Week One - Sensation & Perception

Question 1

Receptors for light

Answer 1

Photoreceptors

Question 2

Receptors for chemicals

Answer 2

Chemoreceptors

Question 3

Receptors for temperature

Answer 3

Thermoreceptors

Question 4

Receptors for mechanical forces

Answer 4

Mechanoreceptors

Question 5

The process of sensation

Answer 5

Physical/distal stimuli → sense input → psychophysics → mental/proximal stimuli

Question 6

Empiricism

Answer 6

The environment shapes our minds from being blank slates

Question 7

Rationalism

Answer 7

Our brain’s architecture drives innate tendencies

Question 8

Explain EM radiation and light

Answer 8

Em radiation (380 - 760nm) is reflected and absorbed by surfaces, changing the properties of light to give us information about those surfaces

Question 9

Describe the physical stimulus phase

Answer 9

Light waves pass through the cornea and enter the eye through the pupil, the muscles around the lens contract and relax to focus the light on the retina

Question 10

Describe the sensation phase

Answer 10

Sensory receptors in the retina (cones and rods) detect light waves

Question 11

Describe the transduction phase

Answer 11

Comes and rods convert light waves into signals which are processed by ganglion cells, these generate action potentials that are sent to the brain by the optic nerve