Sensation and Perception - Chapter 4 Review (Video)

Question-and-answer flashcards covering basic principles of sensation and perception, the major senses, depth perception, constancies, and related phenomena from the lecture notes.

What is sensation?

The process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming them into neural energy.

What is perception?

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense.

What is bottom-up processing?

Processing initiated by sensory input; the outside world’s influence on perception.

What is top-down processing?

Processing initiated by cognitive processing; the internal/mental world’s influence on perception, including expectations and prior understanding.

What are sensory receptors?

Specialized cells that detect and transmit sensory information to the brain via distinct neural pathways.

What is photoreception?

Detection of light (vision).

What is mechanoreception?

Detection of pressure, vibration, and movement (touch).

What is chemoreception?

Detection of chemical stimuli (smell and taste).

What is synesthesia?

One sense induces an experience in another sense (e.g., seeing music or tasting color).

In the context of sensory thresholds, what does 'noise' refer to?

Any stimulus that interferes with the perception of another stimulus.

What is the difference threshold (Just Noticeable Difference, JND)?

The minimum difference in stimulus intensity required for detection; JND increases with stimulus magnitude.

How does JND relate to stimulus magnitude at low vs high levels?

At low magnitudes, small changes are detectable; at high magnitudes, small changes are less noticeable.

What is Weber’s Law?

To be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion, not a constant amount.

What is subliminal perception?

Perception of stimuli below conscious awareness; often associated with priming; Vicary’s ‘Eat popcorn’ claim was a hoax.

What is priming?

Activating a particular concept in memory so that it affects later perception or behavior.

What is Signal Detection Theory?

A framework for decision making about stimuli under uncertainty; detection depends on factors like fatigue, expectations, and urgency, plus information acquisition and a criterion.

What is selective attention?

Focusing awareness on a narrowed aspect of the environment; often illustrated by the cocktail party effect.

What is the cocktail party effect?

The tendency to attend to a single conversation in a noisy environment.

What is the Stroop effect?

Interference from competing information when the meaning of a word conflicts with its ink color, illustrating limits of selective attention.

What factors attract attention in perception?

Novelty, size, color, movement, and emotional stimuli.

What is perceptual set?

A predisposition or readiness to perceive something in a particular way; a result of top-down processing.

What is sensory adaptation?

A change in the responsiveness of a sensory system due to the level of surrounding stimulation.

What are the three properties of light and their perceptual correlates?

Wavelength → hue; Amplitude → brightness; Purity → saturation.

What are rods and cones in the retina?

Rods detect dim light (noncolor) and function in low illumination; cones detect color and function in bright light.

What are feature detectors?

Highly specialized neurons in the visual cortex that respond to size, shape, color, movement, or combinations.

What is parallel processing in vision?

Seeing multiple features of a stimulus simultaneously and processing them in parallel.

What is binding in vision?

Integrating information about a stimulus from different neural pathways to create a unified perception.

What are binocular depth cues?

Depth cues that require both eyes, such as disparity and convergence.

What are monocular depth cues?

Depth cues that require only one eye, including familiar size, height in the field of view, linear perspective, relative size, overlap, shading, and texture gradient.

What is perceptual constancy?

Recognition that objects do not physically change despite changes in viewpoint or lighting; includes size, shape, and color constancies.

What senses are included under 'Other Senses' in the chapter preview?

Skin senses (touch, temperature, pain), chemical senses (taste and smell), kinesthetic senses, and vestibular senses.

What is the skin’s tactile pathway?

Receptors → spinal cord → thalamus → somatosensory cortex of the parietal lobe.

How is temperature perceived?

Thermo receptors detect warm and cold; simultaneous warm and cold can be perceived as hot.

What is empathy and mirror-touch synesthesia (MTS)?

Empathy is feeling what others are feeling; MTS is experiencing tactile sensations when seeing someone else being touched, linked to empathy.

What are fast and slow pain pathways?

Fast pathways convey sharp, localized pain; slow pathways convey dull, nagging pain; Endorphins can turn pain signals on and off.

What are taste receptors and where are they located?

Receptors on the tongue (papillae) that detect sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami, and fat; culture influences taste.

What is the olfactory system’s role and processing?

Olfactory epithelium detects odors; processing involves the temporal lobe and limbic system; smell helps decide what to eat and can track odors.

What are kinesthetic and vestibular senses?

Kinesthetic sense: movement, posture, and orientation; Vestibular sense: balance and movement; semicircular canals detect head motion and coordinate proprioceptive feedback.