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Sensation and Perception Flashcards

(90 cards)

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1
Q

Sensation

A

Process of detecting external events with sense organs and turning those stimuli into neural signals

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2
Q

Perception

A

Involves attending to, organizing, and interpreting stimuli that we sense

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3
Q

Transduction

A

Specialized receptors transform the physical energy of the outside world into neural impulses

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4
Q

Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies

A

The different sense are separated in the brain

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5
Q

Sensory adaptation

A

The reduction of activity in sensory receptors with repeated exposure to a stimulus

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6
Q

Absolute threshold

A

minimum amount of energy or quantity of a stimulus required for it to be reliably detected at least 50% of the time it is presented

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7
Q

Difference threshold

A

The smallest difference between stimuli that can be reliably detected at least 50% of the time

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8
Q

Weber’s Law

A

The just noticeable difference between 2 stimulus changes as a proportion of these stimuli

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9
Q

Signal detection theory

A

States whether a stimulus is perceived depends on both the sensory experience and the judgment made by the subject

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10
Q

Priming

A

Under strict laboratory conditions

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11
Q

Top-down processing

A

When our perceptions are influenced by our expectations or by our prior knowledge

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12
Q

Bottom-up processing

A

occurs when we perceive individuals bits of sensory information and use them to construct a more complex perception

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13
Q

Divided attention

A

Paying attention to more than one stimulus or task at the same time

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14
Q

Selective attention

A

involves focusing on one particular event or task

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15
Q

Inattentional blindness

A

Failure to notice clearly visible events or objects because attention is directed elsewhere

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16
Q

Sclera

A

White outer surface of the eye

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17
Q

Cornea

A

Clear layer that covers the front portion of the eye and also contributes to the eyes ability to focus

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18
Q

Pupil

A

Regulates the amount of light that enters by changing its size dilated and constricts

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19
Q

Iris

A

A round muscle that adjusts the size of the pupil gives the eye their characteristic colour

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20
Q

Lens

A

Clear structure that focuses light onto the back of the eye

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21
Q

Retina

A

Lines the inner surface of the back of the eye and consists of specialized receptors that absorb light and send signals related to the properties of light to the brain

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22
Q

Optic nerve

A

Dense bundle of fibres that connect to the brain

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23
Q

Rods

A

Photoreceptors that occupy peripheral regions of the retina highly sensitive under low light levels

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24
Q

Cones

A

Photoreceptors that are sensitive to the different wavelengths of light that we perceive as colour

