Term
| What is the difference between sensation and perception? |
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Definition
| Sensation is the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and present stimulus energies from our environment. Perception is the process of organizing and interpreting this information. Although we view sensation and perception separately to analyze and discuss them, they are actually parts of one continuous process. |
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Term
| What is bottom-up processing? |
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Definition
| bottom up processing is sensory analysis that begins at the entry level, with information flowing from the sensory receptors to the brain. |
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Term
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Definition
| Top-down processing is analysis that begins with the brain and flows down, filtering information through our experience and expectations to produce perceptions. |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| What is an absolute threshold? |
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Definition
| Our absolute threshold for any stimulus is the minimum stimulation necessary for us to be consciously aware of it 50 percent of the time. |
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Term
| What is signal detection theory? |
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Definition
| Signal detection theory demonstrates that individual absolute thresholds vary, depending on the strength of the signal and also our experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness. |
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Term
| What does it mean that something is subliminal? |
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Definition
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Term
| Can we detect subliminal stimuli unconsciously? |
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Definition
| Priming shows that we can process some information from stimuli below our absolute threshold for conscious awareness. But the effect is too fleeting to enable people to exploit us with subliminal messages. |
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Term
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Definition
| Priming shows that we can process some information from stimuli below our absolute threshold for conscious awareness. But the effect is too fleeting to enable people to exploit us with subliminal messages. |
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Term
| Does subliminal persuasion have a powerful enduring effect on behavior? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is a difference threshold/JND? |
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Definition
| Our difference threshold (Just noticeable difference) is the barely noticeable difference we discern between two stimuli 50 percent of the time. |
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Term
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Definition
| Weber's law states that two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion to be perceived as different |
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Term
| What is sensory adaptation? |
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Definition
| Sensory adaptation (our diminished sensitivity to constant or routine odors, sounds, and touches) focuses our attention on information changes in our environment |
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Term
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Definition
| Each sense receives stimulation, transforms (transcduces) it into neural signals, and sens these neural messages to the brain. |
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Term
| • What is the stimulus we “see”? |
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Definition
| In vision, the signals consist of light-energy particles fro ma thin slice of the broad spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. |
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Term
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Definition
| The hue we perceive in a light depends on its wavelength |
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Term
| What determines brightness? |
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Definition
| the brightness depends on the intensity of the wavelength |
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Term
| • Be familiar with the parts of the eye and their functions: pupil, iris, lens, retina- and the path that light waves takes through the eye |
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Definition
| After enetering the ye and being focused by a lens, light-energy particles strike the eye's inner surface, the retina. The retina's light-sensitive rods and color-sensitive cones convert the light energy into neural impulses which, after processing by bipolar and ganglion cells, travel through the optic nerve to the brain. |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| • What are the differences between rods and cones? See Table 6. 1 What |
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Definition
Rods - retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond.
Cones are retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations. |
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Term
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Definition
| The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster. |
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Term
| • Why do we have a blind spot? |
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Definition
| the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot beacuse no receptor cells are located there. |
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Term
| • What are feature detectors? |
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Definition
| In the visual cortex, feature detectors respond to specific features of the visual stimulus. Higher-level supercells integrate this pool of data for processing in other cortical areas. |
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Term
| What is parallel processing? |
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Definition
| Parallel processing in the brain handles many aspects of a problem simultaneously, and separate neural teams work on visual subtasks (color, movement, depth, and form). Other neural teams integrate the results, comparing them with stored information, and enabling perceptions. |
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Term
| Young Helmoholtz trichromatic theory, |
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Definition
| The Young-helmholtz trichromatic (three-color)theory proposed that the retina contains three types of color receptors. contemporary research has found three types of cones, each most sensitive to the wavelengths of one of the three primary colors of light (red, green, or blue). |
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Term
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Definition
| Hering's opponent-process theory proposed three additional color processes (red versus green, blue versus yellow, black versus white). |
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Term
| Be able to explain each theory and how they might both explain color vision. Which can explain afterimages? |
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Definition
| contemporary research has confirmed that, en route to the brain, neurons in the retina and the thalamus code the color-related information from the cones into pairs of opponent colors. These two theories, and the research supporting them, show that color processing occurs in two stages. |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| What determines loudness? |
