7 - Sensation, Perception, Cognition, and Language

A. B. C. D.

A.

Object permanence develops during Piaget’s first stage, the sensorimotor stage. During the preoperational stage, children think more symbolically as they develop memory and imagination

Object permanence allows human beings to realize that an object continues to exist outside of their perception of it. During which of Jean Piaget’s stages does this ability develop?

A. sensorimotor
B. preoperational
C. concrete operational
D. formal operational

B.

Top-down processing is a Gestalt psychology term for interpreting sensory stimuli based on experience and larger contextual information in order to slowly work down and figure out the precise nature of each stimulus. Bottom-up processing is the Gestalt term for the reverse process, by which one starts with a small sensory stimulus and integrates progressively more contextual information in order to determine its nature. (BOTTOM UP OCCURS BEFORE TOP DOWN)

A person sees a small grassy area containing flowers outside of a residential building. This person's brain draws on various memories of gardens and the scents of flowers and grass in order to interpret that this grassy area is a garden. This is an example of:

A. bottom up processing

B. top down processing

C. superimposition

D. contextual reception

B.

postcentral gyrus is a prominent structure in the parietal lobe that processing of the sense of touch, not the senses of sound or sight, which are involved in the McGurk Effect. The lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus is involved with the visual processing pathway of the brain. It is the primary relay center for visual information received from the retina of the eye, and therefore would be involved in the visual processing of the McGurk Effect

Given that the McGurk Effect relies upon visual and auditory stimuli, which of the following brain structures is NOT involved in the processing of the information that produces the McGurk Effect?

A. occipital lobe

B. postcentral gyrus

C. lateral geniculate nucleus in thalamus

D. cochlear nucleus

B.

baroreceptors detect BP changes baby.

Muscle spindle detects muscle stretch
Golgi tendon detects muscle stretch
Joint capsule receptors detect pressure, tension, and movement in joints

all of the following are involved in proprioception, EXCEPT:

A. muscle spindles
B. baroreceptors
C. golgi tendon organs
D. joint capsule receptors

C.

stepping or walking reflex involves a baby putting one foot in front of the other when their soles touch a flat surface.

Which of the following infant reflexes in most closely associated with learning to balance and walk?

A.  Moro reflex

B.  Babinski reflex

C.  Stepping reflex

D.  Rooting reflex

1. moro reflex

2. babinski reflex

3. stepping reflex

4. rooting reflex

what are the baby reflexes? (4)

moro reflex (“the startle reflex")

baby reflex involving the infant spreading arms out then retracting them and usually crying in response to being startled/dropped (but caught again)

babinski reflex

baby reflex involving toes fanning out + dorsiflexion of big toe in response to another person stroking the sole of baby’s foot

spinal cord or brain disease

what happens if you see the babinski reflex (infants fanning out toes when someone tickles soles of their feet) in an adult?

the rooting reflex

baby reflex involving infant turning its head and rooting with its mouth in response to a touch to cheek/lips

C.

the semicircular canal of the inner ear contain hair cells that detect motion and the rotation of the head. This aids in the sense of balance. The endolymph in the cochlea contains hair cells that are designed to transmit auditory vibrations for the sense of hearing, not proprioception or balance

The vestibular sense detects motion and is involved in balance by way of what mechanism?

A. control of autonomic functions by the pons
B. the endolymph in cochlea contains hair cells that detect motion and rotation of the head
C. endolymph in the utricle, saccule, and ampullae containing hair cells that detect motion and rotation of the head
D. coordination of motion in cerebellum

endolymph in the cochlea

part of ear that contains hair cells that are designed to transmit auditory vibrations for the sense of hearing

The endolymph in the utricle, saccule, and ampullae

part of ear that contain hair cells that detect motion and the rotation of the head

Sensation

process of your brain taking IN stimuli from environment (encoding physical nrg from environment)

Perception

act of DECODING (interpreting, selecting, organizing, making sense) of sensation

Optic chiasm

will cross the direction of signals of eyes and integration to produce contralateral signal processing

Agnosia

inability to process sensory information, sense is operational, just processing is impacted (this does not mean the person is blind/deaf, or that the entire sense is defective

Frontal Lobe

lobe responsible for decision making, higher order thinking, initiating voluntary movement, concentration, planning, problem solving, personality, smell (olfactory bulb) speech production, emotional regulation

parietal lobe

lobe responsible for touch, pressure, physical feeling (somatosensation), taste, body awareness (proprioception)

temporal lobe

lobe responsible for hearing, language recognition, language comprehension

occipital lobe

lobe responsible for visual processing

cerebellum

brain area responsible for movement coordination, balance, motor memory (procedural)

