Gen Psych Chapter 4: Perception

Question 1

What is perception?

Answer 1

Perception happens in the brain, not through the eyes.

Question 2

What is sensation?

Answer 2

This is the stimulation of sensory organs by the environment.

Question 3

What is Prosopagnosia?

Answer 3

Inability to recognize faces.

Question 4

What is object agnosia?

Answer 4

Inability to recognize objects.

Question 5

What is sensory adaptation?

Answer 5

Sensitivity to prolonged stimulation will decline over time.

Question 6

What is synesthesia?

Answer 6

This is the blending of the senses.

Question 7

How does our visual system work?

Answer 7

This system uses light waves to gather info about the environment.

Question 8

What are the four steps of seeing?

Answer 8

(1) Light hits eye, (2) Lens send the light to the retina, (3) Transduction happens at the retina, (4) The info goes to the brain where it gets interpreted.

Question 9

What is the retina?

Answer 9

The rear interior surface of the eye that is covered in photoreceptor cells.

Question 10

What causes your blind spot?

Answer 10

The lack of photo-receptors where the optic nerve exits the eye.

Question 11

What are rods?

Answer 11

They are the gray scale and low acuity of your vision and is useful for night vision.

Question 12

What are cones?

Answer 12

They detect color with high acuity and they are located at the center of the retina.

Question 13

What are the three types of cones?

Answer 13

S-Cones: short wavelengths (blue). M-Cones: medium wavelength (green). L-Cones: long wavelengths (red).

Question 14

What causes color blindness?

Answer 14

One type of cone is missing or malfunctioning.

Question 15

What is the opponent process system?

Answer 15

The cones process colors in opposing “pairs.”

Question 16

What are feature detectors?

Answer 16

Neurons that respond to every specific shape or pattern.

Question 17

What is the ventral stream?

Answer 17

The “what” stream to the brain.

Question 18

What is the dorcal stream?

Answer 18

The “where” or “how” stream to the brain.

Question 19

What is double dissociation?

Answer 19

When it’s possible to lose function of X but keep function Y.

Question 20

What is the Gestalt Law of perpetual organization?

Answer 20

How the brain groups elements of an image together to form a whole subject.

Question 21

What is the Gestalt Law of Simplicity?

Answer 21

When confronted with two or more interpretations, the brain tends to select the simplest.

Question 22

What is the Gestalt Law of Closure?

Answer 22

The brain tends to supply missing elements to close a familiar figure.

Question 23

What is the Gestalt Law of continuity?

Answer 23

The brain tends to group lines with the same orientation together.

Question 24

What is the Gestalt Law of similarity?

Answer 24

Regions that are similar in color, shape or texture are perceived to belong together.

Question 25

What is the Gestalt Law of proximity?

Answer 25

Units that are close in proximity are perceived to belong to the same obejct.

Question 26

What is the Gestalt Law of Common Fate?

Answer 26

Elements that move together give the illusion of a unified object.

Question 27

What is the figure/ground distinction?

Answer 27

The brain tends to perceive an object as separate from its surroundings.

Question 28

What is the likelihood principle?

Answer 28

The brain perceives the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimuli we are seeing.

Question 29

What is top-down processing?

Answer 29

When your perception is affected by what you know or expect.

Question 30

What is the Just Noticeable Difference (JND)?

Answer 30

The minimal change in stimulus that can barely be detected.

Question 31

What is parallel processing?

Answer 31

The brain’s capacity to perform multiple activities at the same time.