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25
Fovea
Central region of the retina
26
Dark adaptation
Process of which the rods and cones become increasingly sensitive to light under low levels of illumination
27
Trichromatic theory (Young-helmholtz theory)
Colour vision is determined by 3 different cone types that are sensitive to short, medium and long wavelengths of light.
28
Opponent-process theory
We perceive colours in terms of opposing pairs: Red to Green, Yellow to Blue, White to Black
29
Colour blindness
Most forms affect ability to distinguish red and green
30
Nearsightedness
eyeball is slightly elongated. Can see objects close up but have difficulty focusing on distance objects
31
Farsightedness
Image is focused behind the retina can see distant objects clearly but not close by
32
Optic Chiasm
Optic nerves cross at the midline of the brain
33
Feature detection cells
Respond selectively to simple and specific aspects of a stimulus such as angles and edges
34
Ventral stream
extends from the visual cortex to the lower part of the temporal lobe
35
Dorsal Stream
Extends from the visual cortex to the parietal lobe
36
Prosopagnosia
Able to recognize voices and other defining features of individuals but not faces
37
Binocular depth cues
Distance cues that are based on the differing perspectives of both eyes
38
Convergence
Occurs when the eyes muscles contract so that both eyes focus on a single object
39
Retinal Disparity
The difference in relative position of an object as seen by both eyes which provides information to the brain about depth
40
Monocular cues
Depth cues that we can perceive with only one eye
41
Pitch
The perceptual experience of sound wave frequencies
42
Pinna
Outer region of ear, helps channel sound waves to the ear and allows to determine source or location
43
Auditory canal
Extends from pinna to the eardrum sound waves reaching the eardrum cause it to vibrate
44
Ossicles
3 tiny moveable bones Malleus (hammer) incus (anvil) Stapes (stirrup)
45
Cochlea
fluid-filled membrane that is coiled in a snake-filled shaped and contains the structures that convert sound into neural impulses
46
Sound localization
Process of identifying where sound comes from inferior colliculus
47
Place theory of hearing
How we perceive pitch is based on the location along the basilar membrane that sound stimulates
48
Frequency theory
The perception of pitch is related to the frequency at which the basilar membrane vibrates
49
Primary auditory cortex
A major perceptual centre of the brain involved in perceiving what we hear
50
Secondary auditory cortex
Helps interpret complex sounds those found in speech and music
51
Vestibular system
A sensory system in the ear that provides information about spatial information of the head as well as head motion
52
Vestibular sacs
Structures that influence your ability to detect when your head is no longer in an upright position
53
Semicircular canals
3 fluid-filled canals found in the inner ear that respond when your head moves in different directions
54
Haptics
The active explanatory aspect of touch sensation and perception
55
Kinaesthesia
Sense of bodily motion and position
56
Nocieption
The activity of nerve pathways that respond to uncomfortable stimulation
57
Gate-control theory
Explains our experience of pain as an interaction between nerves that transmit pain messages and those that inhibit these messages
58
Phantom limb sensations
Frequently experienced by amputees who report pain and other sensations coming from the absent limb
59
Gustatory system
Functions in the sensation and perception of taste
60
Olfactory system
involved in smell-the detection of airborne particles with specialized receptors located in the nose
61
Olfactory epithelium
A thin layer of cells that are lined by sensory receptors called cilia
62
Olfactory bulb
Serve's the brains central region for processing smells
63
Multimodal integration
The ability to combine sensation from different modalities such as vision and hearing into a single integrated perception
64
Concept
The mental representation of an object event or idea
65
Categories
clusters of interlaced concepts
66
Rule-based categorization
Categorizing objects or events according to a certain set of rules or by a specific set of features
67
Graded membership
The observation that some concepts appear to make better category members than others
68
Exempler
A specific example that best represents a category
69
Prototype
A mental representation of an average category member
70
Semantic network
Interconnected set of nodes (or concepts) and the links that join them to form a category
71
Problem solving
Accomplishing a goal when the solution or path to the solution is not dear
72
Heuristics
Problem-solving strategies that stem from prior experiences and provide an educated guess to what is most likely the solution
73
Functional fixedness
Occurs when an individual identifies an object or technique that could potentially solve a problem. But can think of only its most obvious function
74
Conjunction fallacy
Reflects the mistaken belief that finding a specific member in two overlapping categories is more likely than finding any member of one of the larger, general categories
75
Representativeness heuristic
Making judgments of likelihood based on how well an example represents a specific category
76
Availability heuristic
entails estimating the frequency of an event based on how easily examples of it come to mind
77
Anchoring effect
Occurs when an individual attempts to solve a problem involving numbers and uses previous knowledge to keep the response within a limited range
78
Belief perseverance
When an individual remains committed to their decision or belief even in the face of evidence against it
79
Confirmation Bias
When an individual searches for only evidence that will confirm his or her beliefs instead of evidence that might disconfirm them
80
Aphasia
A language disorder caused by damage to the brain structures that support using and understanding language
81
Broca's area
Region of the left frontal lobe that controls our ability to articulate speech sounds that compose words
82
Wernicke's area
The area of the brain most associated with finding the meaning of words
83
language
Form of communication that involves the use of spoken written or gestural symbols that are combined in a rule-based form
84
Phoneme's
Are the most basic of units of speech sounds
85
Morpheme's
Are the smallest meaningful units of a language
86
Semantic's
The study of how people come to understand meaning from words
87
Syntax
The rules for combining words and morphemes into meaningful phrases and sentences
88
Pragmatic's
The study of nonlinguistic elements of language use
89
Fast mapping
The ability to map words onto concepts or objects after only a single exposure
90
cross-fostered
Raised a member of a family that was not of the same species

Psychology (3 decks)

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