Sensation Perception

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sensation

Back 1

processes by which our senses recive informations

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transduction

Back 2

changing physical energy into electrical signals (neural impusles)

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perception

Back 3

processes by which people select, organize, and interpret sensations

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psychophysics

Back 4

the study of the relationship between physical stimuli and subjective sensations

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absolute threshold

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point where something becomes noticeable to our senses. It is the softest sound we can hear or the slightest touch we can feel. Anything less than this goes unnoticed. The absolute threshold is therefore the point at which a stimuli goes from undetectable to detectable to our senses.

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just noticeable difference

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the smallest amount of change in a stimulus that can be detected

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Weber's Law

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as a stimulus increases in magnitude, a greater change is needed for it to be detected

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Visual Cortex

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located in the back of the brain, it is the main information processing center for visual information

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Feature detectors

Back 9

neurons in the visual cortex that respond to specific aspects of a visual stimulus (such as lines or angles)

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trichromatic theory

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says that there are three kinds of cones, and that each of these is differentially sensitive to different wavelengths of light.

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afterimage

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a visual sensation that persists after prolonged exposure to and removal of a stimulus

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cornea

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The clear bulge on the front of the eyeball
Begins to focus the light by bending it toward a central focal point
Protects the eye

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iris

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*the colored part of the eye.
*helps regulate the amount of light that enters the eye.

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dilator muscle

Back 14

makes the iris smaller and therefore the pupil larger, allowing more light into the eye

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spinchter muscle

Back 15

makes the iris larger and the pupil smaller, allowing less light into the eye.

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pupil

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the dark center in the middle of the iris
changes size in response to various degrees of illumination to control the amount of light that is let into the eye

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lens

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A transparent structure behind the pupil; focuses the image on the back of the eye (retina)

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retina

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Light-sensitive surface with cells that convert light energy to nerve impulses

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Rod Cells

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Visual receptor cells located in the retina
Can only detect black and white
responsible for vision in low light

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Cone Cells

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responsible for color vision and detail

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Fovea

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contains ONLY CONES and therefore is responsible for seeing fine detail clearly

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sensory adaptation

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brain lowers priority of messages

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Are there more rods or cones in the retina?

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There are more rods.

Fun fact:
in each retina there are 120million rods and 6 million cones

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optic chiasm

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point where all information from left and right visual fields in each eye travel

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What three movable interconnected bones work with the eardrum?

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1.malleus (hamer)
2.incus (anvil)
3. stapes (stirrup)

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Bottom Up Processing

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information is received in small units, and built into larger units that carry meaning
example: reading a book

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Top Down Processing

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when a schema influences interpretation of data

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higher level processing

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involved with comprehending and constructing the meaning of what is being seen, read or heard

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lower level processing

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connected to the stimulus (i.e. print or sound) and are concerned mainly with recognising and decoding it.

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What happens to the pupil in bright conditions?

Back 30

iris expands, making pupil smaller

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What happens to the pupil in dark conditions?

Back 31

iris contracts making pupil larger

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How is an image focused?

Back 32

Muscles that change the thickness of the lens change how the light is bent thereby focusing the image

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What three layers of cells is the retina made up of?

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Receptor cells
Bipolar cells
Ganglion cells

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These cells are present in every sensory system to change (transduce) some other form of energy into neural impulses.

Back 34

Receptor Cells

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What are the two types or receptor cells?

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Rods and Cones

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Where are rods located in the retina?

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edge (periphery)

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Where are cones located in the retina?

Back 37

center (fovea)

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What do bipolar cells do?

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Gather information from the rods and cones and pass it on to the ganglion cells

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Where do bipolar cells form?

Back 39

in the middle layer in the retina

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What do the ganglion cells do?

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Pass the information from the bipolar cells through their axons

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Where are the ganglion cells found and what do they form?