Kinesthesis (proprioception)

allows us to sense the position of our limbs in space and detect bodily movements

Mechanoreceptors

type of receptors that detect mechanical disturbances like pressure/distortion

Proprioceptors

type of receptors that respond to physical disturbances in the body (has muscle spindle, golgi tendon, joint capsule receptors, thermoreceptors, and nocireceptors)

Muscle spindle

type of proprioceptor that detects muscle stretch

Golgi tendon

type of proprioceptor that detects muscle stretch

Joint capsule receptors

type of proprioceptor that detect pressure, tension, and movement in joints

Thermoreceptors

type of proprioceptor that communicate info about heat

Nociceptors

type of proprioceptor that communicate info about pain

Corpus callosum

organ in which the 2 brain hemispheres communicate through

Weber’s law (used to quantify the difference threshold)

the size of the just noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the original stimulus value

Signal detection theory

a method for quantifying a person’s ability to detect a given stimulus (the ‘signal’) amidst other, non-important stimuli (‘noise’)

Type I error

the type of error that's present when stimulus is ABSENT, but response is PRESENT (false positive)

type II error

type of error that's present when stimulus is PRESENT, but response is ABSENT (false negative)

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve

graphical plot that tracks hit rate vs. false alarm rate in order to graphically represent a receiver’s accuracy in a given task

Tonic receptors

keep generating action potentials as long as stimulus is present

Phasic receptors

fire only when the stimulus begins, and communicate thru CHANGES in stimuli (if we're continually exposed, then receptor doesn't fire - like habituation)

Feature detection theory

explains that certain parts of the brain are activated for specific visual stimuli (ex

Absolute threshold

the SMALLEST amount of stimulation required to detect a sensory input half the time it is present (not relevant in detecting changing levels of sensory, only to detect sensory information)

Parallel processing

occurs so that many aspects of a visual stimulus (shape, color, motion, depth) are processed simultaneously rather than in a step-wise fashion (serial processing)

Retinal processing

where rods and cones are activated → activate bipolar cells → activate ganglion cells

1. sounds - volume (intensity), frequency (pitch - how how/low)

2. vision - brightness, color

3. smells

4. taste

5. touch - pressure, temperature, pain

what are the different types of stimuli (what are the senses)

1. light going from the RIGHT side will hit the R eye’s LEFT RETINA → visual stimuli is activated → travel to the LEFT part of the brain

2. light going in from the L side will hit the L eye on its RIGHT SIDE (same thing as the R side but reverse)

what is the pathway of visual stimuli?

left, right

any object on the RIGHT side will be processed by the ____________ (L/R) hemisphere, and any object on the LEFT side will be processed by the __________ (L/R) hemisphere

agnosia

someone with visual ___________ can recognize that there is someone in front of them, but will have a difficult time recognizing who this person is

1. muscle spindle

2. golgi tendon

3. joint capsule receptors

4. thermoreceptors

5. nociceptors

what are the different types of proprioceptors? (5)

intuition, holistic perception, L side motor skills, L side vision, impulse, creativity

what is the R brain known for?

analytical thought, detail oriented, ordered sequencing, math/science, logic, right field vision, and right side motor skills

what is the L brain known for?

1. modality (the type of stimulus

2. location (communicated by the stimulus receptive field)

3. intensity (encoded by the rate of action potential firing)

4. duration

what are the 4 properties that need to be communicated to the CNS when we take in stimuli?

1. stimulus (environmental, attended, stimulus on receptors)

2. electrochemical processes (transduction, transmission, processing)

3. experience and action (perception, recognition, action)

what are the stages of sensation and perception? (3)

Transduction

process of converting stimulus from external wave (light wave, sound wave) to an internal electrochemical impulse in brain 

transmission

taking that electrochemical impulse and sending it to the correct neurons and parts of brain

perception

stimulus is experienced (see the sight, hear the sound, touch the object, etc.)

reocgnition

we try to match the stimulus with something we’ve seen/heard before

action

optional step where if stimulus is worth responding to then we will take action (fight, flee, etc.)

Bottom up processing

involve starting w/ the details when processing stimulus, and building up a representation in our brain (start with the senses -> end with a final representation in your mind)

when you stub your toe on a table, the pain receptors detect pain and send this info to the brain to be processed

is this an example of bottom up or top down processing?

Top down processing

involve starting w/ larger concept/idea and works down to the details (use our knowledge/experience to work down to the sensory details in our mind)

you see the table that you have previously stubbed your toe at so you know to avoid it

is this an example of bottom up or top down processing?

bottom up processing, bc top down is our interpretation - not the most trustworthy

which is more accurate, bottom up or top down processing?

