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PSYC 101 > Term Test 4 - Senses > Flashcards

Term Test 4 - Senses Flashcards

1
Q

what does sensation refer to?

A

raw sensory information activating our sensory receptors, that travels through the brain as action potentials.

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2
Q

what sensory receptors are used for vision?

A

rods and cones.

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3
Q

what does transduction refer to?

A

physical information from the environment being turned into electrical signals.

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4
Q

what does perception refer to?

A

your interpretation, selection, and organization of that sensory input.

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5
Q

how is perception constructed?

A

perception is constructed by prior experience, attention, and your expectations of the world.

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6
Q

sensation is determined by the nature of the_____?

A

sense receptor.

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7
Q

what is a phosphene?

A

a ring or spot of light produced by pressure on the eyeball or direct stimulation of the visual system other than by light.

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8
Q

what is cross-modal perception?

A

this refers to the combination of senses that can lead to different perceptual experiences.

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9
Q

what is the McGurk effect?

A

visual processing influences auditory processing. This shows us that sensation and perception differ.

Based on our visual input, our perception can be influenced, even if the sensory input has not changed.

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10
Q

what is synesthesia?

A

condition in which people experience consistent cross-modal sensations.

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11
Q

what is graphme-color synesthesia?

A

when you associate colours to numbers even if the numbers are printed in black in white.

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12
Q

what is lexical-taste synesthesia?

A

people with this type of condition can have a taste sensation based on a word.

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13
Q

what is synesthesia an example of?

A

this is an example of how sensation and perception do not always line up.

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14
Q

what is psychophysics?

A

psychophysics is the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience.

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15
Q

what is a threshold?

A

a threshold refers to how strong a stimulus has to be in order for us to detect it.

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16
Q

what is an absolute threshold?

A

the stimulus intensity in which the stimulus is detected 50% of the time when the stimulus is actually present.

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17
Q

what is the JND?

A

the smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that a specific sense can detect.

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18
Q

what is an example of a JND?

A

if you are holding two objects, the smallest difference in weight is the JND.

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19
Q

what is Weber’s law?

A

the size of JND is a constant proportion to the size of the initial stimulus.

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20
Q

what does sensitivity refer to?

A

how responsive we are to faint stimuli.

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21
Q

what does acuity refer to?

A

how well we can distinguish two very similar stimuli.

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22
Q

what is the SDT?

A

this theory states that all decision making happens in the presence of noise.

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23
Q

what are two factors in the SDT?

A

expectations and strength of the stimuli are important in decision making.

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24
Q

what are the correct decisions?

A

HIT and CR.

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25
Q

what are the incorrect decisions?

A

FA and MISS.

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26
Q

if you have expectations for a stimulus, is your threshold higher or lower?

A

lower.

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27
Q

what does the signal refer to?

A

the useful, relevant information.

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28
Q

what does the noise refer to?

A

the irrelevant, or false information.

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29
Q

what is the criterion?

A

the criterion helps you determine how likely you are to say the signal is present.

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30
Q

what is a liberal criterion?

A

a liberal criterion (lower threshold) makes you say yes more often and increases your HIT and FA.

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31
Q

what is a conservative criterion?

A

more likely to say no, and you have an increase in CR and MISS.

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32
Q

what properties of light are we interested in?

A

wavelength, amplitude, and purity

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33
Q

what does wavelength refer to?

A

the wavelength is the distance between the two peaks, and it determines the colour we see.

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34
Q

what does a longer wavelength refer to?

A

we will see colours closer to red.

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35
Q

what does amplitude refer to?

A

the vertical distance of the wave, which determines the brightness of the light we see.

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36
Q

what does purity refer to?

A

purity refers to the degree to which a light source is emitting just one wavelength or a mixture of wavelengths.

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37
Q

what does purity tell us?

A

it tells us how many colours (saturation) we will see.

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38
Q

what are the parts of the eye we discussed?

A

the cornea, iris, and pupil.

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39
Q

what does the cornea do?

A

the cornea is the protective layer that bends light and sends it through the pupil.

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40
Q

what does the pupil do?

A

the pupil dilates and constricts in order to determine how much light to let in.

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41
Q

in dark conditions does the pupil get smaller or larger?

A

in dark conditions, the pupil dilates and becomes larger to increase the amount of light in.

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42
Q

what does the iris do?

A

the iris is the coloured ring in the eye that helps control the constriction and dilation of their pupil.

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43
Q

what happens to those individuals born without an iris

A

everything is constantly way too bright.

