Sensation & Perception

Sensation

Sensation

brain recieves input; comes from sensory organs

Perception

how brain interprets senosry data; based on experiences

Bottom-Up Processing

taking raw data and interpreting; OBJECTIVE

Top-Down Processing

models, ideas, and expectations affect our interpretation; SUBJECTIVE

Selective Attention

conscious focus on particulur stimulus

Inattentional Blindess

failing to see somthing when focusing elsewhere

Change Blindness

failing to notice changes in enviorment

Process of Sensation

1. Reception

2. Transduction

3. Transmission

Transduction

transformation of sensory stimuli neural impulses

Psychophysics

relationship between stimuli and sensation

Absolute Threshold

minimum stimulation to detect particular stimuli —> applies 50% of the time

Signal Detection Theory

how and when we dectect faint stimuli —> when abosulte thresholds are not absolute

Subliminal

below one’s absolute threshold

Priming

introduction of 1 stimulis infleunces reponse to other stimulus

Difference Threshold

minimum difference between 2 stimuli to detect change

Weber’s Law

to detect change, 2 stimuli need to differ by a certain percentage

Light Standard of Difference

2% of intensity

Weight Standard of Difference

2% of weight

Sound Standard of Difference

3% change in pitch

Taste Standard of Difference

20% in saltiness

Sensory Adaptation

diminished sensitivity from constant stimulation

Choice Blindess

being largely unaware of the reasons for your own actions

Cocktail Party Effect

focus on specific sounds while blocking out others (somebody says ur name and u focus on that)

Perceptual Set

mental predisposition to detect something

Extrasensory Perception (ESP)

perception can occur seperate from senosry input (telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition)

Parapsychology

study of paranormal phenomena (ESP & Psychokinesis)

Wavelength

distance from peak of one peark to another —> determines color (can be found in light/sound waves & electromagnetic waves)

Hue

dimension of color determined by wavelength

Pupil

adjustable opening in eye where light enters

Iris

muscle tissue around pupil that control’s it’s opening

Lens

transparent and behind the pupil; changes shape to focus on images near or far for the retina

Retina

light sensitive ineer strcture of eye, has receptor nodes and cones and begins processing visual information

Accomodation

process of chaning lens shape to focus near or far objects on retina

Rods

retinal receptors that detect black white and gray (peripheral and twilight vision)

Cones

retinal receptors that detect fine detail and color —> concentrated near the center of retina (daylight and well-lit conditions)

Optic Nerve

carries impulses from eye to the brain

Process of Transduction

light from rods and cones → bipolar cells → ganglion cells → Optic Nerve

Blind Spot

point where optic nerve leaves the eye because there are no receptor cells there

Fovea

central focal point in retina, the eye’s cones cluster around this

Feature Detectors

nerves in brain that respond to specific features; responds to shape, angle, or movement. AKA supercells → integrate feature signals to recognize complex forms like faces

Parralell Processing

simultaenoulsy processing many aspects of a problem → brains natural mode of processing

Young-Helmohtlz trichromatic (three color) theory

RBG, retina has 3 different color receptors —> all the colors we perceive comes from combos of these colors

Opponent-Process Theory

opposing retinal processes enable color recognition; Ex) some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; people with color blindness lack this, and have trouble differentiating colors

Gestalt

an organized whole more than the sum of its parts; tendency to integrate pieces into meaningful wholes; 3 ways we do this: proximity, continuity, and closure

Additive Color Mixing

shining of diff color spotlights on each other to mix togehter colors

Subtractive Color Mixing

pigments absorb certain light and relfect other light

Figure-Ground

organization of objects that stand out from their surroundings

Grouping

tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Depth Perception

ability to see objects in 3 dimensions, are images strike the retina as 2-dimensional

Visual Cliff

device testing depth percpetion in infants and young animals (infants fear the percieved cliff)

Binocular Cues

Depth cues depend on use of 2 eyes

Retinal Disparity

binaocular cue for percieveing depth; combining images from both eyes. Greater the difference between the two eyes, the clsoer the object.

Monocular Cues

depth cues available to either eye alone → (Shading, Relative Motion, Interposition, Relative Size, Linear Perspective and Interposition)

Shading

helps depth perception

Relative Motion

can tell which objects are farther because they take longer to pass

Interposition

one object blocks another, we assume it’s between our eyes and the obje

Relative Size

know familiar objects are farther if they look smaller

Phi Phenomenon

percieving a series of still images, when viewed in rapid succcession, as continuous motion

Color Adaptation

seeing familar objects as consistent color eve if illumination alters the reflected wavelength

Audition

sense/act of hearing

Shape Constancy

ability to percieve objects as having a constant shape

Moon Illusion

objects seem larger when farther away

Frequency

number of wavelengths in a give time

Pitch

tone’s experiences highness or lowness → depends on frequency

Amplitude

height/intensity of sound wave → volume

Outer Ear

collects sounds and funnels it into the eardrum and ear canal

Middle Ear

cahmber that concentrates vibrations on the cochlea; between the earrdrum and cocklea and has three bones (hammer, anvil, and spindle), and the spindle sends vibrations at cochlea’s oval window

Cochlea

coiled tube in ear that triggers neural impulses; sound waves travelling through bony fluid-filled tube and triggers neural impulses

Inner Ear

innermost part of the ear; has coclea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs. Waves of fluid move over cochlea’s ‘hair’ receptor cells, which signal through auditory nerve to temporal lobes

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

hearing loss caused by damage to auditory nerves; damage also to cochlea’s receptor cells AKA ‘nerve deafness’

Conduction Hearing Loss

caused by damage to mechanical hearing system, the part that sends sound waves to cochlea

Cochlear Implant

hearing aid; converts sounds into recognizable electrical signals

Place Theory

links pitch to where the cochlea is stimulated

Frrequency Theory

rate of frequency matches tone frequency

Gate-Control Theory

spinal cord has gate that lets pain thorugh; opened by small nerve fibers and closed by large fibers

Kinesthesia

system sensing position and movement of body parts; sensing movement and position of individual body parts RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER

Vestibular Sense

balance, and sense of body movement and position; ability to sense position of head and body RELATIVE TO GRAVITY → hairlike receptors in fluid-filled chambers that sends messages about head’s position to cerrebrum

Sensory Interaction

one sense influences another → smell influences taste

Embodied Cognition

influence of body on cognitive preference and judgement

Ernst Weber

made Weber’s law

Synasthesia

sensory interaction disorder, perception of one sense triggered by another sense

Types of Taste

sweet, sour. Umami, bitter, and salty

Thermoreceptor

touch receptor, senses hot or cold

Meissner’s Corpuscle

touch receptor, senses touch

Nociceptor

touch receptor, senses pain

Pacnian Corpuscle

touch receptor, senses pressure

Gustav Fechner

established the branch of psychophysics

David Hubel & Torsten Wiesel

discovered feature detector neurons

Perceptual Adaptation

ability to adjust to artifically displaced field

Volley Principle

At ultra high frequencies, receptor cells fire in succession, combining singals to reach higher firing rates

Loudness

more intense sounds/vibrations cause a greater number of hair cells to send signals to the brain

Oflactory Sensation

smelling, singals go straight to the brain