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Definition
| Sound waves are bands of compressed and expanded air Oru ears detect these changes in air pressure and transform them into neural impulses, which the brain decodes as sound. sound waves vary in amplitude, which we perceive as differing loudness |
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Term
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Definition
| Sound waves vary in frequency, which we experience as differing pitch |
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Term
| • Be familiar with the parts of the ear and their functions including the middle ear, inner ear, cochlea, and basiliar membrane. Page 246 |
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Definition
| The outer ear is the visible portion of the ear. The middle ear is the chamber between the eardrum and the cochlea. The inner ear consists of the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs. Through a mechanical chain of events, sound waves traveling through the auditory canal cause tiny vibrations in the eardrum. The bones of the middle ear amplify the vibrations and relay them to the fluid-filled cochlea. Rippling of the basilar membrane, caused by pressure changes in the cochlear fluid, causes movement of the tiny hair cells, triggering neural messages to be sent (via the thalamus) to the auditory cortex in the brain. |
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Term
| • How are sound waves converted to a neural impulse? |
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Definition
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Term
| • How do we perceive loudness? P. 248 |
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Definition
| Sound waves vary in amplitude, which we perceive as differing loudness |
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Term
| How do we locate sounds? P. 249 |
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Definition
| Sound waves strike one ear sooner and more intesely than the other. The ebrain analyzes the minute differences in the sounds received by the two ears and computes the sound's source. |
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Term
| • What are the two theories of how we hear pitch? (place theory, frequency theory including the volley principle). Be able to explain each theory and how they might both explain hearing pitch. |
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Definition
Place theory proposes that our brain interprets a particular pitch by decoding the place where a sound wave stimulates the cochlea's basilar membrane.
Frequency theory proposes that the brain deciphers the frequency of the pulses traveling to the brain. Place theory explains how we hear high-pitched sounds, but it cannot explain how we hear low-pitched sounds. Frequency theory explains how we hear low-pitched sounds, but not how we hear high pitched sounds. Some combination of the two helps explain how we we hear sounds in the middle range. |
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Term
| • What are the two types of deafness? How is each treated? |
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Definition
| Conduction hearing loss results from damage to the mechanical system that transmits sound waves to the cochlea. Sensorineural hearing loss (or nerve deafness)results from damage to the cochlea's hair cells or their associated nerves. Diseases and accidents can cause hearing loss, but age-related disorders and prolonged exposure to loud noises are more common causes. Artificial cochlear implants can restore hearing for some people, but members of the Deaf culture movement believe cochlear implants are unnecessary for people who have been Deaf from birth and who can speak their own language, sign. |
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Term
| What are the four skin senses? Is there a relationship between what we feel at a given spot and the type of nerve ending there p. 253? |
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Definition
| Our sense of touch is actually several senses - Pressure, warmth, cold, and pain - that combine to produce other sensations, such as "hot." There is no simple relationship between what ewe feel at a given spot and the type of specialized nerve ending found there. Only pressure has identifiable receptors. |
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Term
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Definition
| The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts. |
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Term
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Definition
| the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance. |
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Term
| What is gate-control theory and how does it explain how we experience pain? |
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Definition
| the theory that the spinal cord cotnains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. |
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Term
| What fibers open the gate? Close the gate? |
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Definition
| The gate is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers and is closed by acitvity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain. |
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Term
| How do biological, psychological factors and social-cultural factors affect how we experience pain Figure 6.22? |
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Definition
| Pain is an alarm system that draws our attention to some physical problem. One theory of pain is the gate-control theory. The biophysosocial approach views pain as the sum of three sets of forces: biological influences, such as our expectations; and social-cultural influences, such as the presence of others. Treatments to control pain often combine physiological and psychologcal elements. |
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Term
| What is sensory interaction? |
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Definition
| the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste |
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Term
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Definition
| Taste, a chemical sense, is a composite of five basic sensations, - sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami - and of the aromas that interact with information from the taste receptor cells of the taste buds. The influence of smell on our sense of taste is an example of sensory interaction, the ability of one sense to influence another. |
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Term
| What are the five basic tastes? |
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Definition
| Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami. |
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Term
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Definition
| There are no basic sensations for smell... it is a chemical sense. |
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Term
| Why is smell linked to emotion and memory? |
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Definition
| Odors can spontaneously evoke memories and feelings, due in part to the close connections between brain areas that process smell and memory. |
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Term
| How do we experience 1000 different odors with only 350 different types of receptors (p. 261)? |
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Definition
| Some 5 million olfactory receptor cells, with their approx 350 different receptor proteins, recognize individual odor molecules. The receptor cells send messages to the brain's olfactory bulb, then to the temporal lobe and to parts of the limbic system. |