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44
Q

what is the purpose of the lens?

A

Muscles in the lens help you adjust your focus to things that are near and far.

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45
Q

is nearsightedness and farsightedness caused by damage to the muscles?

A

no, it is not. In some ae related changes, it may be due to the muscles.

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46
Q

what comes after the lens?

A

after the lens, you have your eyeball. The light travels through the cornea, pupil, and then lens to get reflected at the back of your eye, where the retina is located.

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47
Q

what is located at the retina?

A

the rods and cones.

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48
Q

what is the fovea?

A

located at the retina, the fovea also known as the focal point is the area where your vision is the clearest.

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49
Q

what is the optic disk?

A

the optic disk is where the optic nerve exits the back of the eyeball. At this spot, there is a blind spot, because there are no light receptors.

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50
Q

do we notice the blind spot?

A

no, because our perception helps us fill in the gaps.

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51
Q

what is nearsightedness?

A

nearsightedness, also known as myopia is a condition where the eye is longer than it should be and the focal point of the eye is in front of the retina.

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52
Q

how do we fix this condition?

A

concave lenses.

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53
Q

what is farsightedness?

A

farsightedness, also known as hyperopia, is when the eye is too short. In this condition, the focal point is behind the eye.

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54
Q

how do we fix this condition?

A

convex lenses.

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55
Q

what do rods and cones do?

A

the rods and cones pick up signals from light. When the light hits the back of the retina, it is projected forward and out to your optic nerve.

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56
Q

rods are sensitive to?

A

light and dark.

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57
Q

cones are sensitive to?

A

colour.

58
Q

ganglion cells are sensitive to?

A

blue wavelengths.

59
Q

what do the bipolar cells do?

A

collect electrical signals from the rods and cones.

60
Q

what do retinal ganglion cells do?

A

organize signals and send them to the brain.

61
Q

where are cons concentrated?

A

the focal point.

62
Q

where are rods concentrated?

A

along your peripheral vision.

63
Q

why do older people have difficulty distinguishing colour?

A

degradation of their sensory receptors.

64
Q

what is presbyopia?

A

a loss of elasticity in the lens and muscles that control it. This is NOT a change in eye shape, but rather a change in elasticity.

65
Q

what is macular degeneration?

A

the macula is close to the focal point. Damage here will cause blurriness at the centre of vision.

66
Q

is cataracts common?

A

it is the leading cause of blindness worldwide.

67
Q

how was cataracts treated in the past?

A

removal of lens. This is known as couching.

68
Q

what is the new treatment?

A

intraocular lens. A replacement lens.

69
Q

what is glaucoma?

A

progressive damage to the optic nerve due to fluid pressure in the eye.

70
Q

do we need both eyes for depth perception?

A

no.

71
Q

what is retinal disparity?

A

Retinal disparity refers to the small difference between the images projected on the two retinas when looking at an object or scene. This slight difference or disparity in retinal images serves as a binocular cue for the perception of depth.

72
Q

what is convergence?

A

refers to how much your eyes need to turn to keep the object in focus. This is a monocular cue.

73
Q

how do artists add depth to their paintings?

A

monocular cues.

74
Q

what are these cues?

A

Linear perspective - two lines that are parallel, appear to be converging with each other in the distance.

Texture gradients - more detail in the front of the image, with less detail in the back of the image.

Interposition - whatever is closest to you, blocks the image behind it

Relative size - things that are further away are smaller
Height in-plane - things further away, are higher up in the image

Light and shadow - using light and shadow to see how far away things are

Motion Parallax - in a moving situation, things close to you are blurry because of movement, but the things further away seem clear. Things closer to you seem to move faster, and things further away seem to move slower.

75
Q

what is subtractive color mixing?

A

when you mix inks together, wavelengths of light are removed.
mixed = black

76
Q

what id is additive colour mixing?

A

wavelengths are added.

primary colours for additive mixing = red, green and blue.

77
Q

what are the trichromatic and opponent-process theories?

A

two theories that explain how we see colour.

78
Q

what does the trichromatic theory say?

A

says we have three kinds of cone receptors: blue, red, and green.

79
Q

what is the strength of this theory?

A

evidence for colourblindness.

80
Q

what are the limitations of this theory?

A

afterimages appear in complementary colours, and we need more than three colours to describe the world.

81
Q

what does the opponent-process theory say?

A

this theory states that receptors make antagonistic responses to the 3 pairs of cones. This means that cones can only activate one or the other.

82
Q

what are the limitations?

A

cones are sensitive to a range of colours, not just one.

