Week 3 Flashcards
Define: Sensation
the process detecting external events with sense organs and turning those stimuli into neural signals
Define: Perception
the process of attending to organizing and interpreting sensations
What is transduction?
the process between sensation and perception when specialized receptors transform outside energy into neural impulses
What is an absolute threshold regarding stimulus detection?
the minimum amount of energy or quantity of stimulus required for it to be detected at least 50% of the time
What is a difference threshold?
the smallest difference between stimuli that can be reliably detected at least 50% of the time
What is weber’s law?
states that the noticeable difference between two stimuli changes as proportion to those stimuli
Briefly describe Gesalt psychology.
states that the individual parts of an image have little meaning but can be combined to form a significant meaning
What is polysomnography?
a set of objective measurements used to examine physiological variables during sleep
What is the difference between the photoreceptors rods and cones?
Robs are sensitive to low light and cones are sensitive to different wavelengths
What is the trichromatic theory?
the idea that colour vision is determined by three different cone types that are sensitive to short, medium, and long wavelengths of light
What is the opponent-process theory?
which states that we perceive colour in their complementary pairs
What is the ventral stream?
extends from the visual cortex to the lower end of the temporal lobe and main function is object recognition
What is the dorsal stream?
extends from the visual cortex to the lower end of the parietal lobe and facilitates movement and vision
What is the psychoanalytic approach to dreaming?
dreams can either be of manifest content (images and stroylines) or latent content (symbolic meaning built of aggression)
What is the activation synthesis theory of dreams?
dreams arise from brain activity in the pons organized by the cortex
What are the three types and functions of insomnia?
onset: can’t fall asleep, maintenance: cannot return to sleep, and terminal: wake up too early
What are the three types and functions of hypnotic suggestion?
ideomotor (preforming actions), challenge (inability to preform actions), and cognitive-perceptual (changing information)
What is the dissociation theory?
explains hypnosis as a unique state in which consciousness is divided into two parts: a lower-level system involved with perception and movement and an “executive” system that evaluates and monitors these behaviours
What is locked-in syndrome?
a disorder in which the patient is aware and awake but, because of an inability to move his or her body, appears unconscious
What does the phrase “doctrine of specific nerve energies” mean?
the idea that different senses are separated in the brain
What is signal detection theory?
the idea that a stimulus being perceived depends on individual judgement
What is subliminal perception?
information that you receive from your senses that you are not constantly aware of
What is priming?
when previous exposure to a stimuli can influence response to the same or different stimuli later on
What is top-down processing?
when perceptions are influenced by prior knowledge