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Term
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Definition
| Gestalt psychologists searched for rules by which the brain organizes fragments of sensory data into gestalts (from the German word for "whole" ) or meaningful forms. |
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Term
| What do gestalt psychologists emphasize we perceive? |
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Definition
| In pointing out that the whole is more than the sum of its parts, they noted that we filter sensory information and infer perceptions in ways that make sense to us. |
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Term
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Definition
| the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroudnings (the ground) |
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Term
| Be familiar with the laws of grouping- 1. proximity, 2.similarity, 3. connectedness, 4.continuity and 5.closure. |
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Definition
Proximity - group nearby figures together
Similarity - group similar figures together
Continuity - we perceive smooth continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones
Connectedness - because they are uniform and linked, we perceive each set of two dots and the line bewteen them as a single unit |
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Term
| What is depth perception? |
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Definition
| the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance |
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Term
| What is the visual cliff and how is it used to test depth perception? Will crawling infants cross the cliff? |
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Definition
| a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals |
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Term
| What are binocular cues for depth perception? |
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Definition
| depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes |
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Term
| What is retinal disparity? |
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Definition
| a binocular cue for perceiving depth: by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance - the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object. |
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Term
| When is disparity between images from two eyes more similar- when objects are closer or further away? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are monocular cues for depth perception? |
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Definition
| deth cues, sucha s interposition and linear perspective, avaialable to either eye alone |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| If we assume two objects are similar in size, most people perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image as father away |
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Term
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Definition
| if one object partially blocks our view of another, we pereive it as closer. |
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Term
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Definition
| We perceive objects higher in our field of visiion as father away |
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Term
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Definition
| As we move, objects hat are actually stable may appear to move. |
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Term
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Definition
| Parallel lines, such as rairoa tracks, appear to converge with distance. The more they converge, the greater their perceived distance |
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Term
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Definition
| Nearby objects reflect more light ot our eyes. Thus, given two identical objects, the dimmer one seems farther away.shading, too produces a sense of dpeth consistent with our assumption that light comes from above. |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| an illusion of movement created when two or more adjaccent lights blink on and off in quick succession |
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Term
| What is perceptual constancy? |
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Definition
| perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent shapes, size, lightness, and oclor) even as illumination and rtinal images change |
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Term
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Definition
| PErceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object |
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Term
| Perceived distance and perceived size often go hand in hand. Why are we susceptible to the Ponzo illusion? Figure 6.39 |
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Definition
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Term
| In studies with people with restored vision what parts of perception seem innate- color, figure-ground, and/or recognizing objects by sight? (p. 273) |
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Definition
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Term
| Does there seem to be a critical period for parts of perceptual development? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is perceptual adaptation? Can humans adapt? |
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Definition
| in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field |
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Term
| What is a perceptual set? |
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Definition
| a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not the other |
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Term
How do expectations, context, and emotions change our perception?
What is human factors psychology? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is human factors psychology? |
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Definition
| a branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy t ouse |
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Term
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Definition
| Extrasensory perception - the controversial claim that perception can occur from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition |
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Term
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Definition
| the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis |
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Term
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Definition
| mind-to-mind communication - one person sending thoughts to another or percieving another's thoughts |
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Term
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Definition
| perceiving remote events, such as sensing that a friend's house is on fire |
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Term
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Definition
| Perceiving future events, such as a political leader's death or a sporting event's outcome |
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Term
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Definition
| "mind over matter" - levitating a table or influencing the roll of a die |
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Term
| Has a reproducible ESP phenomenon ever been discovered when put to a scientific test? |
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Definition
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