83
Q

what does the other theory say?

A

this theory states that we have an initial layer of cones that are sensitive to short, medium, and long wavelengths. Then the information from those cones feed into the opponent cells, and then to our brain. This will allow us to see all the colours, explain colour blindness, and explain after images.

84
Q

what is colourblindness?

A

low or no ability to perceive one o more colours.

85
Q

what is anomalous trichromat?

A

reduced sensitivity to one of the three.

86
Q

what is dichromat?

A

no sensitivity to one of the three.

87
Q

what is monochromat?

A

no colour.

88
Q

why does colour blindness occur?

A

damage to receptors.

89
Q

what is cerebral achromatopsia?

A

no colour is seen. This is due to damage in the brain, not the eye.

90
Q

what is a perceptual set?

A

we are likely to interpret visual information in line with an ongoing task. Depending on the task, we see different things. Sensation has not changed, but perception has.

91
Q

what is inattentional blindness?

A

basically states that we do not perceive everything in our environment. Inattentional blindness is the failure to notice a fully-visible, but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task, event, or object.

92
Q

how is information processed?

A

different rods and cones work together to produce what we are seeing.

We use this information to feed into our feature detectors. Based on what feature detectors are receiving activation, we use high-level analyzers to determine what we are seeing.

93
Q

what are feature detectors?

A

neurons that respond selectively to very specific features of more complex stimuli. such as orientation, movement, edges, and colour.

94
Q

what is the binding problem?

A

how we put the lines and colours into objects. This problem has not been solved.

95
Q

what is bottom-up processing?

A

Starts with the features of stimulus (colour, the shape, orientation etc.), → combine the features into complex form, → and recognize stimulus.
This is an analytical type of processing that starts from the bottom, at the most basic level.

96
Q

what is top-down processing?

A

Starts with a perceptual hypothesis (expectation), then we select visual features to analyze, and then we recognize the stimulus.
We do not analyze each feature for top-down processing, only the aspects that are important.

97
Q

which of the two processes are better?

A

neither.

98
Q

advantages of bottom-up processing?

A

Bottom-up processing helps us recognize new or unfamiliar objects, and helps us examine things in detail. However, we need a lot of attention and resources to do so.
It would be exhausting if we did everything with bottom-up processing.

99
Q

what is the advantage of top-down processing?

A

Top-down processing reduces the workload and helps us to make quick judgements about vague stimuli, but a greater likelihood of being incorrect.

100
Q

what is visual agnosia?

A

a condition where people have an inability to recognize objects?

101
Q

what is apperceptive agnosia?

A

cannot recognize objects because they do not perceive the object in the first place. The features are not combined to make an object.

102
Q

what is associative agnosia?

A

You can perceive the object, but they cannot come up with a name for the object.

103
Q

why can people with agnosia detect faces?

A

Face detection is a separate process for object detection. This area is called the fusiform face area. We have specialized cells in the visual cortex that respond to faces and face-like objects.

104
Q

what is prosopagnosia?

A

inability to recognize faces.

105
Q

how do people with this condition recognize people?

A

People can figure out how to recognize people with other cues such as hairstyle, tone of voice, walking patterns etc.

106
Q

what are constancies?

A

constancies help us interpret the world. Perceptual constancy is the tendency to perceive a familiar item as having a standard shape, size, and brightness no matter how the stimuli changes.

107
Q

what constancies do we talk about?

A

The three we talk about are shape, size, and colour.
Even if a door changes shape after being opened, it does not mean it is a different object. We still see the door as a door.
Size - if things further away seem smaller, we still know that they are the same size.
Colour - our constancies help us understand that shadow and light are not actual differences in colour, but they appear to be darker.

108
Q

why do optical illusions occur?

A

Optical illusions occur because the actual visual image on the retina conflicts with our experience and expectations. The illusions use linear perspective.

109
Q

what aspects of sound waves are important?

A

amplitude, wavelength, and purity.

110
Q

what does the amplitude tell us?

A

loudness.

111
Q

what does the wavelength tell us?

A

pitch.

shorter wavelength = higher pitch

112
Q

what does purity tell us?

A

the timbre, which is the combination of sounds together.

113
Q

how loud is too loud?

A

anything louder than conversation.

114
Q

what are the parts of the ear?

A

the pinna, ear canal, and ear drum.

115
Q

what is the pinna? (outer ear)

A

collects and amplifies sound. It funnels the sound into your ear canal. Where the sound hits, can change the sound wave slightly.
In the outer ear, the transmission of the stimulus (sound) is sound waves (movement in air).

