
Olfaction system
Scent molecules reach the olfactory epithelium deep in nasal cavity; scent molecules contact receptor cells here; axons project directly to the olfactory bulbs of brain; info travels to olfactory cortex and limbic system; amygdala and hippocampus connect to olfactory nerves
61
Gustation system
Tongue coated in papillae where taste buds are found; 5 tastes: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami; info from taste buds travel to medulla oblongata and then to pins and the thalamus; then to cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, and limbic system
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Pressure receptors and route
Fast conducting myelinated neurons which send info to spinal cord; then to the medulla oblongata, the thalamus, and the somatosensory cortex
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Cutaneous and tactile receptors
Provide info about pressure, pain, and temperature
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Pain info route
Two neurons: C fibers, in myelinated and responsible for throbbing pain; and A-delta fibers send info about acute pain; pain first reaches spinal cord and releases substance P; then to the thalamus and cingulated cortex for attention; pain is then reduces through pain-gating: signal sent to opiate receptors in spinal cord from brain
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Temperature info route
Cold fibers: Fire in response to cold stimuli; and warm fibers: sensitive to warm stimuli
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Vestibular sense
Sensation of balance; located in the semicircular canals of the inner ear
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Kinesthesis
Found in the joints and ligaments, transits info about the location and position of the limbs and body parts
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Adaptation
An unconscious, temporary change in response to environmental stimuli; cannot be controlled
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Habituation
The process by which we become accustomed to a stimulus, and notice it less and less over time
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Dishabituation
Occurs when a change in the stimulus, even a small change, causes us to notice it again
71
Attention
The processing through cognition of a select portion of the massive amount of info incoming from the senses and contained in memory; what allows us to focus on one small aspect of our perceptual world while constantly being assailed by massive input to all of our sensory systems
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Selective attention
We try to attend to one thing while ignoring another; watching movie but trying to ignore the convo behind you
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Cocktail party phenomenon
Refers to our ability to carry on and follow a single convo in a room full of conversations
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Shadowing
Repetition of a message in order to display conscious attention
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Filter theories
Propose that stimuli must pass through some form of screen or filter to enter into attention
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Attentional resource theories
Posit that we have only a fixed amount of attention, and this resource can be divided up as is required in a given situation
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Divided attention
Trying to focus on more than one task at a time; most difficult when attending to two or more stimuli that activate the same sense
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Perceptual process
How our mind interprets environmental stimuli
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Bottom-up processing
Achieves recognition of an object by breaking it down into its component parts; relies on sensory receptors; brains analysis and acknowledgement of the raw data
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Top-down processing
When the brain labels a particular stimulus or experience; such as tasta being labeled as sour
81
Visual perception
Perceiving depth, size, shape, and motion; divided into monocular and binocular cues
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Monocular depth cues
Those that we need only one eye to see; can be depicted in 2d representations; relative size, texture gradient, interposition, linear perspective, vanishing point, aerial perspective, relative clarity, motion parallax
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Relative size
The facts that images that are farther from us project a smaller image on the retina than do those that are closer to us; therefore we expect an object that appears much larger than another to be closer to us
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Texture gradient
Texture or patterns seem to grow more dense as distance increases; pebbles look smoother from far away
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Interposition
Occlusion; occurs when a near object partially blocks the view of an object behind it
86
Linear perspective
Based on the perception that a parallel lines seem to draw closer together as the lines recede into the distance; railroad tracks
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Vanishing point
The point at which the two lines become indistinguishable from a single line and then disappear; railroad tracks
88
Aerial perspective
Based on the observation that atmospheric moisture and dust tend to obscure objects in the distance more than they do nearby objects; fog
89
Relative clarity
Explains why less distinct, fuzzy images appear to be more distant
90
Motion parallax
The difference in the apparent movement of objects at different distances when the observer is in motion
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Binocular depth cues
Rely on both eyes viewing an image; result from the fact that each eye sees a given image from a slightly different angle; stereopsis, retinal convergence, binocular disparity
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Stereopsis
The 3d image of the world resulting from binocular vision
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Real convergence
A depth cue that results from the fact that your eyes must turn inward slightly to focus on near objects; the closer the object, the more the eyes must turn inward
94
Binocular disparity
Results from the fact the closer an object is, the less similar the info arriving at each eye will be; covering one eye then the other
95
Visual cliff
Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk; testing depth perception; a glass tabletop that appeared to be clear on one side had a checkerboard design visible on the other side; infants were placed on it to see if they would cross over the deep side; implied that depth perception was at least partially innate
96
Gestalt approach
Based on a top-down theory; holds that most perceptual stimuli can be broken down into figure-ground relationships; vase-face example; Gestalt principles of figure detection: proximity, similarity, symmetry, continuity, closure
97
Proximity
The tendency to see objects near to each other as forming groups; straight lines
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Similarity
The tendency to prefer to group like objects together; circles and squares
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Symmetry
The tendency to perceive preferentially forms that make up mirror images; 2 halts of a circle
100
Continuity
The tendency to perceive preferentially fluid or continuous forms, rather than jagged or irregular ones; bent and straight line intersecting
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Closure
The tendency preferentially to "close up" objects that are not complete; 3 rectangles stacked
102
Law of Pragnanz
Represented by Gestalt principles; minimum tendency, meaning that we tend to see objects in their simplest forms
103
Feature detector approach
Reduces an image to its simplest form by positing that organisms respond to specific aspects of a particular stimulus; when driving, anticipating movement of other cars and pedestrians
104
Constancy
We know that a stimulus remains the same size, shape brightness, weight, and volume even though it does not appear to; airplane on the ground compared into the air
105
Motion detection
We perceive motion through two processes: one records the changing position of the object as it moves across the retina, the other tracks how we move our head to follow the stimuli
106
Apparent motion
Phi phenomenon: blinking lights on a roadside arrow; stroboscopic effect: a motion picture, where still pictures move at a fast enough pace to imply movement; autokinetic effect: still light that appears to twinkle in darkness
