the study of the relationship between the physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychlogical experience of them.

(this is under Top-down processing)

Gestalt Psychology

(under Subliminal stimulation - research examples)

Debener and Jacoby (1994)- process dissociation procedure

" complete the following words in an way you wish except, with the word that immediately preceded it."

Subliminal Condition (50 ms)-> more likely to use the prime word to complete the word stem.

Supraliminal Condition(500ms)-> less likely to use the prime word to complete the word stem

It seems that we can be influenced by a stimulus that is not consiously experienced.

1. can alter out thoughts, feelings and behaviors, but these are only subtle, fleeting effects.

2. tells us is that much of our processing occurs automatically, out of sight, off the radar screen of our conscious mind.

refers to diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation. 

we perceive the world not exactly as it is, but as it is useful for us to perceive.

(vision)

Sitmulus Input- Light Energy

(vision)

Physical characteristics of light

The hue- the dimension of color we perceive- is determined by wavelenght- the distance from the peak of one wave to the peak of the next.

The instensity- how bright a stimulus appears- is determined by amplitude- the height of a wave form throught to crest.

Cornea: Transparent tissue where light enters the eye.

Pupil: the opening in the center of the iris (colored righ of muscle) that regulates the amount of light passing onto retina.

Lens: focuses the light rays on the retina

Retina: contains sensory receptors that process visual information and sends it to the brain.

The eye- The lens and Accommodation

Optic nerve- carries neural impulses form the eye to the brain

Blind spot- poin where the optic nerve leaves the eye; there are no recepto cells located there.

The left hemisphere reads the right visual field.

The right hemisphere read the left visual fiel.

OPTIC NERVES -> THALAMUS -> VISUAL CORTEX

The nerve cells in the visual cortex (so called feature detectors) respond to specific feature, such as edges, lines, and angels.

For example: the cat that responde with the dot and was following it with his eye. so the eye repond to spefic shapes.

in the visual system, the brain divides a scene into subdivions, such as color, depth, form, movement, etc, and then constructs the separate but parallel work of the different visual tems.

Parallel processing-is the term used to refer to processing several different aspects of stimulus at once.

1. Scene

2. Retinal processing: receptor rods and cones->bipolar cells   ->ganglion cells

3.Feature detection: brain's detertor cells respond to specific features-edges,lines, and angles.

4. Parallel Processing: brain cell teams process combined information about color, movement, form, and depth

5. Recognition: brain interprets the constructed image based on information from stored images.

Visual information processing-Focus on color Vision

The young-Helmoholtx trichromatic theory suggest that the retina contains three colors receptors- red, green, and blue- when stimulated in combination can produce the perception of any color.

They made the test- ISHIHARA TEST.

The opponent-process theory suggests that opposing retianl processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vison.

Used the the yellow/green flag with the purple dot to show the after effect that it leaves which is the green dot.

Sound waves- consist of compressed and expanding air molecules

Frequency= Pitch

Amplitude= Loudness

The Ear- Overview

Outer ear:?

Middle ear:?

Inner ear:?

Outer Ear- Collects and sends sound to the eardrum

Middle Ear: chamber between eardrum and cochlea containing three tiney bones(hammer, anvil, stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window.

Inner Ear: Innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea.

Perceiving Pitch - theories

PLACE THEORY

Place theory assumes we hear different pitches because different sound waves trigger activity at differnt places along the cochlea's basilar membrane.

BUT displacement of the basilar membrane is not fine enough to account for out abilityto discriminate between pitches (in particular for low pitches)!

Perceiving Pitch- theories

FREQUENCY THEORY

It assumes we hear different pitches because the brain reads the frequency of neural impluses traeveling up  the auditory nerve.

BUT neurons can only fire a maximum of 1000 action potentials per second (so can't account for hight pitch perception)!

Our sences - Hearing

LOCATING SOUNDS

Our senses- Touch

SKIN SENCES

the sense of touch is a mix of four distict skin senses-pressure, warmth, cold, and pain.

(touch)

Skin senses- pain- Biological influences

what is pain?

GATE -CONTROL THEORY

pain is a way you  body telling you something has gone wrong!

The gate- control theory of pain maintains that hte spinal cord contains neurological gates that either block pain or allow it to be sensed.

ex. when you stub your toe and well th pain (S=high threshold receptor)

and when you rub your toe (L=low threshold receptor)

Skin senses- pain- PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES

Experiement: REDELMEIER AND KAHMEMAN (2003)- Memories of colonoscopy

studie show that people remember: 1) the peak moment of pain and 2) how much pain they felt at the end.

In the experiment the patients were randomly assinged to two conditions: regualr procedure and extended procedure (in which a short inverval was added to the end whch the tip of coloscope remained in the rectum)

Th patients that experinced the Extended procedure said it was less upleasant and more likely to return for a repeat procedure.

 smell something when molecules of a substance carried in air reaches olfacotory receptor cells located at the top of each nasal cavity.

suggest that we have upwards of a 1000 different odor receptors.

each odorant triggers a particular combination of odor receptos, whic produces patterns of neural impulses that are relayed to higher brain regions for interpretaion(eg. one pattern indicates coffe another popcorn)

we taste something whem molecules of a substance dissolved in our saliva binds to specific taste receptors that are located on taste buds.

The tougue contains five taste receptors: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umani( meaty taste)

Process smell is near memory area.

The olfactory bulb directly connects to the amygdala( which is involved in emotinal processing) and the hippocampus (which is involved in memory formation).

Sensory interaction and perception

SENSORY INTERACTION

MCGRUK EFFECT

SYNESTHESIA

Flavor actually comes from the interation between sevearl senses: smell, taste and texture (when you have cold, foods taste "blah"  or "off")

Hills look steeper when you are wearing a heavier backpack than a lighter one.

A target seems farther away to those throwing a heavy rather than ligh object at it.

MCGRUK EFFECT- shows how seeing one thing while hearing another can result in the pereption of new sound.

Synesthesia- a condition in which one sensation produces another.

Perceptual orgnization

form perception-FIGURE AND GROUND

Perceptual Organiztion- DEATH PERCEPTION

GIBSON AND WALK

It refers to our ability to see objects in three dimensions although images that strike the retina are two-dimensional.

Gibson and Walkt (1960)- visual Cliff studies

this experiement show when depth perception develop and the results suggest by about the ge of 6 monts most infants won't crawl over the cliff.

Depth Perception- BIOCULAR CUES

RETINAL DISPARITY

CONVERGENCE

they are cues to depth that depend on the two eyes.

Retinal Disparity- cue to depth from the fact that each eye has slightly different view of the world.

Convergence- cue t depth from the physical position of the eyes.

Depth Perception- MONOCULAR CUES

1. Relative size

2.interposition

3. relative height

4. relative motion

5.relative brightness

6. Linear perspective

They are cues to depth that depend on one eye.

1. Relative size: if two objects are similar in size, we perceive the one that casts a smaller retinal image to be father away.

2. Interposition: objects that occlude (block) other objects tend to be perceived as closer.

3. Relative Height: we perceive objects that are higher in our field of vision to be father away than those that are lower.

4. Relative motion: Objects closer to a fixation point move faster and in opposing direction to those objects that are farther away from a fixation point, moving slower and in the same direction.

5. Relative brightness: Nearby objects reflect more light into our eyes than more distant objects. 

6. Linear Perspective: Parallel lines appear to converge in the distance. The more the lines converge, the greater their perceived distance.