116
Q

what is the ear canal?

A

sound goes through the outer ear to the middle of the ear.

117
Q

what is the tympanic membrane? (middle ear)

A

the eardrum.
Sound waves hit the eardrum, and then from this point we no longer have movement in air. Now the stimulus has movement of bones in the middle ear.
In your middle ear you have a tympanic cavity, and three tiny bones.
The three ossicles (tiny bones) are the malleus, incus and stapes.
The three bones hit each other.

118
Q

what happens at the inner ear?

A

transmission moves from bone to fluid.

In the inner ear, you have the oval window, cochlea and vestibular and cochlear nerves.

119
Q

what is the cochlea?

A

The cochlea contains hair cells. These cells vibrate when moving fluid passes through.

120
Q

who invented place theory?

A

Helmholtz.

121
Q

what is place theory?

A

He suggested that specific frequencies vibrate particular places of the basilar membrane.

122
Q

what is a strength of place theory?

A

One of the strengths of place theory is that it explains age-related hearing loss really well.

123
Q

what is a strength of place theory?

A

One of the strengths of place theory is that it explains age-related hearing loss really well.
High pitched sounds are the first to go. Place theory says the most sensitive areas for high pitched sounds are at the beginning of the Cochlea, and they are the most exposed to damage.

124
Q

what does frequency theory say?

A

Pitch corresponds to the vibration of the whole basilar membrane. This means that 2000 Hz = 2000 vibrations per second.
The brain detects how fast the basilar membrane is firing and then the auditory nerve fires at the same rate. The auditory nerve cannot fire fast enough for high pitched sounds.

To explain this, they came up with the valley principle. This principle says that the whole auditory nerve are not firing at the same rate, but rather the neurons are alternating.
We combine the two theories to explain our hearing. Place theory explains high pitches better, whereas frequency theory explains lower pitches better.

125
Q

how do we know where the sound is coming from?

A

interaural and monaural cues.

126
Q

what are interaural cues?

A

With interaural cues, we are good at lateral localization, as in is it coming from the left or right.
Interaural time differences - which ear hears the sound hit first
Interaural level differences - which ear hears the sound louder
This is not a conscious process, and your brain automatically calculates it.

127
Q

what cues are used for medial localization?

A

We use monaural cues to distinguish these differences.

Where the sound hits your ear, can help you determine where it is coming from.

128
Q

what cues are used for medial lateralization (sound from above, below, etc.)?

A

We use monaural cues to distinguish these differences.

Where the sound hits your ear, can help you determine where it is coming from

129
Q

what is proprioception?

A

also known as kinesthesia, this is our sense of the relative position of our body parts.

130
Q

how do we detect this?

A

we have proprioreceptors (skeletal muscles) that tell us where everything is.

131
Q

is proprioception the same as we age?

A

Proprioception declines with age, and impacts our motor coordination and balance.
It is also influenced by rapid growth, which is why teenagers get super clumsy.

132
Q

Impairments in proprioception include?

A 
Rapid growth/loss
Alcohol use 
Sleep deprivation
Chemotherapy 
Overdose of B6
133
Q

what is the vestibular sense?

A

response to gravity, which is important for balance and spatial orientation.

134
Q

righting reflex is?

A

ability to go right side up after being flipped over.

135
Q

what are semicircular ducts?

A

important structures in the inner ear that are filled with fluid. In the fluid, there are calcium build-ups known as otoliths on the bottom. If you turn yourself upside down, the otoliths settle on the top, and it tells your brain that you are upside down.

136
Q

how does dizziness happen?

A

if you are moving, and then stop, the fluid still moves in your ear. Your brain notices by your vision that you are not moving, but is conflicted by the fluid movement in your ear. This causes dizziness.

137
Q

why do elderly people fall more often?

A

the decline in nerve cells in the vestibular system.

138
Q

why do elderly people fall more often?

A

due to the decline in nerve cells in the vestibular system and less blood flow to the inner ear.

139
Q

what is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo?

A

This is caused by debris in fluid of inner ear
Sometimes the otoliths are in the wrong place or there are too many, so the brain gets confused and thinks you are moving when you are not.

140
Q

why do elderly people fall more often?

A

due to the decline in nerve cells in the vestibular system and less blood flow to the inner ear.

141
Q

what is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo?

A

This is caused by debris in fluid of inner ear
Sometimes the otoliths are in the wrong place or there are too many, so the brain gets confused and thinks you are moving when you are not.

PSYC 101 (4 decks)

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