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these are found in the top layer of cells in the retina and they form the optic nerve

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optic nerve

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The nerve that carries visual information from the eye to the occipital lobes of the brain

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blind spot

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The point at which the optic nerve travels through the retina to exit the eye
*no rods and cones

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visual cortex

Back 44

located in the back of the brain, main information processing for visual information

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feature detectors

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neurons that are sensitive only to certain aspects of a visual image

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color blindness

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It occurs when either the red or green cones are not present or not functioning properly. People with this problem are not completely unable to see red or greeh

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Opponent Process Theory

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Theory that says color is processed in opponent pairs of color:
Red-green, yellow-blue, black-white
Light that stimulated one half of the pair inhibits the other half
Ewald Hering
Explains the afterimage effect

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Pitch

Back 48

A sound’s highness or lowness

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Pinna

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*gathering device for sound waves
*channels soundwaves into external auditory canal

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Texture Gradient M or B?

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monocular

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Pinna

Back 51

enables people to pinpoit the location of sounds

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Inner Ear

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the stirrup is connected to the first part of the Inner Ear called the Oval Window.

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What is the first part of the inner ear?

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the oval window

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When does sensorineural hearing loss occur?

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If one listens to sounds at too high a volume, for a prolonged period of time, it is possible to destroy the cilia (hair cells).

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What is conduction hearing loss?

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when the eardrum or the middle ear bones (ossicles) are damaged.

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Sound Localization

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Because we have two ears, they are able to act as two different recovers helping us localize sound. We can do this because the sound approaching the further ear will hit it later, and be somewhat dampened relative to the first ear. It is very difficult to localize sounds that are directly in front or behind us (or directly overhead or underneath for that matter!)

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Smell

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Smell: Olfactory perception involves responding to a myriad of differently shaped odor molecules. The hair cells lining the nose are connected to the olfactory bulb, which is a direct outgrowth of the brain. Smell is unusual in that it is not routed through the thalamus.

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What are the four types of tastes?

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sweet
sour
bitter
salty

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What accounts for individual differences in taste sensitivity?

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number of tastebuds on tongue

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Why is touch unique?

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it is not localized on any one part of the body. An individual's tactile sensitivity varies over their body depending on how many neurons are present.

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Perceptual Constancy

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We tend to have an idea of what objects look like and how large they are at a common distance. Therefore, when we see these objects at different orientations or distances, instead of seeing these as unusual examples of common objects, we interpret them as common objects at different distances or orientations.

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Binocular Cues

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involve taking into account the slight differences in the image between the two eyes and the orientation of the eyes

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Monocular Cues

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detectable even to one eye, and include relative image size, texture, interposition, relative elevation, and the like.

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Perceptual Set

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What we perceive can be influenced by what we expect to perceive (based on schemas). Because we have expectations, usually based on how we expect the world to be, we are susceptible to visual illusions.

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Relative Image Size

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Object size can be used to judge depth

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Texture Gradient

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as a collection of objects recedes into the horizon, they appear to be spaced more closely together, which makes the surface texture appear to become denser

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Linear Perspective

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with distance, the parallel countours of highways, rivers, railroad tracks, and otehr rowlike structures perceptually converge - and eventually reach a vanishing point. The more the liens converge the greater the percieved distance.

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Interposition

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As most objects are not transparent, those nearer to us will partly or completely block our view of more distant ojects . This overlap provideas a quick and easy way to judge relative distances.

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law of closure

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if a shape or figure is broken, our brains will "close" the figure in order to make sense of it

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law or proximity

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objects that are grouped near to each other will be percieved as having some relationship to each other

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law of similarity

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a group of objects that resemble each other will be grouped as a unit.

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these are known as the chemical senses

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smell and taste

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vitreous humor

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jelly like substance in center of eyeball

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photopigments

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specialized chemicals that help to start the process of turning waves of light into action potentials

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The ______ __________ _______ is located in the occipital lobes.

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The priamry visual corext is located in the occipital lobes.

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semicircular canals

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help to transduce information about the position an speed of the head as it moves through space

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visual cliff

Back 77

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals
Infants are reluctant to crawl past the “edge” of the visual cliff
Other animals had similar results.
Suggests that depth perception, to some extent, is inborn