UNIT 2 aos 1 - sensations and perception

Question 1

What are the five senses?

Answer 1

• seeing
• hearing
• smelling
• touching
• tasting

Question 2

What are the five sense organs and the type of energy?

Answer 2

• eyes = light energy
• ears = sound energy
• nose =chemical energy
• skin = kinetic energy
• toungue/ mouth = chemical energy

Question 3

Define sensation

Answer 3

The process by which the sense organs or receptors receive information about the environment, and transmit it to the brain.

Question 4

Define perception

Answer 4

The process by which the brain organises and interprets the incoming sensory information.

Question 5

What is the absolute threshold?

Answer 5

The absolute threshold is the minimum amount of stimulus energy needed for an observer to perceive a stimulus, in ideal conditions 50% of the time.

Question 6

What is the absolute threshold for hearing?

Answer 6

The ticking of a watch 6 meters away.

Question 7

What are the six stages of sensation and perception?

Answer 7

R eception
T ransduction
T ransmission
S election
O rganisation
 I  nterpretation

Question 8

What is the stage of reception?

Answer 8

Stimulus energy is collected by the sense organ

Question 9

What is the stage of transduction?

Answer 9

The energy is converted to electrochemical impulses

Question 10

What is the stage of transmission?

Answer 10

The impulses are sent to the primary sensory cortex

Question 11

What is the stage of selection?

Answer 11

Our brain picks out the stimuli that is important to us

Question 12

What is the stage of organisation?

Answer 12

Our brain makes sense of information

Question 13

What is the stage of interpretation?

Answer 13

The stimulus is given meaning based on our past experiences, motives, values and contex

Question 14

What are cones?

Answer 14

Cones are types of photoreceptor cells which

• see colour
• detailed vision
• straight on
• 6500000 in the eye
• concentrated in the middle of the eye

Question 15

What are rods?

Answer 15

Rods are types of photoreceptor cells which

• only see black and white
• see the low light vision
• see peripheral vision
• concentrated at the edges of the retina

Question 16

How many taste buds does the tongue have?

Answer 16

10,000

Question 17

What are the five types of taste

Answer 17

• sweet
• sour
• bitter
• salty
• inami

Question 18

What are the two visual constancies?

Answer 18

• size constancy

- shape constancy

Question 19

Explain size constancy

Answer 19

Recognises that an object actually stays the same size, even though the size on the retina changes

Question 20

Explain shape constancy

Answer 20

Perceive an object as maintaining its shape despite changes in shape on the retina

Question 21

What are the four gestalt principles?

Answer 21

• similarity
• proximity
• figure-ground
• closure

Question 22

Explain the gestalt principle of similarity

Answer 22

Where we tend to group objects together that look alike

Question 23

Explain the gestalt principle of proximity

Answer 23

The tendency to perceive parts of a visual stimulus that are positioned close together as belonging to the same group

Question 24

Explain the gestalt principle of figure-ground

Answer 24

We organise by separating the important aspects of the visual field into ‘foreground’ and ‘background’.

Question 25

Explain the gestalt principle of closure

Answer 25

The tendency for our brain to mentally fill in the gaps of an image.

Question 26

What are the two types of depth perception?

Answer 26

- binocular depth cues | - monocular depth cues

Question 27

What are the two types of binocular depth cues?

Answer 27

- retinal disparity | - convergence

Question 28

Explain the binocular depth cue of retinal disparity

Answer 28

This fuses the two images of both retinas together in a stereoscopic vision

Question 29

Explain the binocular depth cue of convergence

Answer 29

As an object comes closer to us, our eyes turn inwards to keep the object centred on the retina

Question 30

What are the two monocular depth cues

Answer 30

- accommodation | - pictorial depth cues

Question 31

Explain accommodation

Answer 31

When the lens of the eye changes shape so that it can focus light rays on the retina

Question 32

Explain and name the pictorial depth cues

Answer 32

Are used by artists to create a 3D perception of something that exists on a 2D surface - LINEAR PERSPECTIVE - parallel lines converge as they extend along the page to an imaginary point. - INTERPOSITION - the partial blocking or obscuring of one object by another - TEXTURE GRADIENT - used to make surfaces in a picture appear to recede into the distance - RELATIVE SIZE - based on our tendency to perceive the object producing the largest retinal image as being the nearest, and the object producing the smallest retinal image as being the farthest. - HEIGHTS IN THE VISUAL FIELD - shows depth by portraying objects as being higher in the visual field

Question 33

What is perceptual set

Answer 33

Is a predisposition to perceive stimuli in a specific way, that is interpreting what we see according to certain preconceptions.

Question 34

What are the four factors that affect perceptual set?

Answer 34

- previous experience - context - motivation - emotion

Question 35

What are the factors affecting taste perception?

Answer 35

Biological - genetics and age Psychological - packaging, appearence and education Social - culture