test 2 Flashcards
sensation
receiving energy from stimuli in our internal or external environment, and transforming this energy into action potentials
transduction
specialized receptor cells converts energy from an external stimulus (light, sound, heat) to an internal electrical signal (action potentials)
3 things sensory systems have in common:
- specialized receptor cells
- transduction
- multiple subsystems
perception
the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense
bottom-up processing
sensory receptors register information about the external environment and send it up to the brain for understanding
- taking information and trying to make sense of it
top-down processing
- sensation and perception
- started at brain higher levels
- ## allows for organism to sense what is happening and to apply the framework to information from the world
top-down and bottom-up work together
in sensation and perception to allow us to function accurately and efficiently
top-down bottom-up perception EG
when you first listen to a song for the first time you engage in bottom-up processing allowing you to get a feel of the tune. once you know the song well, you can create a perceptual experience in your minds ear, by “playing” it in your head which is top-down processing
sensations begin with…
afferent nerves
- nerves bring information from the world to the brain
- sensory receptors are the openings through which the brain and nervous system experience the world
sensory receptors
specialized cells that detect the stimulus information and transmit it to sensory (afferent) nerves and the brain
3 main categories of sense organs and sensory receptors fall into 3 main categories
- Photoreception: detection of light (sight)
- Mechanoreception: detection of pressure, vibration, and movement (touch, hearing, and equilibrium)
- Chemoreception: detection of chemical stimuli (smell and taste)
information processed in lobes
- visual information in occupational lobes
- hearing in the temporal lobes
- pain, touch, temp in partietal lobes
extrasensory perception (ESP)
person can detect information from the world without receiving concert sensory impulses like telepathy and precognition
noise
irrelevant and competing stimuli - not only sound but also any distracting stimuli for the sense
different threshold
the degree of difference that must exist between two stimuli before the difference is detected
Webers law
the principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount) to be perceived as different
subliminal perception
the detection of information below the level of conscious awareness
signal detection theory
an approach to perception that focuses on decision making about stimuli under conditions about uncertainty
decision making is a signal detection theory has 2 main components:
(information acquisitions and criterion)
- Information acquisition: refers to the gathering of relevant indicators
- Criterion: standards used to make a decision
attention
focusingawareness on a narrow aspect of the environment
selective attention
focusing on specific aspect of experience while ignoring others
emotional stimuli
words like torture capture our attention
- often quicker and more accurate at identifying emotional stimulus than neutral
emotion-induced blindness
the fact that when we encounter an emotionally charged stimulus we often fail to recognize a stimulus that is presented immediately after