psychology ch. six vocabulary

-Sensation-

- Detection of energy from the environment

- Activation of sensory receptor cells

Bottom-Up Processing

Data-driven flow of information from sensory input to build a perceptual experience

Sensory Receptors

Specialized cells for detection of energy from environment an sending of that information to the brain

Transduction

Transformation of energy from the environment into neural signals in the sensory receptor cells

Sensory Adaptation

Decrease in sensitivity to a constant level of stimulation because sensory receptors become used to (habituate) to the stimulus (due to constant stimulation)

-Perception-

-Interpretation and organization of stimuli

- Making sense of sensory information

Top-Down Processing

- Influence of expectations and experience on perception

- Begins with cognitive processing

Perceptual Set

Mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another due to context, motivations (expectations)and/or emotion

Thresholds

-

Absolute Threshold

Minimum amount of energy needed from the environment to detect a stimulus

Subliminal Perception

- Not having a conscious awareness of a stimulus but potentially being behaviorally influenced by it later

- Intensity of stimulus is below absolute threshold

Visual System

-

Amplitude

Quality of light wave that determines brightness of colors

Wavelength

Quality of light wave that determines actual color perceived (hue)

Retina

Layer of cells on the back of the eye that includes sensory receptors

Fovea

Central area of the retina that is a focal point because it contains the highest density of rods and cones (best for detection of details

Rods

Sensory receptors specialized for shape/line and black/white detection

Cones

Sensory receptors specialized for color detection

Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision

3 different types of cones exist that are each specialized for a different category of wavelength: short = blues, medium = greens, long = reds

Opponent Process Theory

- Colors that share a retinal pathway (from the cones) are "opposite" colors because the pathway is switching between excitatory and inhibitory use of the same pathway

- Opposite colors: Blue/Yellow, Red/Green, Black/White

Depth Perception

-

Figure-Ground Separation

Innate tendency to separate objects into fore groundand background

Binocular Cues

- Use of 2 signals (one from each eye) to perceive

- Overlap in field of view allows for greater depth perception

Monocular Depth Cues

- Making perceptual inferences of depth using 2-dimensional information

- We tend to infer depth whenever possible because we live in a 3-dimensional world

Relative Size

- Larger objects are perceived to be closer

- Familiar Size: We use our knowledge of the size of one object to judge how large others might be

Interposition

One object that blocks another is perceived to be closer

Linear Perspective

Parallel converging lines are perceived as eventually meeting in the distance (depth is perceived)

Perceptual Constancy

- The perceptual understanding that objects themselves do not change in actual matter even when perspectives, shadows, sizes or colors may cause different retinal interpretations (that they are perceived differently)

- i.e. Size, Shape & Color Constancy

Perceptual Organization

-

Gestalt Principles of Grouping

- Predisposed, innate tendency to organize stimuli inefficient ways to see them as more meaningful

- The whole is different from the sum of the parts

Proximity

Group formed by objects that are close together in space

Continuity

Tendency to perceive smooth, continuous patterns instead of discontinuous ones

Closure

Filling in gaps to complete a whole object

The Auditory System

-

Frequency

Pitch of a soundwave

Amplitude

Volume/loudness of a soundwave (dB)

Cochlea

Inner ear canal

(Hair Cells) Cilia

Cells that serve as sensory receptors for sound (move in the fluid of the inner ear to produce nerve impulse)

Place Theory

Specific frequencies produce vibrations at specific spots along the basilar membrane of the cochlea; thus, frequency is associated with place in the cochlea.

Frequency Theory (Temporal Coding)

Different frequencies of sound cause different rates offering of the auditory nerve; higher frequency sounds cause the auditory nerve to fire more frequently relative to lower frequency sounds

Somatosensation: Skin Senses

-

Touch

- Signals to somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobe

- Activated by mechanoreceptors in the layers of the skin

Kinesthesia

Sense of body position and movement

Vestibular Sense

Sense of balance

Pain

- Touch receptors for pain make use of fast (vs. slow) pathway

- Biological influences: number and density of nocioreceptors (receptor cells specific to painful stimulation)

- Psychological influences: attention to source of pain and/or memory of similar painful events (experience) Socio-Cultural Influence: norms of expression of pain

The Chemical Senses

-

Gustation

Sense of taste

5 Basic Tastes

5 different types of taste buds (receptors) specific to chemicals in the following categories: salty, sweet, sour, bitter, and umami

Olfaction

Sense of smell

-Sensory Interaction-

One sense can influence another

Synesthesia

Stimulation of one sense triggers an experience of another

Embodied Cognition

- Influence of bodily sensations on cognitive preferences and judgements

- e.g. a foul smell inducing the emotion of disgust which might influence decisions

Extrasensory Perception (ESP)

- Perception without sensory input

- Phenomena not able to be replicated through scientific experimentation; cannot be proven

- Also cannot be disproven, which is problematic to any scientific approach