Perceptual organization

in order to transform sensory info into useful perceptions, we must organize it (must perceive objects as being separate from their environments and having a constant form, and be able to detect motion and perceive distance)

Gestalt psychology

(top-down approach) studies the predictable ways in which we organize sensory info (‘parts’) into a meaningful pattern (‘whole’) that we perceive (humans have a tendency to group objects together and group them into 1 big whole)

1. law of closure

2. law of similarity

3. law of good continuation

4. law of simplicity (law of pragnanz)

5. law of proximity

6. law of common fate

7. law of familiarity

8. law of praganz

what are the laws of grouping in Gestalt principles? (7)

Law of closure

your brain is seeing shapes that’s NOT fully outlined, but it is filling in the missing parts of the edges (top down approach that focuses not on the details, but the whole picture)

Law of similarity

humans have a tendency to group SIMILAR objects together to form a big whole

Law of good continuation

lines tend to be seen as following the SMOOTHEST PATH

Law of simplicity (law of pragnanz)

humans tend to go for the SIMPLER interpretation when presented w/ simpler vs. complex images

Law of proximity

things that are NEAR each other are GROUPED together

Law of common fate

things that are moving in the same direction appear to be grouped together

law of common fate

birds moving together in the same direction in a pact is perceived to be close together even when they may not be. which gestalt principle is this example referring to?

Law of familiarity

things that are more likely to form groups if the groups appear familiar/meaningful

Depth perception

ability to see objects in 3D despite the fact that images are imposed on the retina in only 2D (allow us to judge distance)

Binocular depth cues

needing 2 eyes to take advantage of depth perception elements

Retinal disparity

brain compares the images projected only 2 retinas in order to perceive distance (the greater the difference b/w 2 images, the shorter the distance)

Convergence

extent to which the eyes turn inward when looking at an object

closer

the greater the angle of convergence/inward strain, the __________ (closer/farther) the object

Monocular cues

depth cues that depend on info that’s available to either eye alone

Relative size

monocular cue stating if object are assumed to be same size, the one that casts the small image on the retina becomes more distant

Interposition

monocular cue stating if 1 object blocks the view of another, we perceive the blocking as closer

Relative clarity

monocular cue stating we perceive hazy objects as being more DISTANT than SHARP & CLEAR objects

Texture gradient

monocular cue stating change from a coarse, distinct texture to a fine, indistinct texture indicates increasing distance

Relative height

monocular cue stating we perceive objects that are HIGHER in the visual field as farther away, lower objects as close

Linear perspective

monocular cue stating parallel lines appear to converge as distance increases (the greater the convergence, the greater the perceived distance)

Light and shadow

monocular cue stating closer objects reflect more light than distant object (dimmer of 2 objects will seem farther away)

Relative motion

monocular cue stating as we move, stable objects appear to move as well (objects that are near to us appear to move faster than objects that are far away)

Perceptual constancy

we perceive an object as unchanging even as the illumination, angle, and distance of the object change

Shape constancy

familiar objects are perceived as having constant form despite changes in images that are projected onto our retina

Size constancy

we perceive objects as having as constant size even as the distance changes

Lightness (brightness) constancy

we perceive objects as having constant brightness despite changes in illumination

shape constancy

rotate an object and you know that you’re looking at the same object but at a diff angle. which type of perceptual constancy is this an example of?

size constancy

ball approaching you and it gets bigger in your perception, but ball isn’t actually getting bigger. which perceptual constancy is this an example of?

Lightness (brightness) constancy

we perceive objects as having constant brightness despite changes in illumination

Broadbent filter model of selective attn

a lot of info enters our sensory stores and some of that info makes it thru the selective filter → process it→ into our working memory

we can divert our attn to whatever’s calling for us in a crowded room

what is the flaw of broadbent filter model of selective attention?

Treisman attenuation model of selective attn

came up with a tweak to account for broadbent’s theory’s flaw, stating that some info not attended to can still be detected under the right conditions (unattended info just gets lowered in volume, not completely tuned out). Info not attended to DOES NOT decay (like in Broadbent’s filter model) but rather ‘turned down’

Cocktail party effect

occurs when you filter out other convos, until your name is mentioned, then you attn shifts to this other channel

Schemas

mental framework (like a folder) that allows us to organize our experiences/stimuli and respond to new experiences/stimuli (we develop these as we gain more experience - getting to adulthood)

assimilate

to use or schemas effectively, we must constantly ___________ new experiences bc new info is interpreted based on our current schemas

accommodate

as we interact with the world, we __________ our schemas to incorporate new info and experiences